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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Watch what files any Linux process accesses

Log what files are accessed by any Linux process. Contribute to spieglt/whatfiles development by creating an account on GitHub.

This is a Linux tool that monitors and displays which files any running process accesses on a system. It's designed for developers and system administrators who need to understand process behavior and file I/O… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Watch what files any Linux process accesses launched in 2020; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Hi HN, I built a small Linux CLI tool called witr (Why Is This Running?). The idea came from a situation most of us have hit: you log into a machine, see a process or port running, and immediately wonder why it exists, who started it, and what is keeping it alive right now. witr traces a process, service, or port back to its origin and responsibility chain and explains it in a way that’s quick to read, especially when you’re debugging under pressure. This is v0.1.0. It’s intentionally small and focused. Feedback, criticism, and edge cases are very welcome. Repo:…

    Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Filewatch▲129

    Find your public files, before someone else does

    2018 · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Psfiles is a simple utility to view file system activity of Linux processes. Features: - start new process or attach to existing one and trace its file system activity, - output results to standard output or save results to file, - custom results sorting and filtering.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    Shell history & file monitoring sync

    2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5QB

    Quickly browse the history of a file from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or any git repository

    2019 · githistory.xyz · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    A beautiful web dashboard for Linux. Contribute to tariqbuilds/linux-dash development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2014 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Linux tool to show progress for cp, mv, dd, ... (formerly known as cv) - Xfennec/progress

    2014 · github.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    hey guys, wanted to show one of my side projects i just made public. the idea is basically another osint tool for pentesters and bug bounty hunters. it watches certificate transparency logs and checks newly-seen domains for exposed stuff like .env files, open .git dirs, config files, db dumps and so on, and puts whatever it finds into a searchable db. you just search a domain (or part of one) and see what's exposed. it's read-only and free. one thing i've been thinking about adding is a way to register for certain keywords and get notified when something new shows up for that search. would…

    Jul 2026 · search.cerast-intelligence.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Per-executable network bandwidth monitoring for Linux

    2022 · elesiuta.github.io · its alternatives →

  10. 10NM

    A real-time network connection monitoring tool built with Rust and GTK4, displaying active connections with live I/O statistics in a modern graphical interface. https://github.com/grigio/network-monitor

    Nov 2025 · its alternatives →

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    ProcInSh is a web-based process inspector for Linux. - akawashiro/procinsh

    14d ago · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Find your public files, before someone else does

    2019 · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    CLI tool for inspecting and managing services listening on localhost ports - raskrebs/sonar

    Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    Process manager & log viewer for dev.

    2021 · exo.deref.io · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    I built a Rust-based CLI/terminal UI for inspecting Parquet files—data, metadata, and row-group-level structure—right from the terminal. If someone sent me a Parquet file, I used to open DuckDB or Polars just to see what was inside. Now I can do it with one command. Repo: https://github.com/kaushiksrini/parqeye

    Nov 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

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    allocscope - a memory tracking tool. Contribute to matt-kimball/allocscope development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    See everything Claude Code hides from your terminal

    Feb 2026 · claude-dev.tools · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    Linux system exploration and troubleshooting tool with first class support for containers - draios/sysdig

    2014 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21
    WhatsDiff▲141

    CLI tool to help you understand changes in your dependencies

    Nov 2025 · whatsdiff.app · its alternatives →

  22. 22
    Informant▲133

    Inspect files on macOS with a single click.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Hi HN, I spent the past year building this in my spare time because I got tired of enterprise security tools that cost $50K/year and don't understand Linux. TheProtector is a comprehensive security monitoring tool that actually runs on the systems we use (Linux) instead of being a Windows-first afterthought. Built it entirely on a $500 laptop because I believe good security shouldn't require unlimited budgets. Features: - Real-time process, network, and file monitoring - YARA malware detection with custom rules - eBPF kernel monitoring (when available) - Behavioral baseline…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    🐚📊 Show off your most used shell commands. Contribute to irevenko/tsukae development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →

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