Ports

January 20, 2026 · View on GitHub

A lightweight macOS menu bar app for viewing and managing open network ports.

Features

Menu bar app - Always accessible from the system tray
Smart categorization - Ports grouped by type (dev, web, database, gaming, media, comms)
Risk indicators - Visual safety assessment for each port
Exposure info - See if ports are local-only (127) or network-exposed (*)
One-click kill - Terminate processes directly from the menu
Pin favorites - Quick access to important ports
Search & filter - Find ports by name or number
Launch at login - Start automatically with your Mac
Keyboard shortcuts - Quick actions without clicking

Installation

Download

Download the latest .dmg from Releases
Open the DMG and drag Ports to Applications
Launch Ports from Applications
Look for the network icon in your menu bar

Note: If you see "App is damaged" on unsigned releases, run:
xattr -cr /Applications/Ports.app

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/CorvidLabs/Ports.git
cd Ports
swift build && swift run PortViewer

Usage

Click the network icon in the menu bar
View open ports grouped by category
Click any port row to see details
Hover to reveal kill/pin actions
Right-click for more options

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`⌘R`	Refresh port list
`⌘F`	Focus search field
`Esc`	Clear search

Understanding the Display

● 3000 tcp bun       * 92960
│   │   │   │        │   │
│   │   │   │        │   └── Process ID
│   │   │   │        └────── Exposure (* = network, 127 = local)
│   │   │   └─────────────── Process name
│   │   └─────────────────── Protocol
│   └─────────────────────── Port number
└─────────────────────────── Risk indicator

Exposure Indicators

Symbol	Meaning
`127` (green)	Local only - Only accessible from your Mac
`*` (orange)	Network - Accessible from other devices on your network

Risk Levels

Color	Level	Description
Green	Safe	Known process, localhost only
Blue	Normal	Recognized application
Orange	Attention	Exposed to network
Gray	Unknown	Unrecognized process

Icon	Category	Examples
🔨	dev	Node.js, Bun, Vite, webpack
🌐	web	nginx, Apache, Caddy
🗄️	database	PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB
🎮	gaming	Steam, Discord (gaming features)
▶️	media	Spotify, Plex, VLC
💬	comms	Slack, Discord, Zoom
🍎	macos	System services

Development

Requirements

macOS 13.0+
Swift 6.0+
Xcode Command Line Tools

Building

# Debug build and run
swift build && swift run PortViewer

# Release build
swift build -c release

# Create DMG
./scripts/build-release.sh 0.3.0

# Create signed DMG (requires Developer ID)
./scripts/build-release.sh 0.3.0 "Developer ID Application: Name (TEAMID)"

Project Structure

Sources/PortViewer/
├── App.swift              # App entry point and state
├── Models/
│   └── PortInfo.swift     # Port data model
├── Services/
│   ├── PortScanner.swift  # lsof parsing
│   ├── ProcessKiller.swift # Process termination
│   ├── UpdateChecker.swift # GitHub release checking
│   └── LaunchAtLogin.swift # Login item management
└── Views/
    ├── MenuBarView.swift  # Main menu bar popup
    ├── PortDetailView.swift # Port detail popover
    ├── SettingsView.swift # Settings window
    └── AboutView.swift    # About tab

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Made with ❤️ by CorvidLabs