Glossary
Glossary
The words Hedroom and Activity Monitor use, in plain language. Each one links to the guide or feature page that explains it fully.
A
- App group
- An app and all its helper processes, counted as one. A browser and its many background processes show up as one entry, because that is how you think about it. See: What Hedroom reads.
- Apple Silicon
- Apple's own chips for the Mac, from M1 on. Hedroom is built for these only and does not run on Intel Macs. See: Download and requirements.
B
- Baseline (usual size)
- How big an app normally is on your Mac, taken from your last 7 days of use. Hedroom compares an app with its own baseline, not with a fixed number. For the first few hours it says it is still learning. See: How detection works.
C
- Cached files
- File data macOS keeps in memory so the next thing you open is quick. It is handed back the moment an app needs room, so a large number here is a sign the Mac is using memory well, not a problem. See: Why your Mac says memory is full.
- Compressed memory
- Memory that macOS has squeezed to take less room, instead of writing it to the SSD. Some is normal. A lot of it, together with fast-growing swap, is one sign of strain. See: Memory pressure vs used RAM.
D
- Discard (tab)
- A browser feature that frees a tab's memory but keeps the tab in the strip. The page reloads when you click it. Hedroom's browser companion uses the browser's own discard to sleep tabs you have not used. See: Browser companion.
E
- Efficiency cores
- The low-power cores in an Apple Silicon chip. Hedroom's "efficiency cores" fix lowers an app's priority so its work runs there and stops competing with what you are doing. It is reversible. See: Fixes.
F
- Finding
- Something Hedroom's detectors noticed: a leak, runaway CPU, a change in memory pressure, a thermal state, or a storage figure. A finding is information. It does nothing to your Mac. See: Diagnosis.
- Footprint
- The memory a process is responsible for. It is the figure Activity Monitor shows in its "Memory" column, and the one Hedroom uses for each app. See: Hedroom and Activity Monitor.
- Full Disk Access
- A macOS privacy permission that lets an app read protected folders. Hedroom does not ask for it during setup. It is needed only to show iPhone and iPad backups and Mail downloads in Storage, and everything else works without it. See: Storage cleanup.
G
- GPU wired limit
- How much of the unified memory the GPU may lock for itself. It matters when running local AI models. Hedroom can read it, and with your confirmation and the helper, raise it until you restart. See: Local AI headroom, Hedroom for local AI.
H
- Helper
- A small program with admin rights that Hedroom uses only for fan curves on MacBook Pro and for raising the GPU memory limit. macOS asks you to approve it once in System Settings. Everything else in Hedroom works without it, and it is removed when you uninstall. See: Approve the helper, Security.
K
- kernel_task
- The macOS kernel and the system work around it. It often looks busy when your Mac is hot, because macOS holds back other apps to cool down, so it is a symptom of heat, not its cause. Hedroom explains it and never touches it. See: kernel_task, WindowServer and other processes.
L
- Launch agent and login item
- Things that start when you log in. A login item is added by an app and listed in System Settings. A launch agent is a small file in a LaunchAgents folder. Both cost memory. Hedroom lists the launch agents, and turns one off by renaming its file so nothing is deleted. See: Startup items, What starts with your Mac.
- Leak (bloat)
- An app that has grown to several times its usual size and stays there. Hedroom flags one at 3 times its usual size or more, at least 1 GB, for about 20 minutes. A short spike is not a leak. See: The exact rules.
M
- Memory pressure
- macOS's own measure of how hard it is working to find room for what you are doing. It is the right signal for whether memory is a problem, and the one every Hedroom memory judgment uses, together with how fast swap is growing. See: Memory pressure vs used RAM, Why pressure.
N
- Never-touch list
- Apps you tell Hedroom to leave alone. Rules and fixes skip them completely. Alerts about them still show. You decide what is on it. See: What Hedroom never does.
O
- Optimized Charging
- A macOS feature that learns your routine and delays charging a MacBook past 80% until you are likely to need it, to slow battery aging. Hedroom shows whether it is holding the charge and does not change it. See: Power & fans.
P
- Pause (SIGSTOP)
- Freezes an app so it uses no CPU, using the standard SIGSTOP signal. A paused app wakes when you switch to it, and always within 60 minutes. A small guard process resumes it even if Hedroom crashes. See: Fixes.
- Process library
- A signed list of plain-words explanations and safety notes for common processes and apps. It ships inside Hedroom, so it works offline, and a newer copy is downloaded about once a week after its signature is checked. See: Process library.
R
- Receipt
- Hedroom's proof for an action: readings from before, readings from after, and a verdict. If the effect cannot be measured, the receipt says "No measurable effect." and takes no credit. See: Receipts, How to read a receipt.
- Relaunch
- Asks an app to quit, as ⌘Q does, then opens it again. It gives back what a leaking app was holding. Save your work first. See: Fixes.
- Rule
- A standing instruction such as "when Docker is idle on battery, pause it". Every rule ships off and is checked against the same safety gate as a click. See: Rules.
- Runaway CPU
- A background app using most of a CPU core for minutes. Hedroom flags one at 80% of a core or more for 3 minutes, unless it is a known busy job such as a backup or a build. See: The exact rules.
S
- Safety gate (SafetyGate)
- The single check every relaunch, quit, pause or efficiency-core move passes before it runs. It refuses anything made by Apple, the app you are using, an app on a call, and more, and shows the reason in plain words. See: The refusals, What Hedroom never does.
- Swap
- Memory that macOS writes to the SSD when RAM is full. Swap that is merely in use does not mean trouble, because macOS keeps old swap around. Swap that keeps growing is the sign to watch. See: What swap is and when it hurts.
T
- Thermal state
- How macOS describes heat: nominal, fair, serious or critical. At serious or critical, macOS slows the Mac to protect it. Hedroom shows the state and does not fight it: if you run a fan curve, it hands the fans back. See: Power & fans, Fan control: what is safe.
U
- Unified memory
- On Apple Silicon, one pool of memory shared by the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine. There is no separate video memory, which is why a local AI model competes with your apps for the same RAM. See: Will a local AI model fit?.
W
- WindowServer
- The macOS process that draws everything on your screens. It works harder with more or larger displays and with scaled resolutions. Hedroom's Display advisor reads its CPU and offers changes, which you try and can undo. See: Display advisor, Is your external display making your Mac work harder?.
- Wired memory
- Memory macOS keeps in place and cannot compress or move out, such as parts of the kernel and GPU allocations. Hedroom's Memory screen shows it as "Wired + GPU". See: Memory pressure vs used RAM.