kill_unwanted.sh

A bash script that monitors running processes and kills those exceeding configurable CPU, memory, or runtime thresholds.

 _    _ _ _                                      _           _ 
| |  (_) | |                                    | |         | |
| | ___| | |_____ _   _ _ ____      ____ _ _ __ | |_ ___  __| |
| |/ / | | |_____| | | | '_ \ \ /\ / / _` | '_ \| __/ _ \/ _` |
|   <| | | |     | |_| | | | \ V  V / (_| | | | | ||  __/ (_| |
|_|\_\_|_|_|      \__,_|_| |_|\_/\_/ \__,_|_| |_|\__\___|\__,_|

Features

• Continuously scans running processes for excessive resource usage
• Configurable thresholds for memory (RAM), CPU utilization, and grace period before action
• Optional graceful termination (SIGTERM) or hard kill with fallback (SIGTERM → SIGKILL)
• Nerd Font icon and colored output support

Usage

./kill_unwanted.sh [OPTIONS]

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-m, --memory [GiB]	Maximum allowed RAM usage per process	32 GiB
-t, --time [SECONDS]	Grace period before a process is considered for action	15 s
-u, --utilization [PERCENT]	Maximum allowed CPU usage per process	50 %
-r, --refresh [SECONDS]	Time between rescans	3 s
-k, --kill	Send SIGTERM to offending processes	—
--hardkill [SECONDS]	Send SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after a delay	10 s
-n, --nerdfonts	Enable Nerd Font icons in output	off
-c, --color	Enable colored output	off
--help	Display the help message and exit	—

Note: running any flag without a value prints its current configured value instead of setting it.

Examples

# Limit processes to 8 GiB RAM
./kill_unwanted.sh --memory 8

# Kill processes exceeding 10% CPU or 1 GiB RAM, immunity 60s, rescan every 2s, colored output
./kill_unwanted.sh -t 60 -u 10 -m 1 -r 2 -c

# Check current CPU threshold with colored output
./kill_unwanted.sh --utilization -c

# Print memory/CPU thresholds, set refresh to 2s, enable Nerd Fonts + color
./kill_unwanted.sh -m -u -r 2 -n -c

Requirements

• Bash
• Standard Unix process utilities (ps, kill, etc.)

License

MIT