cli-killapp

Kill any app by name. Fuzzy search, interactive multi-select, zero zombies.

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Install

# Use directly with npx (no install needed)
npx cli-killapp warp

# Or install globally
npm i -g cli-killapp
killapp warp

# Short alias
ka warp

What it does

1. Scans all running processes via ps aux
2. On macOS, enriches with official app names via lsappinfo (so "Warp" is found even though its binary is named "stable")
3. Fuzzy-matches your query against app name, bundle ID, command path, and binary name
4. Shows an interactive multi-select checkbox — high-confidence matches (80%+) are pre-selected
5. Kills entire process trees bottom-up (children first, then parent)
6. SIGTERM → brief grace → SIGKILL (-9) → process group kill
7. Reaps zombie children
8. Verifies processes are actually gone

Usage

killapp <name> [options]

Options

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | -h, --help | Show help | | -v, --version | Show version | | -y, --yes | Auto-kill all 80%+ matches (no interactive prompt) | | -s, --silent | Suppress banner and verbose output |

Examples

killapp warp              # Find and kill Warp terminal
killapp "google chrome"   # Kill Chrome and all its helpers
killapp slack             # Kill Slack
ka figma --yes            # Auto-kill Figma without prompt
npx cli-killapp discord   # No install needed

Fuzzy Search

The search matches against multiple fields with weighted scoring:

| Field | Weight | Example | |-------|--------|---------| | App name (from lsappinfo) | 40% | "Warp" | | Bundle ID | 20% | "dev.warp.Warp-Stable" | | App path (.app name) | 20% | "/Applications/Warp.app/..." | | Full command | 10% | "/Applications/Warp.app/Contents/MacOS/stable" | | Binary name | 10% | "stable" |

This means typing warp will find the Warp terminal even though its binary is called stable.

Platforms

• macOS — first-class support with lsappinfo enrichment for official app names
• Linux — ps aux with path-based name extraction

License

MIT