# PerformanceDaddy

> Inspect Mac background apps, processes, listening ports and RAM. PerformanceDaddy records slowdown evidence and reviews targets before stopping work.

## A slow Mac.
*A clearer picture.*

Processes. Ports. Evidence.

See what is running behind the scenes on your Mac. Inspect background apps and helpers, find the process holding a port, watch RAM and local coding agents, and record evidence while a slowdown is happening.

[Download for Mac](https://performance.daddyrad.com/download)

[See how it works](/performance/#how-it-works)

### PerformanceDaddy — Ports

PerformanceDaddy Ports view searching port 5000 and identifying ControlCenter as its owner

A real local capture: search a port, see its owner and resident RAM. Socket visibility depends on macOS permissions.

Public early-access beta · free to download · macOS 14+

## Find it. Inspect it. *Decide.*

A daily Mac workbench

Move from the symptom you can see to the process and resource evidence behind it. Stopping a process always starts with a review.

### Find who *owns the port.*

Ports & processes

Search listeners by port number or process. Sort CPU and RAM, inspect process duration and recognized local agent families, then review exact targets before a normal or force stop. No remote port scanning or cloud agent sessions.

Port search for 5000 returning ControlCenter as the owning process, with its resident RAM

### Record *the slow moment.*

Diagnosis

Capture CPU work, memory headroom, active swap-out, thermal state and disk capacity for 15 seconds or two minutes. Every run gets an evidence assessment and a next check, including when the measured signals cannot explain the delay.

Diagnostic recording setup with a 15-second or two-minute length and the measured domains: CPU, memory and swap, thermal state, disk headroom

### A busy process is a clue. *It is not the whole story.*

Start with what you can measure

A port can be occupied while CPU is quiet. Allocated swap does not prove active paging. PerformanceDaddy puts the observations, their limits and the next check together.

### Your work is *not the payload.*

Local investigation

Process inspection does not collect command arguments, environment variables or agent conversations. Configuration inventory reads bounded file metadata, not contents. A separate terminal experiment runs your startup scripts only after explicit consent.

### For a Mac full of *moving parts.*

Release status

The public beta is a signed and notarized universal build for macOS 14 or later, free during early access. A diagnostic report distinguishes measured signals from a confirmed cause; it cannot explain every slowdown.

### Made for

Developers running local servers and coding agents who want visible ports, understandable processes, RAM evidence and deliberate stop controls.

### Not for

Automatic optimization, cloud-session monitoring, remote network scanning, fan control or a promise to identify every root cause.

### Before you *stop anything.*

### Can I download it now?

Yes. The beta is a free, signed and notarized universal Mac build, distributed directly — no account, checkout, trial expiry, App Store or TestFlight.

### Can it kill a process?

Yes, after review. Normal and force stops are separate choices, guarded by process identity and user restrictions. Stopping a process can interrupt work or lose unsaved data.

### What about apps running in the background?

Inspect visible background processes and app helpers alongside foreground workloads. Compare their CPU and resident RAM, see how long a process has been running, and inspect available identity and startup metadata before deciding what to stop. Background does not mean unnecessary: macOS and your apps rely on many of these helpers.

### Why did something come back after I stopped it?

An app, login item or service manager may launch another process. PerformanceDaddy shows matching launch-configuration clues and watches for matching executables after stops requested through the app. A match is not proof of an automatic restart or its cause. This history stays in memory for up to 24 hours and clears when you quit; the app does not disable startup items for you.

### Which agents does it recognize?

Local metadata recognition covers Codex, Claude, Devin, Hermes, Aider, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and Cursor CLI. It cannot identify every wrapped launch or tell whether a conversation is active.

### Does every report prove the root cause?

No. Reports separate observed signals, thresholds not met and missing evidence. CPU activity is not proof of why a task was slow. Network latency, blocked threads, GPU activity and disk latency are not measured by the standard recording.

### Can it read fan speed or temperature?

The app reports macOS thermal state and available power evidence. Raw fan RPM, temperature and fan controls are not implemented.

### Understand the load.
*Choose the next move.*

Nothing stops until you review it. Observe by default; make consequential actions explicit.

[Download for Mac](https://performance.daddyrad.com/download)

[Release status](#release)

macOS 14+ · universal build · no account or checkout

Canonical: https://daddyrad.com/performance/
Last updated: 2026-09-28