Compiling and exporting
Watch clock speed and heat while a long build or render runs, and see whether a slowdown is thermal or something else entirely.
Your Mac already knows how hot it's running. Now you can watch too.
One panel, seven screens
Every subsystem gets its own screen with history behind it, and the menu bar carries a short version so the window can stay closed most of the day.
Read only, until you decide otherwise
By default, Core-Monitor only watches the fans. Install the optional helper and you get three ways to drive them: a fixed speed, a boost profile, or a custom curve you draw yourself, point by point.
- Hand it back anytimeOne button returns full control to macOS, no restart needed.
- Draw your own curveMap CPU or GPU temperature to fan speed across as many points as you want.
- Skip the helper entirelyMonitoring works identically whether or not it is installed.
- Calibrate firstMeasure each fan's real minimum and maximum before trusting a profile to it.
Where people actually reach for it
The moments this was made around: the fans wind up and you want to know exactly why.
Away from the charger
Watts in and watts out, so the time-remaining figure reflects what the Mac is actually drawing right now, not a rough guess.
Recording and calls
Pin the fans low before you hit record, check the temperature margin, then hand cooling back to macOS once you are done.
Warnings that stay put
Set a threshold for heat, memory or battery and get a notification straight from the Mac itself, with no server involved.
Nothing hidden
The full source is public, so anyone can check exactly what gets read, what the helper writes, and what never leaves the machine.
No account needed
No sign-in, no subscription, and no analytics library anywhere in the binary. Process names can be hidden in memory views too.
The Touch Bar, put back to work
On Macs that still have one, Core-Monitor turns the Touch Bar into a strip of live instruments that sits above whatever app has focus.
Widgets, overlays and shortcuts
Stats, weather, shortcuts and memory pressure, arranged with a live width preview so a layout never runs off the edge of the strip. The strip holds its place across apps, so you can check a reading or launch something without switching windows.
How it stacks up
A handful of good Mac monitors already exist. This is where Core-Monitor sits next to them, stated plainly.
| App | Strong at | Where Core-Monitor differs |
|---|---|---|
| iStat Menus | Covers dozens of metrics across many menu bar modules. | Narrower on purpose. Heat, power and fans, open source, with no license to buy. |
| TG Pro | Deep per-sensor diagnostics. | Monitoring comes first here; writing fan speed is an optional layer, not the whole app. |
| Macs Fan Control | Direct control over fan speed. | Wraps that control in a full dashboard, with history, alerts and menu bar readouts. |
| Stats | Free, modular menu bar widgets. | One dedicated window with history, built specifically around thermals. |
Three doors, same app
Pick whichever matches how you manage software on your Mac. Every route below is free.
Download the signed build
Grab it straight from GitHub. The DMG gives you the familiar drag-to-Applications install; the ZIP is the bare app bundle.
Install through Homebrew
Add the tap once, then install and upgrade the cask the same way you handle everything else.
brew tap --custom-remote offyotto/core-monitor \ https://github.com/offyotto/Core-Monitor brew install --cask offyotto/core-monitor/core-monitor
Take the sandboxed edition
A read-only build reviewed by Apple. No helper and no fan writes, exactly as the App Store requires.
Questions before you install
Short, direct answers to what people usually check first.
Which Macs can run it?
Apple Silicon Macs on macOS 13 or later. The sensors and fan interfaces it reads are specific to Apple's own chips, so Intel Macs are not supported.
Do I need the helper installed?
No. Every reading works without it. It exists only so the app can write fan speeds, and you can hand control back to macOS whenever you like.
Does it phone home?
No. There is no analytics code and no account anywhere in the app. The one network call is optional WeatherKit weather for the Touch Bar, and it only runs if you switch it on.
Can fan control damage my Mac?
macOS keeps its own thermal limits regardless of what any app requests. Core-Monitor also keeps an obvious way out: one click gives full control back to the system.
What is deliberately left out?
Cloud dashboards, fleet management, and a metric for every corner of the OS. The scope stays heat, power, memory, battery and fans, done properly.
Where do bug reports go?
Open an issue on the GitHub tracker. Release notes and older builds live on the releases page.