Foreman
Download Buy $12

Foreman's menu bar readout: which style to pick

· 6 min read

Pick “CPU graph and percentage” if you want one glance to tell you whether the Mac is busy, “CPU and memory” if slowdowns on your Mac usually come from running out of memory, and “Icon only” if your menu bar is crowded and you only want Foreman one click away. All three open the same panel when you click, so the choice is only about what you see without clicking.

This post goes through the three styles, what the panel adds, and the setting that lets Foreman keep running with no Dock icon and no window.

The three styles

Open Foreman’s Settings and find the menu bar style. It offers three choices, named exactly like this:

  • CPU graph and percentage. A live graph and a percentage for the processor.
  • CPU and memory. Readings for both the processor and memory.
  • Icon only. Foreman’s icon and no numbers.

The style decides how much of your menu bar the readout takes up, and how much you can learn without clicking.

Which style suits which person

Choose the CPU graph and percentage if you want a pulse. A graph is easier to notice than a number. You do not read it, you see that it has been flat for a while and then jumped. When the Mac is quiet the graph sits low, and when a page, an export or a runaway app starts working hard, you notice the change out of the corner of your eye. If you work with the Mac busy for long stretches, such as editing video or compiling code, the percentage tells you how hard it is working without you opening anything. For most people it is a good place to start.

Choose CPU and memory if memory is your usual problem. Some slowdowns have nothing to do with the processor. A Mac with lots of browser tabs, a design file and a few chat apps open can feel sticky because memory is tight, while the processor figure looks calm. Seeing both stops you chasing the wrong cause. If you have an older Mac with less memory than you would like, or you keep many apps open all day, this style is worth the extra width. How to see which app is using the most memory on a Mac covers what to do once the memory figure looks high.

Choose Icon only if space is the issue. A menu bar fills up quickly: Wi-Fi, battery, clock, a password manager, a clipboard tool, a VPN. On a MacBook with a notch there is less room on the right than there appears to be, and macOS hides items that do not fit. If your bar is already tight, a numberless icon costs the least room. You lose the at-a-glance reading, but you can still click for the full panel, or press Control-Shift-Escape (⌃⇧⎋), which opens Foreman from any app.

If you cannot decide, start with the graph and percentage for a week. If you find you never look at it, drop to the icon. If you keep wondering about memory, move to the two-reading style. It takes seconds to change.

What you get when you click

Clicking the readout opens a panel rather than a menu. It shows CPU, Memory, Disk, Network and GPU, each with a live graph, so even with the icon-only style you can see all five at once with one click.

The panel also lists “Using the most”, by CPU or Memory, with End Task. So the shortest route from “something is slow” to “that app is the cause” is: click the readout, look at the top of the list, and end the task if it is something you can spare.

End Task asks the app to quit the normal way, as Command-Q does, so the app can offer to save your work. Press End Task again within a minute and Foreman force quits it. An app macOS has marked “Not responding” is force quit at once. If the app is still open after a moment, Foreman brings it forward, because it may be asking about unsaved changes, and offers Force Quit. Quit vs force quit on a Mac: what you lose with each explains the difference in detail.

“Open Foreman” in the panel opens the full window, with its pages for Processes, Performance, App History, Startup Apps, All Processes and Services.

Keeping Foreman running without a Dock icon

The readout only works while Foreman is running, and an app that is running normally sits in the Dock and has a window. Foreman is built so you can have the readout without either.

There is a setting called “Keep Foreman running”. With it on, closing the Foreman window does not quit the app. Foreman stays in the menu bar and stays ready on Control-Shift-Escape, and it leaves the Dock. The first time you close the window, Foreman explains this once, so it does not feel like the app has vanished.

That gives you a simple routine. Press ⌃⇧⎋ or click the readout when you want Foreman. Close the window when you are done. The readout keeps going.

Two other settings in the same place matter here:

  • Show Foreman in the menu bar turns the readout itself on or off. Leave it on if you want any of the styles above.
  • Open at login starts Foreman when you log in, so the readout is there from the start of the day instead of after you remember to open it.

There is also a Refresh speed setting with four choices: “Twice a Second”, “Every Second”, “Every 4 Seconds” and “Paused”. A slower refresh is easier on the eye for some people, and “Paused” stops the readings until you change it back. With its window closed, Foreman reads a few machine-wide counters for the menu bar.

A note on what the readout is not

The readout tells you how busy the Mac is. It does not show temperatures or fan speeds, and Foreman does not have a notification or alert when a number goes high. It is something you look at when you want to, not something that interrupts you. If a graph that normally sits low has been high for minutes, that is your cue to open the panel and look at “Using the most”.

For what to do after that, How to see which app is using the most CPU on a Mac walks through the whole sequence, with or without a menu bar readout.

Setting it up

  1. Open Foreman and go to Settings.
  2. Make sure “Show Foreman in the menu bar” is on.
  3. Choose a menu bar style: “CPU graph and percentage”, “CPU and memory” or “Icon only”.
  4. Leave “Keep Foreman running” on if you want the readout to survive closing the window.
  5. Turn on “Open at login” if you want it from the first minute of the day.

Foreman is $12 once, works on up to 3 Macs and is free for 24 hours from the first launch, which is enough time to see which style you keep glancing at.