Pulse v0.8.0
v0.8.0 Released — eBPF Kernel Trace & Public Launch

Observe Linux from the Kernel Up.

Combining ultra-low overhead /proc system telemetry with real-time eBPF process lifecycle tracing in a high-performance terminal UI written in Rust.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/josiah-mbao/pulse/main/scripts/install.sh | sh
pulse — [Tab 4: Trace Lens]
eBPF: ACTIVE
// Pulse eBPF RingBuf event listener initialized (sched_process_exec / exit)

Observability Lenses

Four specialized lenses for complete Linux visibility.

Trace Lens eBPF

Observe process births and deaths directly from the Linux kernel in real-time. Captures sched_process_exec and sched_process_exit events, including short-lived processes.

  • Bounded eBPF RingBuf event transport
  • Capped 500-event history window

Fleet Lens Processes

Navigate running processes with instantaneous fuzzy searching, namespace-aware container grouping, multi-column sorting (CPU, Memory, PID), and direct signal dispatch.

  • Stateless fast fuzzy filtering
  • Send SIGTERM & SIGKILL directly from TUI

EKG Lens Telemetry

System-wide metric vital signs. Renders high-frequency CPU sparklines, available memory utilization ratios, and disk read/write throughput velocity over rolling time-series windows.

  • Live CPU utilization sparklines
  • Disk read/write velocity counters

Sentinel Lens Network

Observe network interface operational health in real-time. Tracks receive (RX) and transmit (TX) throughput speeds, packet error accumulation, and interface status.

  • Real-time RX / TX KiB/s bandwidth
  • Interface error detection

Under The Hood

Multi-threaded architecture designed for speed.

Linux Kernel
sched_process_exec / exit
eBPF RingBuffer
Bounded RingBuf transport
AppState Reducer
Bounded time-series state
Ratatui TUI
Stateless renderer

Privilege & Capability Transparency Matrix

Pulse operates in two modes depending on system permissions.

Execution Mode Launch Command Required Privileges Capabilities & Features
Unprivileged Mode pulse Standard User Fleet Process List, EKG Telemetry, Sentinel Network, Filtering & Signals
eBPF Kernel Mode sudo pulse root or CAP_BPF + CAP_PERFMON All /proc features + Real-time eBPF Trace Lens event stream

Documentation

Quick Installation & Reference Guide.

Install the prebuilt self-contained binary:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/josiah-mbao/pulse/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Then run Pulse:

pulse

For real-time eBPF kernel tracing:

sudo pulse

Supports Linux x86_64 and ARM64 architectures.

Install directly from repository using Cargo:

cargo install --git https://github.com/josiah-mbao/pulse.git

Run in unprivileged /proc mode:

pulse

Run with eBPF kernel tracing:

sudo pulse

Clone repository and compile eBPF bytecode using xtask:

$ git clone https://github.com/josiah-mbao/pulse.git
$ cd pulse
$ cargo run --package xtask -- build-ebpf
$ cargo build --release

Run the local release binary in unprivileged /proc mode:

./target/release/pulse

Run the local release binary with eBPF kernel tracing:

sudo ./target/release/pulse

In-TUI Keyboard Reference

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