Marmot

Clean, uninstall, analyze, optimize, and monitor your Linux (Debian / Arch based) from the terminal.

Marmot is a premium, Linux-native alternative to Mac system utilities, built for Debian-based (apt) and Arch-based (pacman) systems. It runs entirely as a regular user, dynamically escalating privileges via Polkit (pkexec) only when administrative actions are triggered.

Features

• All-in-One Linux Toolkit: Replaces system monitors, ncdu, apt-get clean / paccache, journalctl, and custom scanning scripts in a single TUI interface.
• Bento System Monitor: Real-time CPU usage/temperature, RAM, Swap allocation, Network bandwidth, and Disk volume states.
• Deep Cleaner: Safely vacuums user caches (~/.cache), system trash, apt or pacman package caches, systemd logs, and developer build files (node_modules, .venv, etc.).
• Smart Package Uninstaller: Searches apt or pacman packages, previews every package the removal will take with it, and lets you tick which leftover config/cache folders (exact name match) to delete.
• Disk Usage Analyzer: Interactive tree explorer (an alternative to ncdu) allowing you to recursively navigate folders and inspect sizes asynchronously.
• System Optimizer: One-click actions to sync & drop RAM page cache, flush DNS resolvers, reset failed systemd services, and cycle swap space safely.

Quick Start

Requirements: Python 3.10+, polkit (pkexec) for privileged actions. On Arch, pacman-contrib provides paccache for the package-cache cleaner.

Install with uv (or pipx install git+https://github.com/aquistusfami/Marmot):

uv tool install git+https://github.com/aquistusfami/Marmot
marmot

Upgrade with uv tool upgrade marmot-tui, remove with uv tool uninstall marmot-tui.

Supported distributions

Family	Package backend
Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS, Kali	apt / dpkg
Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS, CachyOS	pacman
Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, Alma	dnf (dnf4 and dnf5)
openSUSE Tumbleweed / Leap	zypper
Alpine	apk
any distro	Flatpak apps (uninstall, unused runtimes)

Docker/Podman and Snap cleanup appear automatically when those tools are installed.

Journal cleaning and service reset need systemd.

Command line

Every cleaning action also works without the TUI (scripts, cron, SSH):

marmot status [--json]                    # CPU, RAM, disks, battery
marmot scan [--json]                      # what can be cleaned, with item ids
marmot clean user_cache dev_junk --dry-run
marmot clean user_cache --keep-cache mozilla yay --yes
marmot undo                               # restore what the last action moved to Trash
marmot history
marmot optimize [ID] [--dry-run]           # maintenance tasks and whether they apply

Keyboard Navigation & Controls

• TAB / Shift+TAB : Switch between active Tabs (Monitor, Cleaner, Uninstaller, Disk Analyzer, Optimizer)
• Arrow Keys / h/j/k/l : Navigate through lists, checkbox options, and directories
• Enter : Select, toggle checkboxes, trigger scan/action buttons
• q : Quit Marmot

Development

git clone https://github.com/aquistusfami/Marmot.git && cd Marmot
uv run marmot            # run from source
uv run pytest            # tests (incl. a headless TUI smoke test)
uv run ruff check        # lint

CI runs lint, tests on Python 3.10–3.14, tests inside an Arch Linux container, and builds the wheel. Pushing a tag vX.Y.Z that matches src/marmot/__init__.py publishes a GitHub release. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Security & Safety Design

Marmot is designed around a least-privilege security model:

1. Regular User Execution: The entire TUI runs as a non-privileged user. It does not run as root or require sudo ./marmot, protecting the system from interface-level vulnerabilities.
2. Polkit Integration (pkexec): When administrative actions (like RAM dropping or package cache cleaning) are executed, Marmot invokes pkexec to securely prompt the user for password authentication.
3. Dirty RAM Syncing: Before purging RAM caches, Marmot runs sync to flush all pending filesystem changes, guaranteeing zero data loss.
4. Swap Reset Safety: Before cycling swap memory, Marmot verifies that free RAM > active swap to prevent Out-Of-Memory (OOM) lockups.

Features in Detail

Real-Time Bento Monitor

Shows a multi-card dashboard updating system statistics on a 1-second interval:

┌── CPU STATUS ─────────────────────────┐  ┌── MEMORY STATUS ──────────────────────┐
│ Usage: 8.4%                           │  │ RAM: 4.82 GB / 15.60 GB (30.9%)       │
│ [████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  │  │ [██████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  │
│ Temp: 42°C                            │  │ Swap: 0 MB / 2.00 GB (0.0%)           │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘  └───────────────────────────────────────┘

Deep System Cleaner

Scans and checks items safely before removing them:

Select areas to clean:
[x] User Caches (~/.cache)                     (4.82 GB)
[x] System Trash Bin                           (1.20 GB)
[ ] APT Package Archives                       (0 B)
[ ] Systemd Logs (keep last 3 days)            (120.4 MB)
[ ] Developer Junk (node_modules, target, venv) (15.42 GB)

Smart App Uninstaller

Search installed packages and purges configuration remnants:

Search installed packages:
[ curl                               ]
  * curl (7.88.1-10+deb12u5)
  * libcurl4 (7.88.1-10+deb12u5)
---------------------------------------
Remnant config files found in:
~/.config/curl/
~/.cache/curl/