Working With about-system

The CLI and library in packages/about-system-info, published to npm as about-system (the directory name is not the package name). It prints 30+ system metrics as one emoji line, on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Android/Termux. Full block list, settings keys, and cache TTLs live in API.md; read it when you need an exact block name, setting path, or default.

Setup

npx about-system              # run once, no install
npm install -g about-system   # then: about-system
about-system --install        # add it as a shell greeting

The package is ESM-only ("type": "module") and ships four entry points: . (library), ./api (raw info functions), ./cli, ./types.

Picking the right call

Recipes

Programmatic, whole snapshot — getSystemInfo() is async, loads the on-disk cache itself, and returns a SystemInfo object:

import { getSystemInfo } from "about-system";
const info = await getSystemInfo();
console.log(info.cpu, info.ram_used);

Individual blocks — infoFunctions is a map keyed by block name (cpu, ram_used, uptime, ports, containers, …). Pass a context so repeated calls share a cache; blocks that shell out or hit the network return promises:

import { infoFunctions } from "about-system/api";
const context = { cache: {} };
const cpu = infoFunctions.cpu(context);
const uptime = infoFunctions.uptime();

Customize the line — --set <path> <value> writes into the settings JSON: display.show_emojis false, colors.cpu orange, emojis.cpu "🚀 ", labels.ram_used "Memory", display_order (edit the file directly for nested arrays). --settings-show prints the current file, --settings-reset restores defaults, --settings-init writes a fresh one.

Types — import type { SystemInfo, SystemInfoOptions, Platform, InfoContext } from "about-system/types".

Troubleshooting