💻 MacBook Optimizer

_Complete MacBook health & performance suite - No installation required_

A comprehensive, user-friendly skill for monitoring, optimizing, and troubleshooting MacBook performance. Works on all Macs (Intel & Apple Silicon) using built-in macOS tools. Unlike specialized tools, this provides actionable recommendations and automated fixes.

Why This Skill is Better

✅ No installation required - Uses built-in macOS tools
✅ Works on all Macs - Intel & Apple Silicon
✅ Actionable recommendations - Not just metrics, but solutions
✅ Automated fixes - Can clean up and optimize automatically
✅ User-friendly - Plain language, not technical jargon
✅ Complete suite - Monitoring + troubleshooting + optimization
✅ GUI-first - Opens visual tools automatically for non-technical users
✅ Visual reports - Charts, graphs, and emoji indicators for easy understanding

Capabilities

🔍 System Monitoring

• CPU Analysis: Real-time CPU usage, temperature (via powermetrics), load averages, per-process breakdown
• Memory Health: RAM usage, memory pressure, swap usage, identify memory leaks
• Disk Intelligence: Space analysis, find large files/folders, duplicate detection, cache locations
• Battery Diagnostics: Health percentage, cycle count, capacity, charging status, power consumption
• Thermal Monitoring: System temperature, thermal state, identify overheating causes
• Network Activity: Bandwidth usage, active connections, identify bandwidth hogs

⚡ Optimization Tools

• Smart Cleanup: Automatically find and remove caches, logs, temp files, downloads, duplicates
• Process Management: Identify resource hogs, suggest optimizations, safe process termination
• Startup Optimization: Manage login items, background apps, reduce boot time
• Storage Optimization: Find large files, suggest deletions, empty trash, clear caches
• Performance Tuning: System settings recommendations, disable unnecessary services

🛠 Troubleshooting

• Slowdown Diagnosis: Identify bottlenecks (CPU/memory/disk/network), root cause analysis
• Overheating Solutions: Find hot processes, suggest cooling strategies, thermal management
• Memory Issues: Detect leaks, suggest app restarts, memory optimization
• Disk Problems: Full disk analysis, permission issues, disk health checks
• Battery Issues: Health degradation, charging problems, power management

Usage Examples

Complete system check (with GUI):

Run a full system health check, show me the results visually, and fix any issues

Performance optimization (GUI mode):

My MacBook is slow. Open Activity Monitor and show me what's using resources

Overheating issue:

My MacBook is overheating. Show me the hot processes in Activity Monitor

Disk cleanup (visual):

Show me my disk usage visually and clean up automatically

Memory problems (GUI):

My Mac is using too much memory. Open Activity Monitor and highlight the memory hogs

Battery health (visual):

Show me my battery health in System Settings and optimize power settings

Startup optimization:

What's slowing down my Mac startup? Show me login items in System Settings

Find large files (visual):

Find all files larger than 1GB, show them in Finder, and suggest what I can delete

GUI-first requests:

Show me everything in Activity Monitor
Open System Settings to battery settings
Show me disk usage in a visual way

Advanced Commands Available

The agent intelligently uses these macOS tools:

System Info:

• system_profiler - Complete hardware/software information


• sysctl - System parameters and kernel settings


• sw_vers - macOS version information

Process Monitoring:

• top / htop - Real-time process monitoring


• ps - Process status and details


• lsof - List open files and network connections


• launchctl list - Background services and daemons

Resource Monitoring:

• vm_stat - Virtual memory statistics


• iostat - Disk I/O statistics


• netstat / lsof -i - Network connections


• powermetrics - CPU/GPU power and temperature (Apple Silicon)


• pmset -g therm - Thermal state (Intel Macs)

Disk Management:

• df - Disk space usage


• du - Directory size analysis


• find - Locate large files


• mdutil - Spotlight index management

Power & Battery:

• pmset - Power management settings


• ioreg - I/O registry (battery info)


• system_profiler SPPowerDataType - Battery details

Cleanup:

