Python Kernel Killer is a VS Code / VSCodium extension (Linux-focused) to inspect and manage running Python-related processes directly from the sidebar.

It is especially useful when Jupyter kernels, multiprocessing jobs, or Python scripts become unresponsive and cannot be stopped from within VS Code.

Sidebar with detected processes and tooltip information

Kill process confirmation dialog

Features

Process Detection

The extension detects and groups processes into:

Zombie Python processes
Orphan Python processes
IPython / Jupyter kernels
JupyterLab servers
Terminal Python processes

Each process shows:

PID
CPU usage (%)
Memory usage (% and RSS in MB)
Full command

Process Control

You can terminate processes directly from the sidebar with three modes:

Soft kill (SIGTERM)
```
kill <PID>
```
Graceful shutdown (default, recommended)
Force kill (SIGKILL)
```
kill -9 <PID>
```
Immediate termination (use with caution)

Safety Mechanisms

To prevent accidental system damage, the extension applies multiple safeguards:

PID 1 is blocked

PID 1 (systemd / init) is the root of the process tree on Linux.
Terminating it can immediately destabilize or shut down the system.
System Python processes are protected

Not all Python processes are user workloads. Many desktop and system components are implemented in Python as background services in /usr/bin or /usr/lib.
- blocked for soft kill
- require explicit confirmation for force kill

Auto Refresh

Optional auto-refresh every 5 seconds
Visual indicator when enabled

Environment Detection

The extension extracts environment names when possible:

Conda / Miniforge -> envs/<name>
venv -> project folder name

Displayed only in the kill confirmation dialog.

Security & Privacy

This extension is designed with minimal data exposure.

Instead of collecting all processes, it uses a filtered ps command:

ps -eo pid=,ppid=,stat=,tty=,pcpu=,rss=,comm=,args= | awk '...'

Filtering happens before data reaches the extension, ensuring:

No full process list is stored
Only relevant Python/Jupyter processes are processed

Requirements

Linux system
Standard tools available:
- ps
- awk
- kill

No Python packages required.

Usage

Open the Python Kernels sidebar
Inspect running processes
Click a process to terminate it
Choose kill mode and confirm action

Known Limitations

Linux only
Detection based on process patterns (not kernel APIs)
Remote kernels are only visible if running locally

License

MIT

Release Notes

See full changelog: 👉 https://github.com/maikfussel/python-kernel-killer/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Latest version (0.1.0)

Process categorization (zombie, orphan, kernels, etc.)
CPU and memory monitoring
Kill modes (soft / force)
Auto-refresh

[0.0.1]

Initial release

Python Kernel Killer