get_top_processes
List top processes by CPU or memory usage to identify resource hogs on your system.
Instructions
List the top resource-consuming processes sorted by CPU or memory usage.
Use this to identify which processes are consuming the most resources. Use sort_by="memory" (default) to find memory hogs, or sort_by="cpu" to find CPU-intensive processes. Use get_system_overview first for the big picture, then this tool to drill down into specific processes. To search for a specific process by name, use find_process instead.
This is a read-only operation with no side effects. When sorting by CPU, takes ~0.5 seconds for accurate sampling; memory sorting is instant.
Returns a Markdown table with columns: PID, Name, CPU%, Mem%, RSS, Status. Processes that exit during enumeration or require elevated access are skipped.
Args: sort_by: Sort criterion — "cpu" for CPU usage or "memory" for RAM usage. Default: "memory". Any value other than "cpu" is treated as "memory". limit: Maximum number of processes to return. Range: 1-50. Default: 10. Values outside the range are clamped automatically.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | No | ||
| sort_by | No | memory |