A clearer view of localhost

Know what’s running.
Free the port.

Portfox is a macOS menu bar app for finding local development services and the ports they use.

Portfox names each local service, connects it to its project, and helps you free the port when you’re done.

Install Portfox See how it works

macOS 15+ · Apple Silicon · MIT licensed

Before you install

What you are installing.

Plain facts about a small app that watches your ports.

Signed and notarized

Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. It opens with no Gatekeeper warning.

Native, not Electron

Portfox is a native SwiftUI app.

No account

No sign-up and no login. Install it and open it.

No special permissions

No Accessibility, Screen Recording or Full Disk Access. It runs lsof as you, so it sees only your own sockets. Notifications are optional.

Anonymous usage signals

Portfox sends anonymous TelemetryDeck signals, such as “service stopped” with only the service type. Never names, paths, ports or command lines. Switch it off in Settings.

No surprise requests

Portfox sends one request to a local web service when it starts and when you open the popover or dashboard. Never more than once per 30 seconds per service, never on a timer. It only talks to localhost, never follows a redirect, and you can turn it off in Preferences.

Free and open source

MIT licensed. Read the code or report a bug on GitHub.

View the source

One command to install

Install, update and remove it with Homebrew.

Get the command

Less hunting. More building.

Three questions. One glance.

See the service, its project, and the port it occupies.

Know what’s running.

See the framework behind the port. Portfox identifies services from their processes and project files, even when you use custom ports.

Next.js · Vite · Expo · Cloudflare Workers · PostgreSQL · Redis

Find its home.

Connect each service to its project. Open the project in your editor, reveal it in Finder, or jump into its working directory in a terminal.

Service → project → working directory

Take back the port.

Stop a stuck server, inspect its process tree, or restart it in Terminal, iTerm2, or Warp. Search and a global shortcut get you there fast.

Open · Inspect · Stop · Restart

Small app. Useful details.

Go deeper when
you need to.

Open the dashboard for a searchable service list, process metadata, and the ancestry behind each listener.

See status at a glance

Web services show an HTTP status pill beside the port: green for 2xx, teal for redirects, orange for 4xx, red for 5xx. Hover it for the response time. Press Inspect for the page title and latency. Turn the check off in Preferences.

Find it from anywhere

Press ⌃⌥P in any app to open the popover. You can change the shortcut in Preferences. Type to search by port, name, project, folder, binary or container. Use ↑ and ↓ to move, Return to open, ⌘⌫ to stop, and Esc to clear.

Keep your projects in view

Group related services, hide infrastructure, and ignore listeners you don’t need to see.

Restart with logs in reach

Restart a development server in Terminal, iTerm2, or Warp, in its working directory, with its command restored. The terminal opens clean and says where it started.

Hear when it stops

Choose Notify When It Stops on a service. If it stops without you pressing Stop, a banner tells you. When Portfox can relaunch it, the banner has a Start Again button.

Open it on your phone

Hover a row for Open, Copy URL, Reveal and Stop. A web service that other devices on your network can reach also gets a QR code button. Scan it to open the service on your phone.

Catch what agents leave running

A dev server whose launcher exited is marked Orphaned, even on a high port. Servers started by Claude Code or Codex carry a badge, and plugin daemons such as claude-mem list under Agent tools.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

A few practical details before you install.

What is Portfox?

Portfox is a macOS menu bar app for finding local development services and the ports they use. It identifies the service, connects it to its project, and gives you controls to inspect or stop it.

How do I install Portfox?

Install the app with Homebrew using brew install --cask xergic/tap/portfox, or download it from portfox.kandera.cz/download. Then open Portfox from Applications to see what is listening on your Mac.

How do I update Portfox?

Portfox checks for a new version once a day and asks before it installs one. You can also choose Check Now in Preferences, or run brew upgrade if you installed it with Homebrew.

Which Macs can run Portfox?

Portfox requires macOS 15 or newer and an Apple Silicon Mac.

How does Portfox identify a local service?

Portfox examines listening processes and project files to identify frameworks and associate services with their working directories. You can inspect the process tree behind a listener.

Can Portfox stop or restart a service?

Yes. Portfox can stop a local service and restart a development server in Terminal, iTerm2, or Warp with its project directory and command. The terminal opens clean.

Does Portfox send requests to my servers?

Only to check HTTP status. When a web service starts, and when you open the popover or dashboard, Portfox sends one request to it. It does this at most once per 30 seconds per service and never on a timer. It only contacts localhost and never follows a redirect. Turn it off with Check HTTP status in Preferences.

Can I open Portfox with a keyboard shortcut?

Yes. Press Control Option P in any app to open the popover. You can change the shortcut in Preferences. In the popover, type to search by port, name, project, folder, binary or container. Use the arrow keys to move, Return to open, Command Delete to stop, and Escape to clear.

Can Portfox tell me when a server stops?

Yes. Choose Notify When It Stops on a service. If it stops without you pressing Stop, a banner appears. When Portfox can relaunch it, the banner has a Start Again button.

Can I open a dev server on my phone?

Yes, if the server listens on 0.0.0.0, so other devices on your network can reach it. Hover its row and click the QR code button, then scan it with your phone. Copy LAN Address is in the right-click menu.

How does Portfox find servers an agent forgot?

When the launcher of a dev server exits but the server keeps running, Portfox marks it as Orphaned. This works even when the server only uses high ports. Servers that Claude Code or Codex started show a badge with the agent's name, and Claude Code plugin daemons, such as the claude-mem worker, appear in their own Agent tools section.

Make yourself at home.

Install Portfox with Homebrew, then open it from Applications to see what’s running on your Mac.

Explore the repository

Install with Homebrew

brew install --cask xergic/tap/portfox

Requires macOS 15+ and Apple Silicon. No Homebrew? Download the app or get Homebrew

Also made for your Mac · Localfox

Give your dev servers a steady address.

Start projects from your Mac’s menu bar and open them at trusted HTTPS *.localhost addresses. Localfox keeps each address working when the server’s port changes.

Explore Localfox

Know what’s running.Free the port.