Kill orphaned dev servers, browsers, and port-hogging processes spawned during development. Use when ports are occupied, too many node/browser processes are running, or you want a fresh start.
Install
npx skillscat add nokonoko1203/claude-code-settings/kill-dev-process Install via the SkillsCat registry.
Dev Environment Cleanup
Safely clean up processes accumulated during development (dev servers, browsers, node, etc.).
Usage: /kill-dev-process
Usage: /kill-dev-process $MODE
$ARGUMENTS to specify mode:
ports— Only processes occupying listening portsbrowsers— Only browser processesall— Process all categories at once- No argument — Interactive selection
Execution Steps
Step 1: Investigate the Current State
Run the following commands in parallel to assess the current situation:
# List listening TCP ports (macOS)
lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN -P -n 2>/dev/null | grep -v "^COMMAND"# Dev-related node processes
ps aux | grep -E '[n]ode|[t]sx|[v]ite|[n]ext|[n]uxt|[e]sbuild|[t]sc |[b]un ' | grep -v 'grep'# Browser processes (including those from Playwright/Chrome DevTools MCP)
ps aux | grep -E '[C]hromium|[c]hrome|[C]hrome Helper|[p]laywright' | grep -v 'grep'Step 2: Classify and Display Results
Classify detected processes into the following categories and display in table format:
| Category | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Dev Servers | Processes listening on ports 3000-9999 via node/bun/deno |
| Browsers | Chromium, Chrome, Playwright-related processes |
| Build Tools | Residual esbuild, tsc, webpack, turbopack, etc. |
| Other | Anything else requiring user confirmation |
Display format example:
## Detected Processes
### Dev Servers (3 items)
PID PORT COMMAND STARTED
12345 3000 node next-server 10:30
12346 5173 node vite 11:45
12347 8080 node express 09:00
### Browsers (5 items)
PID COMMAND MEM
23456 Chromium --headless 120M
23457 Chrome Helper (Renderer) 80M
...Step 3: Safety Check
Processes that must NEVER be killed:
- System processes (PID < 100, root-owned system daemons)
- Databases (postgres, mysql, redis, mongo)
- Docker / containerd
- SSH / sshd
- IDE itself (VSCode, Cursor) — Chrome helpers ARE eligible targets
- Long-running processes that appear to be intentionally started by the user
If any of the above are detected, exclude them and display a notice about the exclusion.
Step 4: Confirm with the User
Unless the mode is all, use AskUserQuestion to get confirmation:
- Allow the user to select "Kill / Skip" for each category
- Support keeping specific PIDs alive
Step 5: Terminate Processes
- First attempt graceful shutdown with
kill -TERM <PID> - Wait 1 second and check survival:
kill -0 <PID> 2>/dev/null - If still alive, force kill with
kill -9 <PID> - Display termination results
# Example: graceful shutdown
kill -TERM 12345 12346 12347
# Check survival after 1 second
sleep 1
for pid in 12345 12346 12347; do
kill -0 $pid 2>/dev/null && echo "PID $pid still alive, force killing..." && kill -9 $pid
doneStep 6: Result Report
Display a summary of the cleanup results:
## Cleanup Complete
- Terminated: 8 processes
- Freed ports: 3000, 5173, 8080
- Skipped: 2 (postgres, redis)
- Failed: 0Notes
- Assumes macOS environment (
lsofflags, etc.) - Always get user confirmation before killing processes (including
allmode) - Only use actual PIDs obtained from investigation results for
killcommands - Investigation and termination are separate steps — never pipe them together (prevents accidental kills)