Most developer tools on Linux are process-centric.
But we don’t think in processes.
We think in:
- projects
- services
- ports
- builds
So i built DevWatch — a GNOME Shell extension that makes your desktop understand your development workflow.
🧠 What is DevWatch?
DevWatch transforms GNOME from a generic desktop into a developer-aware operating layer.
Instead of showing random PIDs and CPU usage, it tells you:
- 👉 Which project is running what
- 👉 Which port belongs to which service
- 👉 What your dev environment is actually doing
The DevWatch Panel
When you click the DevWatch button in your GNOME panel, the dropdown gives you a complete, real-time view of your development environment.
🧾 Header Bar
- Live stats showing:
- number of active projects
- number of open ports
- total RAM usage
- Stop All Projects — instantly kills all running dev processes
- Settings — opens the preferences window
🔍 Running Projects
Each project is shown as an expandable card:
- Service-oriented view
👉 shows "Python Server" instead of raw
python3.12 - Stop Project — kills all processes in that project
-
Open Terminal — opens
gnome-terminalat the project’s git root
🌐 Open Ports
- Highlights dev ports (3000, 5173, 8080, etc.) with colored dots
- Shows project name linked to each port
- Stop button kills the process using that port
- Displays runtime (how long the port has been active)
📷 Sessions
- Save — name and store your current workspace
- Last Workspace — auto-saved every refresh (persists across reboots)
- Resume — restores terminals, services, and editors
- Delete — remove saved sessions
⚡ Build Activity
- Shows live builds with:
- elapsed time
- CPU usage
-
Recent Builds — collapsible history with:
- duration
- peak CPU usage
- Detects builds from:
- npm, cargo, make, go build, gradle, webpack, vite, tsc, gcc, and more
- Build history persists across reboots
⚠ Problems (Conditional Section)
Appears only when issues are detected:
- ⚠ trackitte using 3.2 GB RAM
- ⚠ backend CPU at 92%
🧠 Why I Built This
As a developer, I kept doing things like:
lsof -i :3000
ps aux | grep node
kill -9 <pid>
And I realized:
Why is my OS not aware of my projects?
DevWatch is my attempt to fix that.
What I Need From You
I’d love honest feedback from developers:
Specifically:
• Does this solve a real problem for you?
• What feature would you actually use daily?
• What feels unnecessary?
• What would make you install this instantly?
Try It Out !!!
👉 GitHub:
https://github.com/Adithya-Balan/DevWatch
(Installation steps are in the README)
🙌 Feedback Welcome
This is still evolving — and I want to shape it around real developer workflows, not assumptions.
👉 Drop your thoughts, critiques, or feature ideas below in the comments.
Even harsh feedback is welcome — that’s how this gets better 🚀
Top comments (5)
Will this extesion works on all Linux distributions??
Thanks for taking your time to comment,
The extension will work on all Linux Distributions(ubuntu, kali, arch, etc...)
👌
We literally built this out of frustration from constantly jumping between lsof, ps, and terminals. Seeing everything tied to projects in one place is a game changer.💪
Exactly this. We didn’t start with a “feature idea” — we started with a frustration.
DevWatch is basically us asking:
“Why am I still thinking in PIDs instead of projects?”
Glad that resonates 💪