It's nearly ready.

Installing it

1. Open the disk image and drag Macometer to Applications.
2. Open it. macOS checks it the first time, as it does with anything you download, and asks if you're sure. Then its first window says what it reads and what it doesn't.
3. Look for a small moving line with a percentage beside it, at the top right of your screen.

What you need

• macOS 15 or later. Tested on Apple silicon and macOS 27 so far. What's been tested
• It held at 56 MB over a 5-minute run with the CPU page loaded, on an M4 Pro Mac mini. What it measured

Removing it

1. If you turned on the helper, turn it off in Settings first. That removes it.
2. If you installed the command, remove it from Settings too, or delete the link at ~/.local/bin/macometer.
3. Quit Macometer, then drag it from Applications to the Trash.
4. Its history is in ~/Library/Application Support/com.macometer.app/ and its preferences are under com.macometer.app. Delete the folder and ~/Library/Preferences/com.macometer.app.plist if you want them gone.

What it will ask you for

No permissions when it starts, and none when you open its window. These appear only after you do something:

Notifications

When you first turn on an alert or the idle server notification.

Audio capture

When you first move an app's volume slider.

Login items

When you turn on Open at Login, macOS shows a Login Item Added notice. You can turn it off in System Settings, under General, Login Items & Extensions.

Helper approval

When you turn on the optional helper, macOS tells you and you approve it in System Settings, in the same place.

Macometer never looks inside Desktop, Documents, Downloads, iCloud Drive or app containers, so it doesn't cause the prompts those folders raise.