🔪 Kill My Port

End port conflicts in one click.

A cross-platform desktop application for developers to instantly identify, manage, and terminate processes blocking your ports — no terminal wizardry required.

🤔 What Is This?

You're coding. You restart your server. And then:

Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::3000
Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::8000

You open a terminal, try lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9, forget the syntax, Google it, repeat for every port. It's painful.

Kill My Port fixes this permanently. It's an always-running desktop application that sits in your system tray and gives you a live view of every port on your machine. One click — process dead. Done.

✨ Features

| Feature | Description | |---|---| | 🔍 Live Port Scanner | Real-time view of all active TCP/UDP ports using ss, lsof, or netstat | | 🐳 Docker Awareness | Detects container-bound ports and terminates the Docker container directly | | ⚡ Multi-Strategy Kill Engine | 5-stage termination: Docker → PID kill → fuser → lsof → elevated sudo | | 🛡️ Smart Safety System | Color-coded risk levels, system process warnings, and kill confirmation | | 🔎 Search & Filter | Filter by port number, process name, protocol (TCP/UDP), or state | | 📌 Custom Port Watchlist | Pin and label your frequently used ports for instant access | | 🖥️ System Tray Integration | Minimizes to tray instead of closing — always running, zero overhead | | 🔄 Auto-Refresh | Configurable live scanning (1s, 5s, 10s, 30s intervals) | | 📋 Common Port Sidebar | Pre-loaded shortcuts for popular dev ports (React, Django, Postgres, Redis…) | | 🌍 100% Cross-Platform | Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows |

💻 Command Line Interface (CLI)

Kill My Port now includes a powerful, beautiful CLI for developers who prefer the terminal.

Quick Install

You can install the CLI using either of our official packages:

# Option 1: Standard
npm install -g killmyport-cli

# Option 2: Scoped 
npm install -g @sheerazmehboob/killmyport

Usage

Run the interactive port killer (shows a beautifully animated, searchable list):

kmp
# or
killmyport

List ports in a table:

kmp list

Kill a specific port instantly:

kmp kill 3000

Safety Built-in: The CLI automatically hides and protects system processes (like DNS on port 53) from being killed. You can use kmp list --all to show them, and kmp kill <port> --force if you really need to terminate them.

📋 Requirements

Before you start, make sure you have:

| Tool | Version | Check | |---|---|---| | Node.js | v20.12+ | node --version | | npm | v10.5+ | npm --version | | Git | Any | git --version |

Linux extra requirement: fuser (part of psmisc) and ss (part of iproute2) for full kill functionality.

sudo apt install psmisc iproute2   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install psmisc iproute    # Fedora/RHEL

🚀 Installation

For detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to install the pre-built binaries for your operating system (macOS, Windows, or Linux), please see our dedicated Installation Guide:

👉 View the Installation Guide (INSTALL.md)

(Pre-built binaries are available for download on the Releases page).

🛠️ Building from Source (Developers)

🛠️ Management Scripts

All scripts live in the root of the project:

| Script | Platform | What It Does | |---|---|---| | ./setup.sh | Linux / macOS | One-time install: deps, build, register launcher, autostart, launch | | setup.bat | Windows | Same as above for Windows | | ./launch.sh | Linux / macOS | Open the app manually (skips setup, brings window to focus) | | ./uninstall.sh | Linux / macOS | Remove autostart, launcher entry, and running instances safely | | uninstall.bat | Windows | Remove Start Menu & Startup shortcuts safely |

Packaging for Release (Binaries)

If you want to create distributable binaries (AppImage, deb, exe, portable, dmg) for other operating systems or environments, you can use the built-in package scripts:

| Command | Output | Notes | |---|---|---| | npm run package:linux | AppImage, .deb | Linux binaries (generated in release/) | | npm run package:win | NSIS (.exe), portable | Windows binaries (generated in release/) | | npm run package:mac | .dmg | macOS binaries (skips signing by default) | | npm run package:all | All of the above | Packages for Mac, Windows, and Linux |

Note: To package for macOS, it's highly recommended to do so on a macOS machine. The current configuration skips code signing (identity: null), so macOS might show a warning when running the .dmg (allow it via System Settings > Privacy & Security).

Launching Manually (After Setup)

If you ever need to manually open Kill My Port without re-running setup:

./launch.sh

Uninstalling

Linux / macOS:

./uninstall.sh

Windows:

uninstall.bat

🖥️ Using the App

Opening the App

After setup, you have 3 ways to open Kill My Port:

1. System Search (recommended): Press Super / Win key → type Kill My Port → press Enter.
2. System Tray: If already running, find the tray icon in your taskbar. Click it to show/hide the window.
3. Manually: ./launch.sh from the project directory.

Killing a Process — Step by Step

1. Locate the port in the table or use the search bar.
2. Click the red Kill button on that row.
3. A confirmation dialog appears showing:
   • The process name and PID
   • Whether it's a Docker container
   • Risk level (low / medium / high)
4. Click Kill Process to confirm.
5. Kill My Port attempts termination using up to 5 strategies in sequence:
   • docker stop / docker kill (for container-bound ports)
   • kill -9 <PID> (direct process termination)
   • fuser -k <port>/tcp (port-based kill)
   • lsof -t -iTCP:<port> | xargs kill -9 (fallback)
   • pkexec / sudo elevation (for root-owned processes)
6. The app verifies the port is freed before showing success.
7. The port list refreshes automatically.

🐳 Docker Container Support

Kill My Port has full Docker awareness. Any port bound by a Docker container is:

1. Labeled clearly in the UI as docker: <container-name>.
2. Killed correctly — it executes docker stop <container-id> and falls back to docker kill if needed.

🔒 Security & Safety

• No network access — entirely local, offline-first.
• No telemetry — your port data never leaves your machine.
• Confirmation dialogs — every kill requires explicit confirmation.
• System process warnings — clearly flags sshd, systemd, kernel services.
• Verification before success — success toast is only shown after re-checking the socket state.

📄 License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.

Made with ❤️ for developers tired of Googling lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9 at 2am.