The latest articles on DEV Community by Abdullah Tarakji (@abdullahtarakji). https://dev.to/abdullahtarakji https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3781803%2F6374e7ed-dc09-4073-95ae-ca2c3dfdd279.png https://dev.to/abdullahtarakji en Abdullah Tarakji Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:49:32 +0000 https://dev.to/abdullahtarakji/building-portpilot-a-modern-tui-for-port-management-2p18 https://dev.to/abdullahtarakji/building-portpilot-a-modern-tui-for-port-management-2p18 <h1> Building PortPilot: A Modern TUI for Port Management </h1> <p>Ever typed <code>lsof -i :3000 | grep LISTEN</code> for the hundredth time today? Yeah, me too.</p> <p>I built <strong>PortPilot</strong> – a terminal UI that shows all listening ports on your machine, lets you kill processes with one key, and detects port conflicts.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F7wgfl7jl32ggfardlfaw.gif" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F7wgfl7jl32ggfardlfaw.gif" alt="Demo" width="800" height="445"></a></p> <h2> The Problem </h2> <p>As a developer juggling multiple services (frontend servers, databases, Redis, Docker containers), I was constantly typing <code>lsof -i</code> to figure out what was running where. The workflow was painful:</p> <ol> <li>Type <code>lsof -i :3000 | grep LISTEN</code> </li> <li>Find the PID</li> <li>Type <code>kill -9 &lt;PID&gt;</code> </li> <li>Repeat for the next port</li> </ol> <p>I needed something <strong>visual but terminal-native</strong>.</p> <h2> The Solution </h2> <p>PortPilot is a Go-based TUI built with <a href="https://github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bubble Tea</a> that gives you a real-time dashboard of all listening ports.</p> <h3> Key Features </h3> <ul> <li> <strong>📊 Interactive TUI</strong> with real-time updates</li> <li> <strong>⚡ One-key process killing</strong> (select, press <code>k</code>, confirm, done)</li> <li> <strong>🔍 Search/filter</strong> by port or process name</li> <li> <strong>🚨 Conflict detection</strong> (highlights when multiple processes fight for the same port)</li> <li> <strong>📋 CLI mode</strong> for scripting (<code>portpilot list --json | jq ...</code>)</li> <li> <strong>🏷️ Service groups</strong> (tag ports as "frontend", "backend", "database")</li> </ul> <h3> Tech Stack </h3> <ul> <li> <strong>Go</strong> (fast, single binary, cross-platform)</li> <li> <strong>Bubble Tea</strong> (Elm-architecture TUI framework)</li> <li> <strong>Cobra</strong> (CLI commands)</li> <li> <strong>Lip Gloss</strong> (styling)</li> </ul> <p>No root required – uses <code>lsof</code> (macOS) or <code>ss</code> (Linux) under the hood.</p> <h2> Installation </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>go <span class="nb">install </span>github.com/AbdullahTarakji/portpilot/cmd/portpilot@latest </code></pre> </div> <p>Then just run:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>portpilot </code></pre> </div> <h2> Usage </h2> <h3> TUI Mode </h3> <p>Launch the interactive UI:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>portpilot </code></pre> </div> <ul> <li>Navigate with arrow keys</li> <li>Press <code>k</code> to kill a process</li> <li>Press <code>/</code> to search</li> <li>Press <code>q</code> to quit</li> </ul> <h3> CLI Mode </h3> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code><span class="c"># List all listening ports</span> portpilot list <span class="c"># Check a specific port</span> portpilot check 3000 <span class="c"># Kill a process on a port</span> portpilot <span class="nb">kill </span>8080 <span class="c"># JSON output for scripting</span> portpilot list <span class="nt">--json</span> | jq <span class="s1">'.[] | select(.port == 3000)'</span> </code></pre> </div> <h2> What's Next </h2> <ul> <li>Windows support (using <code>netstat</code>)</li> <li>Docker container detection</li> <li>Custom port groups</li> <li>Export/import configurations</li> </ul> <h2> Try It Out </h2> <p>⭐ Star it on GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/AbdullahTarakji/portpilot" rel="noopener noreferrer">github.com/AbdullahTarakji/portpilot</a></p> <p>Feedback and PRs welcome!</p> <h1> golang #opensource #devtools #cli </h1> devtools