git404hub

what is wlocks fr?

programmersd21/wlocks — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

13GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

tl;dr

An interactive terminal tool that shows which processes have which files open, replacing lsof and fuser with a live browsable view.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Shows open file locks
      Live interactive alternative to lsof
    Tech stack
      Go
    Use cases
      Find file locking process
      Kill or pause processes
      Fuzzy search open files
    Audience
      DevOps engineers
      Linux users
    Setup
      Prebuilt binary or AUR
      Build from source with Go

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Find out which process is holding a file open and preventing it from being deleted or unmounted.

VIBE 2

Kill or pause a process directly from a live view of its open files.

VIBE 3

Browse and fuzzy search open file locks across running processes on a Linux system.

what's the stack?

Go

how it stacks up fr

programmersd21/wlocksawlx/packetyeeterhuey1in/kiroclaim
Stars131313
LanguageGoGoGo
Setup difficultyeasyhardmoderate
Complexity2/55/53/5
Audienceops devopsops devopsops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · easy time til it works · 5min

Linux only, building from source requires Go 1.25 or newer.

in plain english

wlocks is a terminal tool for Linux that shows you which running programs currently have which files open on your computer. It is meant as a friendlier, interactive replacement for older command line tools like lsof and fuser, which do the same basic job but only print a static list of text instead of letting you browse and act on the results. When you run it, wlocks shows a live, scrollable view of open files and the processes holding them, refreshing automatically about once a second by reading directly from the operating system's process information. You can move through the list with keyboard shortcuts, open a detail view for a specific entry showing its process ID, the full command that started it, its working directory, and how long it has held a file open, and use fuzzy search to quickly filter by process name, command, or file path. Results can be sorted by name, duration, process ID, or how the file is being accessed. Beyond just viewing, wlocks lets you act on what you find directly from the interface: you can kill a process, force kill one that resists a normal kill, or pause and resume a process, each with a confirmation step to prevent accidents. The tool also ships with nine visual themes you can cycle through or set as your default, and your preferences are saved to a small configuration file so they persist between sessions. Installing wlocks is straightforward on Linux: there is a package available for Arch Linux users, a prebuilt binary you can download and place on your system path for other Linux systems, or you can build it yourself from source if you have Go 1.25 or newer installed. The project is written entirely in Go with no external runtime dependencies, and it is released under the MIT license.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Help me install wlocks on Linux using the prebuilt binary release.
prompt 2
Walk me through the keyboard shortcuts for navigating and killing a process in wlocks.
prompt 3
Explain how wlocks determines whether a file is open for read or write access.
prompt 4
Show me how to set a default theme and sort order in the wlocks config file.

Frequently asked questions

what is wlocks fr?

An interactive terminal tool that shows which processes have which files open, replacing lsof and fuser with a live browsable view.

What language is wlocks written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go.

How hard is wlocks to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is wlocks for?

Mainly ops devops.

peek the repo → explain another one

This repo across BitVibe Labs

double-check against the repo, no cap.