winload-0.1.7-beta.4 is not a library.

Winload

A lightweight, real-time CLI tool for monitoring network bandwidth and traffic, inspired by Linux's nload.

📖 English 📖 简体中文(大陆) 📖 繁體中文(台灣) 📖 日本語 📖 한국어

📖 Build Docs

🚀 Introduction

Winload brings an intuitive, visual network monitor to the modern terminal. It started as a Windows-focused tool to fill the nload gap, and now targets Linux and macOS as well.

🙏 Acknowledgements

Winload is inspired by the classic nload project by Roland Riegel. Many thanks for the original idea and experience. https://github.com/rolandriegel/nload

✨ Key Features

Dual implementations
- Rust edition: fast, memory-safe, single static binary—great for everyday monitoring.
- Python edition: easy to hack and extend for prototyping or integrations.
Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, and macOS (x64 & ARM64).
Real-time visualization: live incoming/outgoing graphs and throughput stats.
Minimal UI: clean TUI that mirrors nload's ergonomics.

📥 Python Edition Installation

💡 Implementation Note: Only PyPI and source code from GitHub/Gitee provide Python edition.
All package managers (Scoop, AUR, npm, APT, RPM) distribute Rust binaries only.

Python (pip)

pip install winload

📥 Rust Edition Installation (recommended)

npm (cross-platform)

npm install -g winload-rust-bin

# or use npx directly

npx winload-rust-bin

Includes 6 precompiled binaries for x86_64 & ARM64 across Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Windows (Scoop)

scoop bucket add vincentzyu https://github.com/VincentZyuApps/scoop-bucket
scoop install winload

Arch Linux (AUR):

paru -S winload-rust-bin

Linux (one-liner)

Supports Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives — Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, Deepin, UOS, etc. (apt)

Supports Fedora/RHEL and derivatives — Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, CentOS Stream, etc. (dnf)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VincentZyuApps/winload/main/docs/install_scripts/install.sh | bash

📄 View install script source

DEB (Debian/Ubuntu):

# Download the latest .deb from GitHub Releases

sudo dpkg -i ./winload_*_amd64.deb

# or use apt (auto-resolves dependencies)

sudo apt install ./winload_*_amd64.deb

RPM (Fedora/RHEL):

sudo dnf install ./winload-*-1.x86_64.rpm

Or download binaries directly from GitHub Releases.

⌨️ Usage

winload              # Monitor all active network interfaces

winload -t 200       # Set refresh interval to 200ms

winload -d "Wi-Fi"   # Start with a specific device

winload -e           # Enable emoji decorations 🎉

winload --npcap      # Capture 127.0.0.1 loopback traffic (Windows, requires Npcap)

Options

Flag	Description	Default
`-t`, `--interval <MS>`	Refresh interval in milliseconds	`500`
`-a`, `--average <SEC>`	Average calculation window in seconds	`300`
`-d`, `--device <NAME>`	Default device name (partial match)	—
`-e`, `--emoji`	Enable emoji decorations in TUI 🎉	off
`-U`, `--unicode`	Use Unicode block characters for graph (█▓░·)	off
`-u`, `--unit <UNIT>`	Display unit: `bit` or `byte`	`bit`
`-b`, `--bar-style <STYLE>`	Bar style: `fill`, `color`, or `plain`	`fill`
`--in-color <HEX>`	Incoming graph color, hex RGB (e.g. `0x00d7ff`)	cyan
`--out-color <HEX>`	Outgoing graph color, hex RGB (e.g. `0xffaf00`)	gold
`-m`, `--max <VALUE>`	Fixed Y-axis max (e.g. `10M`, `1G`, `500K`)	auto
`-n`, `--no-graph`	Hide graph, show stats only	off
`--hide-separator`	Hide the separator line (row of equals signs)	off
`--no-color`	Disable all TUI colors (monochrome mode)	off
`--npcap`	[Windows Rust Only] Capture loopback traffic via Npcap (recommended)	off
`--debug-info`	[Rust Only] Print network interface debug info and exit	—
`-h`, `--help`	Print help (`--help --emoji` for emoji version!)	—
`-V`, `--version`	[Rust Only] Print version	—

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
`←` / `→` or `↑` / `↓`	Switch network device
`=`	Toggle separator line visibility
`c`	Toggle color on/off
`q` / `Esc`	Quit

🪟 Windows Loopback (127.0.0.1)

Windows cannot report loopback traffic through standard APIs — this is a functional deficiency in Windows' network stack.

To capture loopback traffic on Windows, use the --npcap flag:

winload --npcap

This requires Npcap installed with "Support loopback traffic capture" enabled during setup.

I previously tried polling Windows' own GetIfEntry API directly, but the counters are always 0 for loopback — there is simply no NDIS driver behind the loopback pseudo-interface to count anything. That code path has been removed.

📖 For a deep dive into why Windows loopback is broken, see docs/win_loopback.md

On Linux and macOS, loopback traffic works out of the box — no extra flags needed.

winload 0.1.7-beta.4