netpulse

A terminal network performance toolkit — one static binary, no dependencies.

• Speed test — internet download/upload/latency via speedtest.net (Ookla) or Cloudflare
• LAN speed server — host a browser speed test page; any phone/laptop on your network can test against your machine
• Packet loss — ICMP burst testing with loss %, latency distribution and jitter (packetlosstest.com style)
• MTR — traceroute with live per-hop loss and latency stats

Everything runs in the terminal: an interactive TUI when run bare, plain/JSON output for scripts.

Install

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install cognitobit/tap/netpulse

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CognitoBit/netpulse/main/install.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CognitoBit/netpulse/main/install.sh | sh

Or grab a binary from releases.

Use

netpulse                  # interactive menu
netpulse speed            # speed test (--backend ookla|cloudflare)
netpulse serve            # LAN speed test server on :7333
netpulse loss             # packet loss test (defaults: 8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1, 10 pings/sec, 30s)
netpulse mtr google.com   # live traceroute stats

Every test command accepts --plain (line output) or --json (machine-readable final document), and detects non-TTY output automatically.

Examples:

netpulse loss --targets 8.8.8.8,1.1.1.1 --interval 50ms --duration 1m
netpulse mtr cloudflare.com --cycles 20 --json
netpulse speed --backend cloudflare --plain
netpulse serve --port 8080

Platform notes

• Windows: ICMP works without elevation. The LAN server triggers a one-time Windows Firewall prompt — allow it on Private networks.
• macOS: everything works unprivileged.
• Linux: the packet loss test works unprivileged if net.ipv4.ping_group_range allows it (most distros). MTR needs raw sockets — run with sudo, or grant the binary cap_net_raw once:

  sudo setcap cap_net_raw+ep "$(command -v netpulse)"
  

  (Real mtr has the same requirement.)
• Mid-path hops showing high loss while the final hop shows 0% is normal — routers deprioritize ICMP replies.

Build from source

go build -o netpulse .

Releases are built by GoReleaser via GitHub Actions on version tags (v*).

License

MIT

Future: Scoop bucket (scoops:) can be added to .goreleaser.yaml once a bucket repo exists.