A powerful utility for capturing and parsing deep hardware telemetry from Apple Silicon SoCs via the mactop CLI.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install mactop
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install mactop using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is mactop?
The mactop skill is a specialized diagnostic tool designed for Apple Silicon Macs. It leverages the mactop utility in headless mode to extract high-fidelity hardware data, including power consumption, thermal states, and component utilization. By utilizing the TOON format, this skill enables AI agents to provide precise real-time system snapshots, making it an essential component of the Openclaw Skills ecosystem for macOS power users and developers.
This skill is particularly valuable for users who need to monitor the efficiency of M-series chips without a GUI. It provides granular details that standard system monitors often miss, such as specific GPU power draw and Thunderbolt bus activity, all through a clean interface integrated into Openclaw Skills.
mactop Use Cases
- Monitor system performance during heavy software builds or AI model inference sessions.
- Check SoC temperature and thermal throttling states to ensure optimal hardware health on M-series chips.
- Track power efficiency and battery impact by observing total wattage for CPU and GPU independently.
- Debug network or disk I/O bottlenecks in real-time during data-intensive operations.
- Automate hardware reporting within Openclaw Skills to trigger alerts based on thermal or usage thresholds.
How mactop Works
- The skill invokes the mactop CLI tool using the --format toon and --headless flags to generate machine-readable output.
- It executes a single or multi-sample capture to get a snapshot of current system behavior.
- The skill parses the TOON-formatted key-value pairs using command-line utilities to isolate specific metrics like cpu_usage, memory availability, or SocTemp.
- The processed data is returned as a structured response, providing a clear overview of the Apple Silicon hardware state.
mactop Setup
To use this skill with Openclaw Skills, ensure mactop is installed and your path is configured correctly:
# Install mactop via Homebrew
brew install mactop
# Ensure /usr/sbin is in your PATH for sysctl access
export PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin"
mactop Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill organizes hardware telemetry into several logical groups. The TOON format ensures data is easily accessible via simple grep or awk commands:
| Category | Metric | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SoC Metrics | CPUPower, SocTemp | Real-time wattage and temperature of the chip |
| Memory | Used, Total | RAM utilization in bytes |
| Usage | cpu_usage, gpu_usage | Load percentage for the processor and graphics cores |
| System Info | Name, CoreCount | Identification of the specific chip (e.g., Apple M4 Pro) |
| Network | InBytesPerSec | Real-time throughput data |
mactop Advanced Features
- Headless execution mode allows for background monitoring without interrupting user workflows.
- Configurable sample counts and intervals for high-precision performance profiling.
- Direct access to Thunderbolt bus naming and status for advanced peripheral troubleshooting.
- Integration-ready TOON format facilitates seamless data passing between different Openclaw Skills.
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