Ports Support
Help with Ports
Have a question or found a problem? Send a message using the Ports support form or email [email protected].
Ports 1.0 is available. Download Ports for macOS or read the release notes.
For a support enquiry, include your Ports version, macOS version, what you expected to happen, what happened instead, and the steps to reproduce the issue. Remove private commands, usernames, addresses, credentials and other personal information from any diagnostic summaries or screenshots before sending them.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I download Ports?
Use the download button on the Ports page to get the DMG from the official GitHub release. Ports is distributed directly for macOS.
Where is the app?
Ports lives in the macOS menu bar. Click its network icon to open it. Right-click the icon for Settings or Quit.
How do I find a port?
Type a port number, process name, PID, protocol, user, address or command into search. Exact port-number matches appear before broader matches. Select Details on a result to see its PID, user, command, full executable path, address and state. Search includes commands, so some results may have a different port number from the one you typed.
What does Reveal App do?
It opens Finder with the owning app selected. For command-line tools such as Node, it selects the executable instead. The full executable path is also available in Details.
Can I open a local service in my browser?
For local TCP ports, choose HTTP or HTTPS from Open in browser. Use the protocol your service supports. A TCP listener is not necessarily a website, so some services will not display a page. The action is not available for UDP sockets.
What do Local only and All interfaces mean?
Local only means the service is bound to a loopback address. All interfaces means a wildcard binding. These describe the local binding; actual reachability from another device or the internet also depends on routing, firewalls and network settings.
How does “What is this?” work?
It opens a prepared question about the selected process and port in an external AI service in your browser. Choose ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity in Settings. An account or subscription with that provider may be required; AI is optional and is not needed for the core port view.
Selected diagnostics are sent in the URL when your browser opens, before you press Send. There is no automatic redaction or prompt preview in the current app. Check the details before choosing the action. AI answers can be wrong, so verify advice before changing your system. See the Ports privacy policy draft for recipients and data handling.
How do I open Ports at startup?
Enable Settings → Open at startup. macOS may also require approval in Login Items in System Settings.
Which versions of macOS are supported?
Ports requires macOS 14 or later.
Where can I find my Ports version?
Open Settings to see the installed version and build number. Include both when reporting a problem, along with your macOS version.
How do I check for updates?
The Updates section in Settings links to the Ports website. Check there for future releases and download a newer version when one is available.
Do I need an account?
No Ports account or AI account is needed to inspect local ports. If you choose optional AI assistance, the external provider may require an account or subscription.
Troubleshooting
I can’t find a process or port
Clear the search and active filters, then refresh the list. Check that the service is still running. Ports shows listening TCP services and UDP sockets, so it is not a complete list of every network connection. If results still look wrong, include the expected port and your reproduction steps in a support enquiry.
The list seems out of date
Refresh manually and check your refresh interval. Services can start, stop or change ports between scans. If refreshing does not help, quit and reopen Ports, then report any error message with your app and macOS versions.
The AI page doesn’t open or asks me to sign in
Check the provider selected in Settings and whether its website opens in your browser. Provider access and account requirements are managed by that service. You can continue inspecting ports without using AI.
Contact Ports support
Use this form for questions, bug reports or privacy requests. Only your email address and message are required.