# opsengine/cpulimit

CPU usage limiter for Linux

Repository: https://github.com/opsengine/cpulimit
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cpulimit
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-07-20T16:14:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5209, "days_push": 774, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1772, forks 281 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:34.260927+00:00)

## What it is
Cpulimit is a command-line tool that limits the CPU usage percentage of a process by sending SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals, without changing scheduling priorities. It adapts dynamically to overall system load and applies the limit to all child processes and threads.

## Use cases
- limit cpu usage of a batch job
- prevent a process from eating all cpu cycles
- throttle a background process cpu percentage
- cap cpu usage of a running command
- control cpu consumption of scripts on a shared server

## When to choose
- you need to cap real CPU usage percentage rather than adjust nice values
- you want a lightweight C tool with no dependencies on Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD
- you need to throttle batch jobs or background tasks dynamically

## When to avoid
- you need per-core or cgroup-based resource isolation
- you want to limit memory, IO, or other resources, not just CPU
- you need a solution integrated with systemd or container resource limits

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, developer-tools
- domain: operating-systems, performance
- platform: cli
- tags: cpu-limiting, process-control, system-administration, posix-signals, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- opsengine/cpulimit (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:34.260927+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:25:57.920357+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/opsengine/cpulimit (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:34.260927+00:00, sha 08d580f3355e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.