Files

SKILL.mdagentsreferences

Install

Install the containing plugin

/plugin install shared-skills@llm-skills

Invoke this skill after installation

/shared-skills:ps

Download ps-skill.zip

This skill is bundled inside shared-skills. Install the plugin once, then Claude Code can use any of its included skills. Browse the full plugin repository at github.com/alisonaquinas/llm-shared-skills.

SKILL.md

name: ps description: > Inspect running processes with ps for monitoring, debugging, and process management. Use when the agent needs to list processes, find a process by name or PID, inspect resource usage, show parent-child relationships, or identify the owner of a running process before killing or signalling it.

ps

Display information about active processes for monitoring and debugging.

Quick Start

Verify availability: ps --version (GNU) or ps -V
List all processes: ps aux
Search for a specific process: ps aux | grep <name>

Intent Router

references/cheatsheet.md — Common invocations, BSD vs POSIX syntax, column meanings, and filtering
references/advanced-usage.md — Custom output formats, sorting, parent-child trees, combining with kill/grep, and scripting
references/troubleshooting.md — Zombie processes, permission limitations, macOS vs Linux differences, and high-load interpretation

Core Workflow

Run ps aux for a broad snapshot of all running processes
Pipe through grep to isolate processes by name or command
Use ps -p <PID> to inspect a specific known process
Use ps --forest or ps -ejH to visualise parent-child trees
Check UID/USER and PPID before taking any action on a process

Quick Command Reference

ps aux                          # All processes, BSD-style (user, PID, CPU, MEM, command)
ps -ef                          # All processes, POSIX-style (UID, PID, PPID, time, command)
ps aux | grep nginx             # Find processes matching a name
ps -p 1234                      # Details for a specific PID
ps -u alice                     # Processes owned by a specific user
ps aux --sort=-%mem             # Sort by memory usage descending (GNU)
ps aux --sort=-%cpu             # Sort by CPU usage descending (GNU)
ps --forest                     # ASCII tree of parent-child relationships (GNU)
ps -ejH                         # Hierarchical process tree (POSIX-compatible)
ps -o pid,ppid,user,stat,cmd    # Custom output columns
ps -C nginx                     # Processes with a specific command name (GNU)
man ps                          # Full manual

Safety Notes

Area	Guardrail
Read-only	`ps` never modifies processes. All listings are safe to run.
Before killing	Always confirm PID, owner, and command string before passing output to `kill`. A wrong PID can terminate critical system processes.
grep false matches	`ps aux \| grep foo` will match the `grep foo` process itself. Use `grep -v grep` or `pgrep foo` to filter it out.
Snapshot timing	`ps` captures a point-in-time snapshot. Short-lived processes may not appear. Use `top` or `htop` for continuous monitoring.
macOS vs Linux	macOS uses BSD `ps`. Column names and some flags differ. `--forest` and `--sort` are GNU-only. Use `pstree` or Activity Monitor on macOS for trees.
Permissions	Non-root users may see truncated command lines for processes owned by other users.

Source Policy

Treat man ps as runtime truth. BSD and GNU ps have divergent flag sets.
Use pgrep and pkill for scripted process lookup and signalling — they are safer than parsing ps output.
Never embed PIDs from ps output in automation without re-validating them first.

ps