Python Sysinfo CLI

A zero-dependency Python CLI that prints a clean snapshot of your system — CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, temperature, OS, and uptime — as a readable table or as JSON. Pure standard library, single file, cross-platform.

sysglance.py is one file with no pip install step, so it runs anywhere Python 3.9+ does. Drop it on a server, run it, and get the system information you actually want at a glance. The --json mode makes it a convenient source of machine-readable system info for scripts, dashboards, and monitoring one-liners.

Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows, reading each platform's native interfaces rather than shelling out to third-party tools.

$ python sysglance.py --no-color
sysglance
---------
User      user@host
OS        Windows 10
Arch      AMD64
Python    3.14.3
CPU       AMD64 Family 25 Model 33 Stepping 2, AuthenticAMD
Cores     12
Memory    13.5 GB / 31.9 GB (42%)
Disk (~)  525.8 GB / 930.9 GB (56%)
Uptime    1h 0m
IP        192.168.1.42
Ifaces    ethernet_0, ethernet_1, ethernet_2, ethernet_3, ethernet_4, ethernet_5, +27 more

Real output from a run on Windows, with only the username, hostname, and local IP replaced. Battery and CPU Temp rows are absent here because this machine is a desktop and CPU temperature is Linux-only — see Limitations.

Features

• One-screen system summary — user, hostname, OS, architecture, Python version, CPU model and core count, memory, disk, uptime, IP address, network interfaces, battery, and CPU temperature
• Zero dependencies — Python standard library only, nothing to install
• Three output modes — coloured table, plain text for piping, and JSON
• Cross-platform, using native interfaces per OS (see the table below)
• Degrades gracefully — anything unavailable on your platform is omitted or reported as null rather than crashing
• Single file — copy sysglance.py anywhere and run it

Requirements

Python 3.9 or newer — the oldest version the test suite runs against in CI. Nothing else.

CI runs the test suite on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and against Python 3.9 and 3.14.

Installation

No install step. Clone, or just download the single file:

git clone https://github.com/ItsMrZxD/python-sysinfo-cli
cd python-sysinfo-cli
python3 sysglance.py

Usage

python3 sysglance.py            # pretty, coloured table
python3 sysglance.py --no-color # plain text (good for piping to a file)
python3 sysglance.py --json     # machine-readable JSON
python3 sysglance.py --version

Command-line options

Flag	Description
--json	output as JSON instead of the table
--no-color	disable coloured output
--version	print the version and exit
-h, --help	show usage and exit

JSON output

Piping to a tool? Use --json:

python3 sysglance.py --json | jq .cpu.model

The JSON object has these top-level keys:

user, hostname, os, arch, python, cpu, memory,
disk, uptime_seconds, network, battery, temperature_c

Metrics that are unavailable on the current platform are null, so consumers can check for them explicitly. The full interface list lives in network even when the table truncates it.

How it works

No third-party libraries — just the standard library reading how each system exposes its own state. Collection is separated from presentation, so the same structured data drives both the table and the JSON output.

Metric	Linux	macOS	Windows
CPU model	/proc/cpuinfo	sysctl	PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER
Memory	/proc/meminfo	—	GlobalMemoryStatusEx
Uptime	/proc/uptime	sysctl kern.boottime	GetTickCount64
Battery	/sys/class/power_supply	pmset	GetSystemPowerStatus
CPU temp	/sys/class/thermal	—	—
Disk / OS / IP	shutil, platform, socket (all platforms)

The Windows values come from calling the Win32 API directly through ctypes rather than shelling out to wmic or PowerShell, which keeps it fast and dependency-free. One subtlety worth noting: the fields in SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS are declared as unsigned bytes, because a signed type would wrap the API's 255 "no battery" sentinel to -1 and misreport a desktop as having a battery.

On Linux, CPU temperature is the highest reading across all /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone* entries.

Tests

python -m unittest discover

CI runs the suite on ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, and macos-latest.

Limitations

• Rows are omitted when unavailable. Battery, CPU temperature, IP, and network interfaces are dropped from the table entirely if the platform does not report them; memory shows n/a. In --json output they are null.
• CPU temperature is Linux-only. macOS and Windows both require privileged or vendor-specific interfaces to read it.
• Memory is not reported on macOS — there is no /proc/meminfo and no ctypes path implemented for it.
• Colour is disabled on Windows. Output is plain text there regardless of terminal capability.
• Disk usage is for the home directory's filesystem only (~), not every mounted volume.
• The table truncates the interface list to the first six, with a +N more marker. --json always carries the full list.
• This is a point-in-time snapshot, not a monitor — there is no sampling interval, so CPU utilisation is not reported, only the model and core count.

Ideas for next

• --watch mode that refreshes on an interval
• per-interface IP addresses
• a --fields flag to pick exactly which rows to show

License

MIT — see LICENSE.