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"What if the Linux Kernel had a prefrontal cortex?"

"Task Manager is boring. BrainKernel is judgmental."

BrainKernel is a TUI (Terminal User Interface) process manager that uses an LLM to analyze why a process is running. It doesn't just show CPU usage; it looks at parentage, disk I/O, and behavior history to distinguish between "Critical System Update" (Safe) and "Vendor Bloatware" (Kill).

v3.4.0 "The Silent Guardian" Update:

• Diplomatic Immunity: Automatically detects and protects browsers, chat apps, and IDEs. It will roast them for high CPU usage, but it will never kill them.
• Stealth Mode: Disguises API traffic to work seamlessly with cloud providers (Groq).
• <1% CPU: Uses Delta Caching to monitor 300+ processes without lagging your machine.

• Cloud & Local: Built for Groq (Cloud) or Ollama (Local). Perfect for laptops that can't run local models.
• Context Aware: It knows that chrome.exe using 40% CPU is probably a video call (Ignore), but McAfee.exe using 40% CPU is a crime (Kill).
• Roast Mode: It doesn't just kill processes; it insults them first.
• Hall of Shame: Keeps a permanent record of the worst offenders and the roasts they received.
• Focus Mode: Define a "Focus App" (e.g., VS Code), and it will aggressively suspend background distractions.

Since you aren't running a local LLM, you will use the Groq API (It's free and extremely fast).

pip install psutil textual

python main.py

1. Get a free API Key from console.groq.com.
2. Launch BrainKernel.
3. Press k to open the Key Manager.
4. Paste your key (starts with gsk_...) and hit Enter.
   • Your key is saved locally in ~/.brainkernel.json.

BrainKernel is designed to be safe, even when the AI is sassy.

1. Diplomatic Immunity: Hardcoded protection for browser, social, gaming, and dev_tool categories.
2. PID Safety Lock: Before killing anything, it verifies the target's create_time. If a PID was recycled by the OS in the last 100ms, the kill is aborted.
3. Debouncing: It remembers decisions for 5 minutes. It won't spam you about the same process twice.

• Process Defense Attorney: An agent that argues for the process before BrainKernel kills it. (Suggested by HN user QuantumNomad_)
• Focus Mode: Ruthlessly kill "procrastination" processes (Steam, Discord) during work hours. (Suggested by HN user gillesjacobs)
• [ ]

Found a new vendor bloatware process? PRs welcome to the BLOATWARE list in main.py.

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