Show HN: I made ActivityLine: CPU, GPU, RAM and Network in one menu bar line

Developer jakemanger launched ActivityLine, a macOS menu bar utility that consolidates CPU, GPU, RAM, and network monitoring into a single line, according to a Show HN post published on August 25, 2026.

The app's core feature, per the Show HN post, is an "auto mode" that switches the displayed metric to whichever resource is seeing the most activity at a given moment — jumping to network stats, for instance, when a sudden data transfer begins. Alongside the metric, the line surfaces app icons to identify which application is responsible for the spike. Users can also click the menu bar item to manually cycle through metrics, or hover over it to see a more detailed breakdown.

The creator built ActivityLine to solve a personal problem: routinely running out of RAM, CPU, or GPU resources without a clear, lightweight way to know when it was happening or which app was to blame. The stated design goal was to avoid cluttering the menu bar with a row of separate numbers or modules, instead offering a single, minimal indicator that surfaces relevant information only when something notable occurs.

The tool is positioned explicitly as a narrower alternative to existing macOS system monitors. In the Show HN post, jakemanger names iStat Menus and Stats as the incumbent comparison points, describing both as deep, detail-rich, and modular — and framing ActivityLine as "deliberately the other extreme." The app is available at activityline.app.

No pricing details, download counts, or funding information were included in the available sources. The post had no comments at time of publication.