# Ram Consumption Verification

> Verify RAM consumption of processes by measuring system memory before/after killing them. Uses htop in a tmux session for accurate measurement.

- Skill: `tankygranny05/ram-consumption-verification` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tankygranny05/ram-consumption-verification`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tankygranny05/ram-consumption-verification/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: tankygranny05 (https://skillmd.com/u/tankygranny05)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tankygranny05/ram-consumption-verification

---


# RAM Consumption Verification

[Created by Claude: ab7e3fa0-6c2e-49c0-a55f-21779f70b64a 2026-01-25]

## Purpose

Verify that a process's self-reported RAM consumption is accurate by:
1. Measuring total system RAM with htop
2. Killing the target process(es)
3. Measuring total system RAM again
4. Comparing the difference

## Prerequisites

- `htop` installed
- `tmux` installed
- Agent must know their suffix(5) (last 5 chars of Agent ID)

---

## ⚠️ CRITICAL: Always Clean Up

**You MUST clean up the tmux session after the test completes.**

The tmux session is ONLY for running htop temporarily. Failure to clean up leaves orphaned sessions.

---

## Step-by-Step Procedure

### Step 1: Create tmux session with htop

Use your suffix(5) to name the session:

```bash
tmux new-session -d -s ram-test-{suffix5} && \
tmux send-keys -t ram-test-{suffix5} 'htop' Enter
```

Example for agent with suffix `0b64a`:
```bash
tmux new-session -d -s ram-test-0b64a && \
tmux send-keys -t ram-test-0b64a 'htop' Enter
```

### Step 2: Wait and capture BEFORE measurement

```bash
sleep 2 && tmux capture-pane -t ram-test-{suffix5} -p | grep "^  Mem"
```

**Record this value** (e.g., `53.8G/128G`)

### Step 3: Kill target process(es)

Use `pkill -9` for forceful termination:

```bash
pkill -9 -f "{process-pattern}"
```

Examples:
```bash
# Kill ingestors
pkill -9 -f "ingest-to-centralized-db"

# Kill a specific python script
pkill -9 -f "my_script.py"

# Kill by PID
kill -9 {pid1} {pid2}
```

### Step 4: Wait and capture AFTER measurement

```bash
sleep 1 && tmux capture-pane -t ram-test-{suffix5} -p | grep "^  Mem"
```

**Record this value** (e.g., `43.2G/128G`)

### Step 5: Verify processes are dead

```bash
pgrep -f "{process-pattern}" || echo "Processes confirmed dead"
```

### Step 6: Calculate and report

```
RAM Before: 53.8 GB
RAM After:  43.2 GB
Difference: 10.6 GB (this is the actual RAM used by killed processes)
```

### Step 7: ⚠️ CLEANUP (MANDATORY)

**Always run this step, even if earlier steps failed:**

```bash
tmux kill-session -t ram-test-{suffix5}
```

---

## Complete Example Script

For an agent with suffix `e274f` verifying ingestor RAM:

```bash
# Step 1: Create session
tmux new-session -d -s ram-test-e274f && \
tmux send-keys -t ram-test-e274f 'htop' Enter

# Step 2: Measure BEFORE
sleep 2 && tmux capture-pane -t ram-test-e274f -p | grep "^  Mem"
# Output: Mem[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||53.8G/128G]

# Step 3: Kill processes
pkill -9 -f "ingest-to-centralized-db"

# Step 4: Measure AFTER
sleep 1 && tmux capture-pane -t ram-test-e274f -p | grep "^  Mem"
# Output: Mem[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||43.2G/128G]

# Step 5: Verify dead
pgrep -f "ingest-to-centralized-db" || echo "Ingestors confirmed dead"

# Step 6: Report
echo "RAM dropped from 53.8GB to 43.2GB = 10.6GB used by ingestors"

# Step 7: CLEANUP
tmux kill-session -t ram-test-e274f
```

---

## Interpreting Results

| Scenario | RAM Change | Interpretation |
|----------|------------|----------------|
| Large drop (GBs) | -10 GB | Process was using significant RAM |
| Small drop (MBs) | -50 MB | Process was using minimal RAM |
| No change / slight increase | ±0.5 GB | Process RAM was negligible; fluctuation is noise |

---

## Why htop Instead of ps/top?

- `ps aux` RSS values can be misleading (shared memory, copy-on-write)
- `htop` shows real-time system-wide memory that the kernel reports
- Measuring before/after gives ground truth of actual memory freed

---

## Troubleshooting

### htop not showing in capture
```bash
# Increase sleep time
sleep 3 && tmux capture-pane -t ram-test-{suffix5} -p | grep "^  Mem"
```

### Session already exists
```bash
# Kill existing and recreate
tmux kill-session -t ram-test-{suffix5} 2>/dev/null
tmux new-session -d -s ram-test-{suffix5}
```

### Forgot to cleanup
```bash
# List all ram-test sessions
tmux ls | grep ram-test

# Kill all ram-test sessions
tmux ls | grep ram-test | cut -d: -f1 | xargs -I{} tmux kill-session -t {}
```