What is Network Monitor?

Monitor internet traffic in real time with per-process bandwidth dashboards. Use when watching bandwidth, finding traffic hogs, monitoring network activity.

How to install Network Monitor?

Run: claude skill add --url github.com/openclaw/skills/tree/main/skills/bytesagain3/netwatch

Netwatch

Name: Network Monitor
Rating: 5 (3743 reviews)
Author: bytesagain3

A sysops toolkit for monitoring, scanning, and managing network activity. Track bandwidth usage, set alerts, run benchmarks, manage backups, and generate reports — all from the command line.

Commands

Command	Description
`netwatch scan <input>`	Scan network hosts, ports, or services
`netwatch monitor <input>`	Monitor network activity or record a monitoring entry
`netwatch report <input>`	Generate or record a network report
`netwatch alert <input>`	Set or record a network alert rule
`netwatch top <input>`	Log top bandwidth consumers or resource usage
`netwatch usage <input>`	Record bandwidth or resource usage data
`netwatch check <input>`	Check network connectivity, DNS, or service health
`netwatch fix <input>`	Log a network fix or remediation action
`netwatch cleanup <input>`	Record a cleanup operation (stale connections, old logs)
`netwatch backup <input>`	Log a backup operation for network configs or data
`netwatch restore <input>`	Record a restore operation from backup
`netwatch log <input>`	Add a custom log entry for network events
`netwatch benchmark <input>`	Run or record a network benchmark (speed, latency)
`netwatch compare <input>`	Compare network metrics, configs, or benchmark results
`netwatch stats`	Show summary statistics across all entry types
`netwatch export <fmt>`	Export all data (formats: `json`, `csv`, `txt`)
`netwatch search <term>`	Search across all entries by keyword
`netwatch recent`	Show the 20 most recent activity log entries
`netwatch status`	Health check — version, disk usage, last activity
`netwatch help`	Show the built-in help message
`netwatch version`	Print the current version (v2.0.0)

Each network command (scan, monitor, alert, etc.) works in two modes:

Without arguments — displays the 20 most recent entries of that type
With arguments — saves the input as a new timestamped entry

Data Storage

All data is stored as plain-text log files in ~/.local/share/netwatch/:

Each command type gets its own log file (e.g., scan.log, monitor.log, alert.log)
Entries are stored in timestamp|value format for easy parsing
A unified history.log tracks all activity across command types
Export to JSON, CSV, or TXT at any time with the export command

Set the NETWATCH_DIR environment variable to override the default data directory.

Requirements

Bash 4.0+ (uses set -euo pipefail)
Standard Unix utilities: date, wc, du, tail, grep, sed, cat
No external dependencies or API keys required

When to Use

Monitoring bandwidth usage — use monitor, top, and usage to track which processes or hosts are consuming the most bandwidth in real time
Network security scanning — use scan and check to audit open ports, verify DNS resolution, and ensure services are reachable
Setting up alerting — use alert to log threshold-based rules (e.g., notify when bandwidth exceeds 100 Mbps or a host goes unreachable)
Benchmarking network performance — use benchmark and compare to measure and compare latency, throughput, and jitter across different configurations
Managing network backups and recovery — use backup, restore, and cleanup to document config snapshots, disaster recovery steps, and housekeeping operations

Examples

bash

# Scan the local network for active hosts
netwatch scan "192.168.1.0/24 — found 23 active hosts, 3 with open SSH"

# Monitor bandwidth on the main interface
netwatch monitor "eth0 averaging 45 Mbps download, 12 Mbps upload over last hour"

# Set an alert for high usage
netwatch alert "Trigger notification when any host exceeds 500 Mbps sustained for 5 minutes"

# Run a benchmark
netwatch benchmark "Speedtest: 940 Mbps down, 880 Mbps up, 3ms latency to ISP gateway"

# Search for past scan results
netwatch search "192.168"

Output

All commands print results to stdout. Redirect to a file if needed: