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Install via Cargo

Installing socktop via Cargo gives you access to the latest version and works on any Linux distribution with Rust installed.

Prerequisites

Before installing via Cargo, ensure you have:

  • Rust 1.70 or newer - Install via rustup
  • Build dependencies - See Prerequisites for details
  • GPU support libraries - Required on all systems: 
    sudo apt install libdrm-dev libdrm-amdgpu1

Installation

Installing the TUI Client

cargo install socktop

This will download, compile, and install the socktop binary to ~/.cargo/bin/. Make sure this directory is in your PATH.

Installing the Agent

cargo install socktop-agent

This installs the socktop_agent binary to ~/.cargo/bin/.

cargo install socktop socktop-agent

Verify Installation

Check that the binaries are installed correctly:

# Check socktop client
socktop --version

# Check socktop agent
socktop_agent --version

You should see output like:

socktop 1.50.2

First Run

Start the Agent

Start the agent in a separate terminal or background process:

# Run in foreground (for testing)
socktop_agent

# Run in background
socktop_agent &

# Or with custom options
socktop_agent --port 3000 --host 0.0.0.0

Connect with the Client

In another terminal, connect to the agent:

# Monitor local system
socktop

# Or explicitly specify the WebSocket URL
socktop ws://localhost:3000

Configuration

Agent Configuration

The agent accepts the following command-line arguments:

socktop_agent --help

Common options:

  • --port <PORT> - Port to listen on (default: 3000)
  • --host <HOST> - Host/IP to bind to (default: 0.0.0.0)
  • --token <TOKEN> - Authentication token (optional)
  • --tls-cert <CERT> - TLS certificate path (optional)
  • --tls-key <KEY> - TLS private key path (optional)

Example with custom configuration:

socktop_agent --port 8080 --token mySecretToken123

Client Configuration

The client can connect using various methods:

# Local connection
socktop

# Remote connection
socktop ws://192.168.1.100:3000

# Secure connection with TLS
socktop wss://secure-host:3000

# Using a connection profile
socktop -P my-server

See Configuration for details on setting up profiles.

System-wide agent (Linux)

# If you installed with cargo, binaries are in ~/.cargo/bin
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 "$HOME/.cargo/bin/socktop_agent" /usr/local/bin/socktop_agent

# Install and enable the systemd service (example unit in docs/)
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0644 docs/socktop-agent.service /etc/systemd/system/socktop-agent.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now socktop-agent