Sloth is a native Mac application that provides a graphical interface for inspecting all open files, directories, sockets, pipes, and devices in use by running processes on your system.
The tool solves the problem of understanding which applications are accessing which system resources. It wraps the lsof command-line utility, parsing its output into a sortable, searchable outline view. Users can filter results by name, access mode, volume, type, or location, and apply regular expressions for more complex queries. The interface displays detailed information about IP sockets including status, protocol, port, and version, and can show connections established between processes.
Sloth suits developers and system administrators who need to troubleshoot resource usage, investigate which processes hold file locks, or audit system activity. The native Objective-C implementation ensures responsiveness even when scanning large numbers of open resources. The tool includes in-app authentication to run scans with root privileges when needed, and offers a contextual menu for file operations directly from the results view.
The project has maintained continuous development over many years, with regular updates to support current macOS versions and hardware architectures. The codebase remains actively refined to preserve performance and responsiveness as the underlying system capabilities evolve. The tool is distributed as a free, open-source application available through standard channels, with support for multiple macOS versions through maintained legacy releases.
