Question 1

What is Kaval?

Accepted Answer

Kaval is a developer-focused port and process manager TUI built in Rust. It shows every listening port, identifies the process behind it, and lets you kill it with a keystroke.

Question 2

How do I install Kaval?

Accepted Answer

brew update && brew tap AppachiTech/kaval && brew install kaval. Or download from downloads.appachi.tech.

Question 3

How do I update Kaval?

Accepted Answer

If you installed via Homebrew: brew upgrade kaval. If you installed manually, re-run the same curl command — the download URL always points to the latest release.

Question 4

Does Kaval need sudo?

Accepted Answer

No for viewing ports. Yes for killing system processes or processes owned by other users. Regular dev processes (node, postgres, etc.) don't need sudo.

Question 5

What's the difference between `kav` and `kav list`?

Accepted Answer

`kav` launches the interactive TUI. `kav list` prints a one-shot table and exits. Use `kav list --json` for scripting.

Question 6

Does Kaval replace Activity Monitor?

Accepted Answer

For port/process work, yes. It's faster, terminal-native, and shows only listening ports with service detection. Activity Monitor shows everything with no filtering.

Question 7

What shells does Kaval support?

Accepted Answer

Kaval is not shell-dependent. It works from any terminal — Bash, Zsh, Fish, or any shell.

Question 8

How do I filter ports in the TUI?

Accepted Answer

Press `/` to enter filter mode. Type any string to filter by port, process name, or service. Press Escape to clear.

Question 9

How do I kill a process?

Accepted Answer

Select it with arrow keys, press `Ctrl+X` for graceful kill (SIGTERM) or `Ctrl+K` for force kill (SIGKILL). You'll get a confirmation prompt.

Question 10

Can I sort by different columns?

Accepted Answer

Yes, press `Ctrl+S` to cycle through sort fields: Port, Process Name, CPU usage, Memory usage.

Question 11

How do I see process details?

Accepted Answer

Press `Ctrl+D` to toggle the detail pane, showing full command line, PID, CPU, memory, uptime, and service category.

Question 12

How do I switch between TCP and UDP?

Accepted Answer

Press `Ctrl+T` to toggle between showing TCP only, UDP only, or both.

Question 13

Can I use Kaval in scripts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. `kav list --json` outputs structured JSON. `kav check <port>` returns exit code 0 if in use, 1 if free.

Question 14

Does Kaval work with Docker?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It detects Docker containers and shows them with the Container category label. Docker-proxied ports appear as owned by `com.docker.backend` or similar.

Question 15

What about WSL?

Accepted Answer

Kaval works natively on WSL2 Linux. It sees WSL-local ports. For Windows host ports, use the Windows build (coming soon).

Question 16

What services does Kaval recognize?

Accepted Answer

30+ dev tools including: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, Next.js, Vite, Webpack, Docker, Nginx, Caddy, Grafana, Prometheus, and more.

Question 17

Which OS is supported?

Accepted Answer

macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon) and Linux (x86_64). Windows support is planned.

Question 18

Does Kaval collect any data?

Accepted Answer

No. Zero telemetry, zero network calls, zero analytics. It reads port/process info from your OS in real-time and discards it when you exit.

Question 19

Is Kaval open source?

Accepted Answer

Yes, MIT licensed. Source at github.com/AppachiTech/kaval.

Question 20

Is it safe to kill processes with Kaval?

Accepted Answer

Kaval always asks for confirmation before killing. SIGTERM (default) gives processes a chance to clean up. Use SIGKILL (--force) only when necessary.

Question 21

Can Kaval access my files or network?

Accepted Answer

No. It only reads system port/process information through standard OS APIs. It has no file access, no network access, and stores nothing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started