• rm - Safe file removal (with confirmation)


• purge - Memory purge


• Cache locations: ~/Library/Caches, /Library/Caches, /var/folders

GUI Tools (Visual Interface):

• open -a "Activity Monitor" - Launch Activity Monitor (CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, Network)


• open -a "System Settings" - Open System Settings (all system preferences)


• open -a "System Settings" && open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.battery" - Battery settings


• open -a "System Settings" && open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.storage" - Storage management


• open -a "System Settings" && open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.LoginItems-Settings.extension" - Login items


• open -a "Finder" - Open Finder for file browsing


• open ~/Library/Caches - Open Caches folder in Finder


• open ~/Downloads - Open Downloads folder


• open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_AllFiles" - Privacy settings


• open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_Accessibility" - Accessibility permissions

Visual Reports:

• Generate HTML reports with charts (CPU, Memory, Disk usage over time)


• Create visual summaries with emoji indicators (🟢 Good, 🟡 Warning, 🔴 Critical)


• Open relevant System Settings panels automatically based on findings

🎨 GUI-First Experience

For users who prefer visual interfaces, the agent can:

• 📊 Open Activity Monitor automatically when showing system stats
• ⚙️ Navigate System Settings to relevant panels (Battery, Storage, Privacy)
• 📁 Open Finder to specific folders (Caches, Downloads, Large files)
• 📈 Generate visual reports with charts and graphs (HTML format)
• 🎯 Highlight issues in GUI apps with clear indicators
• 🔍 Show step-by-step with screenshots or GUI navigation

Example GUI Workflow:

User: "My Mac is slow"

Agent opens Activity Monitor → highlights CPU/Memory hogs

Agent opens System Settings → shows relevant optimization settings

Agent provides visual summary with emoji status indicators

Intelligent Automation

The agent can:

• ✅ Automatically clean safe caches and temp files (with user confirmation)


• ✅ Suggest optimizations based on system analysis


• ✅ Provide step-by-step fixes for common issues (with GUI navigation)


• ✅ Monitor continuously if requested (via cron jobs)


• ✅ Generate visual reports with charts, graphs, and actionable recommendations


• ✅ Open GUI tools automatically when showing system information

Safety & Privacy

• 🔒 Always asks before deleting files or killing processes
• 🔒 Protects system files and critical processes
• 🔒 Reviews before action - shows what will be deleted
• 🔒 No data collection - everything runs locally
• 🔒 Respects privacy - never sends data externally

Requirements

• ✅ macOS only (Intel & Apple Silicon)
• ✅ No installation needed - uses built-in tools
• ✅ Optional: htop for prettier process view (brew install htop)
• ✅ Optional: mactop for Apple Silicon detailed metrics (brew install mactop)

How to Use GUI Tools

When the user asks for visual information or mentions they're not technical:

Always open Activity Monitor when showing CPU/Memory/Process info

Navigate to relevant System Settings panels automatically

Open Finder to specific folders when discussing files

Generate visual summaries with emoji indicators (🟢🟡🔴)

Provide step-by-step GUI navigation instructions

GUI Navigation Commands:

• CPU issues → Open Activity Monitor, sort by CPU


• Memory issues → Open Activity Monitor, sort by Memory


• Battery → Open System Settings → Battery


• Storage → Open System Settings → General → Storage


• Login items → Open System Settings → General → Login Items


• Large files → Open Finder, navigate to location, sort by size

Comparison with Other Tools

Feature

macbook-optimizer

mactop

Installation required	❌ No	✅ Yes (brew)
Works on Intel Macs	✅ Yes	❌ No (Apple Silicon only)
Actionable recommendations	✅ Yes	❌ No (metrics only)
Automated cleanup	✅ Yes	❌ No
Troubleshooting	✅ Yes	❌ No
User-friendly	✅ Yes	⚠️ Technical
Complete suite	✅ Yes	⚠️ Monitoring only
GUI-first experience	✅ Yes	❌ CLI only
Visual reports	✅ Yes	❌ Text only