Ctop – A Powerful CLI Tool for Monitoring Docker Containers in Real Time

Introduction

When working with Docker containers, monitoring performance is just as important as running your applications. The command-line tool ctop provides a quick and easy way to visualize what’s happening inside your containers — similar to how the classic top command shows system processes.

With ctop, you can view real-time metrics for all running containers such as CPU usage, memory consumption, network traffic, and disk I/O, all in a single, clean terminal interface.

You can check the website for more details: 👉 https://ctop.sh/

What is ctop?

ctop is an open-source, cross-platform monitoring tool written in Go. It works much like the familiar top or htop commands but focuses on containerized environments.

It supports Docker natively and also works with runC, with plans to add connectors for other container and orchestration systems like Kubernetes in future versions.

In short, ctop helps you:

• View all running and stopped containers at a glance

• Inspect resource usage for each container

• Quickly identify performance bottlenecks

• Drill down into single-container views for more details

How to Install ctop on Linux

There are two main ways to install ctop:

1. Install via Binary

You can check github page for other installations.

You can directly download and install the binary for your system:

sudo wget https://github.com/bcicen/ctop/releases/download/v0.7.7/ctop-0.7.7-linux-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/ctop
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ctop

After that, run it with:

#Run with permitted user or with sudo or root
ctop

This will open a real-time dashboard of all your Docker containers.

2. Run ctop Using Docker

If you prefer not to install it directly on your system, you can run it inside a container:

docker run --rm -ti --name=ctop \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  quay.io/vektorlab/ctop:latest

This approach keeps your host clean while still giving you full monitoring access.

Basic Usage Examples

Once ctop is running, you’ll see a list of all containers (both active and stopped).
You can use the arrow keys to navigate and Enter to inspect a specific container in detail.

Here are a few useful commands and options:

Command/Description

Launch the main interface:

ctop

Show only active (running) containers:

ctop -a

Filter containers with names containing whoami:

ctop -f whoami

Sort containers by memory usage:

ctop -s mem

Show help and available options:

ctop -h

Show help and available options

Inspecting a Single Container

If you highlight a container and press Enter, ctop opens a detailed view showing only that container.
Here you can see:

• Real-time CPU and memory usage

• Network I/O statistics

• Block I/O (disk operations)

• Uptime and container state

For example, if you have a container running a web app called myapp_web_1, you can quickly inspect it:

ctop -f myapp_web_1

You can use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight a container and click Enter to select it. You will see a menu as shown in the following screenshot.

Single view shows more details for container

Conclusion

ctop is a simple but powerful CLI utility that provides a “top-like” view for Docker containers.
It’s lightweight, requires no setup, and gives you instant insight into container performance metrics.

Whether you’re managing a few containers or dozens of microservices, ctop is a must-have tool for every Docker user.

For more details, check out the official GitHub repository:
👉 https://github.com/bcicen/ctop

Thanks for reading!

—

Guneycan Sanli

Guneycan Sanli

A person who like learning, music, travelling and sports.

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