Install jvm-mon with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• jvm-mon

Project history

The jvm-mon repository was created on 2017-02-06 and published release 0.1 the same day. Early releases were aimed at a terminal UI for JVM process monitoring, showing running processes, CPU and garbage-collection load, heap usage, and top threads.

The 1.3 release, published on 2025-03-28, marked a substantial implementation change: the README says the tool was rewritten in Go, distributed as a single executable, able to monitor Java 8 and above, and no longer required an existing JDK. The bundled agent jar attaches to a selected JVM and communicates metrics back over a socket.

Adoption history

jvm-mon has a niche but clear adoption profile: terminal-first Java operations. The input package metadata lists Homebrew packaging, and the repository metadata showed about 1,500 GitHub stars on 2026-07-01, which is notable for a focused JVM terminal monitor.

Its adoption sits beside older JVM tools such as JConsole, VisualVM, `jstat`, and `jcmd`, but jvm-mon's package-manager appeal is the single CLI for quick remote inspection.

How it is used

Users launch `jvm-mon`, select a running JVM process, and press Enter to monitor it. The README documents keys for quitting and killing a process, and lists CPU, GC, heap, and thread information as available metrics.

The 1.3 architecture bundles a Java agent jar inside the executable, extracts it at startup, attaches it to the selected JVM, and exchanges metric data through a socket connection.

Why package nerds care

jvm-mon is package-nerd interesting because it turns a normally GUI-heavy or JDK-tool-heavy monitoring task into a Homebrew-installable terminal binary.

The Go rewrite matters operationally: fewer runtime assumptions and no required local JDK make the package easier to ship onto servers where operators want a quick inspection tool rather than a monitoring platform.

Timeline

• 2017-02-06: The jvm-mon GitHub repository is created and release 0.1 is published.
• 2017-03-27: jvm-mon 0.3 is published.
• 2020-04-29: jvm-mon 1.0-ea1 is published.
• 2025-03-20: jvm-mon 1.1 is published.
• 2025-03-28: jvm-mon 1.3 is published with the Go rewrite documented in the README.

Related projects

• JConsole and VisualVM are GUI-oriented JVM monitoring tools in the broader Java ecosystem.
• `jstat` and `jcmd` are command-line JDK tools for JVM inspection.
• Java agents and the JVM attach mechanism are the underlying technique jvm-mon uses to collect metrics.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/ajermakovics/jvm-mon
• https://api.github.com/repos/ajermakovics/jvm-mon/releases
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/jmx/overview/javavm.html
• https://github.com/ajermakovics/jvm-mon
• https://github.com/ajermakovics/jvm-mon/releases
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ajermakovics/jvm-mon/master/README.md