Cockpit NVIDIA GPU Dashboard

Custom Cockpit package that displays live GPU stats (model, driver, CUDA version, temperature, utilization, memory, processes) in the web UI sidebar on port 9090.

When to use

User wants GPU temperature / utilization / memory visible in Cockpit
User prefers a web UI over terminal nvidia-smi or nvtop

Two approaches

cockpit.script() (run nvidia-smi directly) silently fails on some Cockpit versions (Ubuntu 26+, Cockpit ~314+). The systemd + file-read approach is more reliable and preferred.

Approach A (recommended): systemd service + file-read

Write GPU data to files periodically via a background service, then read them from the Cockpit page with cockpit.file().read(). Avoids all PATH and permission issues with running nvidia-smi from the Cockpit bridge.

1. Create the data-collection script

/usr/local/bin/nvidia-gpu-monitor.sh:

#!/bin/bash
while true; do
  nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name,driver_version,temperature.gpu,utilization.gpu,memory.used,memory.total,power.draw,pstate,fan.speed --format=csv,noheader,nounits 2>/dev/null | head -1 > /run/nvidia-gpu.txt
  nvidia-smi --query-compute-apps=pid,process_name,used_memory --format=csv,noheader,nounits 2>/dev/null > /run/nvidia-processes.txt
  nvidia-smi 2>/dev/null | grep "CUDA Version" | sed 's/.*CUDA Version: //' | head -1 > /run/nvidia-cuda.txt
  sleep 5
done

Make executable: sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/nvidia-gpu-monitor.sh

2. Create systemd service

/etc/systemd/system/nvidia-gpu-monitor.service:

[Unit]
Description=NVIDIA GPU Monitor - writes stats to /run
After=nvidia-persistenced.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/nvidia-gpu-monitor.sh
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now nvidia-gpu-monitor

3. Create the Cockpit package

/usr/share/cockpit/nvidia-gpu/manifest.json:

{
    "version": 1,
    "requires": { "cockpit": "260" },
    "menu": {
        "index": { "label": "NVIDIA GPU", "order": 90 }
    },
    "content-security-policy": "default-src 'self'; script-src 'unsafe-inline'"
}

/usr/share/cockpit/nvidia-gpu/index.html:

The page uses cockpit.file(path).read() to read /run/nvidia-gpu.txt, /run/nvidia-processes.txt, and /run/nvidia-cuda.txt. Each file contains a single line of comma-separated values written by the systemd service.

Key implementation:

function readFile(path) { return cockpit.file(path).read(); }

function update() {
  readFile('/run/nvidia-gpu.txt').done(function(data) {
    if (!data || !data.trim()) { /* show error */ return; }
    var parts = data.trim().split(', ');
    // parts[0] = name, [1] = driver, [2] = temp, [3] = util,
    // [4] = mem_used, [5] = mem_total, [6] = power, [7] = pstate, [8] = fan
    // ... render cards ...
  });

  readFile('/run/nvidia-cuda.txt').done(function(d) { /* show CUDA version */ });
  readFile('/run/nvidia-processes.txt').done(function(d) { /* render process table */ });
}
setInterval(update, 5000);

4. Install and restart Cockpit

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/cockpit/nvidia-gpu
# Write manifest.json and index.html (use sudo tee or sudo cp)
sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/cockpit/nvidia-gpu/*
sudo systemctl restart cockpit

5. Verify

Open https://<server>:9090 in browser
Log in with server credentials
Click NVIDIA GPU in sidebar — live metrics refresh every 5s

Approach B (fallback): cockpit.script() directly

Use when Approach A isn't practical (no systemd, containerized Cockpit, etc.):

cockpit.script("/usr/bin/nvidia-smi --query-gpu=... --format=csv,noheader,nounits", null, {superuser: 'try'})
  .done(function(data) { /* parse and render */ })
  .fail(function(err) { /* show error */ });

Caveats (why Approach A is preferred):

cockpit.script() may silently hang on Cockpit v314+ (Ubuntu 26+)
PATH may not include /usr/bin/ in non-interactive bridge sessions
The .fail() handler may catch but not always fire for certain errors
Debugging is harder — the error object from Cockpit bridge is opaque

If using this approach, use the full path /usr/bin/nvidia-smi and avoid {superuser: 'try'} unless nvidia-smi requires root on the target system.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
"No NVIDIA GPU detected"	Can't read data files or run nvidia-smi	Check `/run/nvidia-gpu.txt` exists and is populated. Restart service: `sudo systemctl restart nvidia-gpu-monitor`
Page shows stale data	systemd service stopped or crashed	`sudo systemctl status nvidia-gpu-monitor` — restart if dead
Power shows `[N/A]`	GTX 1050 Ti doesn't report power draw	Normal — handle gracefully in display
Page loads blank	CSP blocking inline script	Add `'unsafe-inline'` to manifest CSP
"No GPU processes" when Immich is processing	Jobs may be between batches	Check `nvidia-smi` directly — should show python process
Ctrl+Shift+R needed after updates	Cockpit aggressively caches package content	Hard-refresh or open in private/incognito tab

Install nvtop for terminal TUI monitor: apt install nvtop (or build from https://github.com/Syllo/nvtop)
GPU acceleration setup: see the parent docker-gpu-acceleration skill

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