Manjaro Task Manager

A modern, full-featured Task Manager for Arch Linux and Arch-based distributions (Manjaro, EndeavourOS, CachyOS, …), built with Python 3 + PySide6 (Qt6) and inspired visually by the Manjaro desktop — without using any of Manjaro's official logo or brand assets.

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Features

• Overview — live CPU / Memory / GPU / Disk / Network summary cards
• Processes — full process table with search, sort, column customization, End Task, Force Kill, End Process Tree, Suspend/Resume, priority, and a detailed Properties dialog (command line, environment, open files)
• Applications — a filtered, app-focused view of your own GUI processes
• Performance — live, low-overhead charts for CPU, Memory, GPU, Disk I/O, and Network
• Services — systemd service browser: start/stop/restart/reload/ enable/disable, with polkit-elevated retry when needed
• Startup Apps — manage ~/.config/autostart/ entries (enable, disable, remove) without touching system-owned files
• Users — active session list with CPU/RAM usage and Logout
• System — full OS/CPU/GPU/Memory/Storage/Desktop information
• Settings — theme, update interval, confirmations, notifications, startup behavior, and keyboard shortcuts
• System tray integration, desktop notifications, and a documented approach to a global shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+T) that's honest about Wayland's platform limitations

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Screenshots

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Installation (Arch Linux / Arch-based)

https://github.com/Takiblu/task-manager.git
cd manjaro-task-manager
makepkg -si

This builds and installs the package, including:

• the application itself under /usr/lib/manjaro-task-manager
• a launcher at /usr/bin/manjaro-task-manager
• a desktop entry and icon
• a polkit policy for the small set of actions that need elevation
• an optional systemd --user unit for "Start on login"

Manual installation (any distro with the dependencies available)

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 src/main.py

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
python-pyside6	UI toolkit (Qt6)
python-psutil	process/system metrics
polkit	privilege elevation prompts
systemd	Services page
wmctrl (optional)	better window-manager detection
xdg-utils (optional)	"Open File Location"
libnotify (optional)	notification fallback
nvidia-utils (optional)	NVIDIA GPU monitoring
python-xlib (optional)	native global shortcut on X11

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Usage

Launch from your application menu, or:

manjaro-task-manager
manjaro-task-manager --minimized   # start in the system tray
manjaro-task-manager --verbose     # debug logging to stderr

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+T	Open Task Manager
Ctrl+F	Focus search (Processes page)
F5	Refresh (data already refreshes continuously)
Delete	End Task (selected process)
Shift+Delete	Force Kill (selected process)
Esc	Close dialog
Ctrl+,	Open Settings
Ctrl+Q	Quit

All shortcuts are editable in Settings (stored as Qt key-sequence strings).

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Wayland vs. X11

This app detects your display server automatically and adapts:

• System Information correctly reports Wayland or X11.
• Global Shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+T):
  • On X11, a true global key grab is used when python-xlib is installed.
  • On Wayland, there is no portable, unprivileged way for an application to grab a truly global hotkey — this is a deliberate platform restriction, not a bug. The app will try to register the shortcut through your desktop environment's own mechanism (GNOME's custom-keybinding schema, where available); otherwise it shows you the exact command to bind manually from your DE's Keyboard Shortcuts settings.
  • In both cases, the shortcut still works while the app window has focus, as an ordinary in-app shortcut.

We will never claim a global hotkey "works" on a desktop environment where it structurally cannot.

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Permissions & Security

• The application never runs as root and never calls sudo.
• All system commands run as an argv list (never a shell string), closing off shell-injection entirely.
• Every PID-based action (End Task, Force Kill, Suspend, priority changes, …) validates that the PID is a real, currently-running process immediately before acting on it.
• Actions that genuinely require elevated privileges (some systemd service operations) prompt through polkit (pkexec), using a scoped policy (packaging/org.manjarotaskmanager.policy) — never a blanket root shell.
• Startup entry changes are written only under your own ~/.config/autostart/; system-wide /etc/xdg/autostart/ entries are shown read-only and are copied into a user override rather than edited in place.

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Troubleshooting

GPU shows "Not Available" The app reads NVIDIA data via nvidia-smi (install nvidia-utils) and AMD/Intel data via sysfs (amdgpu/i915 drivers). If neither is present, GPU monitoring is honestly reported as unavailable rather than showing fake numbers.

"Interactive authentication required" when managing a service Some systemd actions need elevated rights; the app automatically retries through polkit. If polkit isn't installed, install it and make sure a polkit authentication agent is running for your desktop.

Global shortcut doesn't work everywhere See the Wayland vs. X11 section above — this is expected on some Wayland compositors without a supported custom-keybinding mechanism.

Notifications don't appear The app tries D-Bus (org.freedesktop.Notifications) first, then falls back to notify-send (libnotify). Make sure a notification daemon is running (most desktop environments ship one by default).

Logs are written to ~/.local/state/manjaro-task-manager/app.log (rotated, 5 MB × 3 backups) — include them when reporting a bug.

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Development

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 src/main.py --verbose

Project layout:

task-manager/
├── src/
│   ├── main.py            # entry point
│   ├── ui/                # PySide6 widgets, pages, theme
│   ├── core/               # polling worker, notifications, startup, shortcuts
│   ├── services/            # systemd integration
│   ├── process/             # process listing, actions, properties
│   ├── system/               # CPU/Mem/GPU/Disk/Net/User monitors
│   ├── permissions/          # polkit bridge
│   ├── settings/             # persisted app settings
│   └── utils/                 # logging, platform detection, safe subprocess
├── assets/icons/
├── tests/
├── packaging/                  # PKGBUILD support files
├── PKGBUILD
├── pyproject.toml
└── requirements.txt

Testing

pip install pytest pytest-qt
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen pytest tests/ -v

The test suite covers: PID validation / injection safety, End Task / Force Kill / Process Tree / Suspend-Resume, CPU & memory monitor sanity, process listing resilience (vanished/inaccessible processes), settings persistence & clamping of untrusted values, systemd unit-name validation, and polkit fallback behavior.

Packaging

makepkg -si          # build and install locally
makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO   # regenerate .SRCINFO before publishing

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License

GPL-3.0-or-later — see LICENSE.