portctl - Stop guessing what's running on your machine
portctl is a fast, cross-platform CLI to inspect ports, understand processes, and recover broken dev environments - built for real-world development workflows.
Built in Rust. ~1.2MB binary. Zero runtime dependencies.
KEYWORDS
portctl, port conflict, kill port, port scanner, EADDRINUSE, address already in use,
port 3000 in use, port 8080 in use, free port, kill process on port,
lsof alternative, fkill alternative, kill-port alternative,
developer tools, developer productivity, dev environment, dev server,
CLI tool, command line tool, terminal tool,
zombie process, stale server, idle process,
port management, process manager, process debugging,
Next.js port conflict, React port conflict, Vite port conflict,
Django port conflict, Flask port conflict, Express port conflict,
Node.js port conflict, Python port conflict,
Docker port conflict, PostgreSQL port conflict, Redis port conflict,
graceful shutdown, SIGTERM, process kill,
macOS developer tools, Linux developer tools, Windows developer tools,
Rust CLI, cross-platform CLI, Homebrew CLI, npm CLI, cargo CLI,
dev server recovery, port recovery, fix dev server,
interactive TUI, terminal UI, ratatui,
dev stack manager, portctl up, portctl down, portctl watch,
port monitoring, crash detection, auto-restart, preflight check,
project config, .portctl.toml, service orchestration,
port registry, port conflict detection, portctl ci, portctl use,
profile switching, dev staging profiles, CI/CD port check,
monorepo support, multi-port fix, PID tracking, actual port detection,
package.json port detection, smart init, auto-detect port
USE CASES
- How to kill process on port 3000
- How to fix EADDRINUSE error
- How to find what is using a port
- How to free a port on macOS
- How to free a port on Linux
- How to kill zombie process
- How to fix port already in use
- How to scan all open ports
- How to restart dev server after crash
- How to clean up stale dev servers
- How to start dev stack with one command
- How to monitor port and auto-restart
- How to check ports before starting services
- How to validate port assignments for conflicts
- How to run port checks in CI/CD pipeline
- How to switch between dev and staging port configs
- Alternative to lsof -i :3000
- Alternative to kill -9
- Alternative to kill-port
- Alternative to fkill
- Alternative to docker-compose for local processes
- Best port management tool
- Best developer productivity CLI
- Port conflict resolver
COMMANDS
portctl scan - List all listening ports with process info
portctl fix <ports> - Safely kill process on one or more ports
portctl fix <ports> --run "cmd" - Kill and auto-restart
portctl doctor - Auto-diagnose dev environment
portctl group - Group ports by role
portctl history - View action history
portctl project - Detect project type
portctl ui - Interactive terminal UI
portctl init - Create .portctl.toml config file
portctl up - Start all services from .portctl.toml
portctl up -y - Start services, auto-fix port conflicts
portctl down - Stop all services from .portctl.toml
portctl preflight - Check if ports are free before starting
portctl watch <port> - Monitor port and auto-restart on crash
portctl registry check - Validate port assignments for conflicts
portctl ci - Run all checks non-interactively (CI/CD mode)
portctl ci --json - CI mode with JSON output
portctl use <profile> - Switch to a named profile
INSTALL
brew tap abhishekayu/tap && brew install portctl
cargo install portctl
npm install -g portctl
npx portctl scan
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abhishekayu/portctl/main/install.sh | sh
LINKS
https://github.com/abhishekayu/portctl
https://crates.io/crates/portctl
https://www.npmjs.com/package/portctl
LICENSE
MIT - free for personal and commercial use