★ Open Source

One viewer for all
your logs

Monitor AWS CloudWatch streams, tail local files, and pipe any command — all in a fast, dark-themed interface.

Download View on GitHub
$ simplelog /var/log/syslog
─── 14:32:01 ────────────────────────────────────────────
[14:32:01] INFO systemd[1]: Started Network Manager.
[14:32:02] WARN kernel: net_ratelimit: 12 callbacks suppressed
[14:32:04] ERROR sshd[4821]: Connection closed by 10.0.0.3 port 52104
[14:32:05] INFO cron[1132]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib/update-notifier)
Tailing /var/log/syslog — 100 lines loaded

Features

Everything you need
to debug faster

Designed for developers and SREs who spend time in logs every day.

☁

AWS CloudWatch

Browse log groups and streams, set lookback windows, filter with CloudWatch patterns, and poll for live updates.

📄

Local file tailing

Open any log file and tail it in real time. Load only the last N lines to stay fast on multi-GB files.

⏩

Pipe anything

Stream output from any command directly into SimpleLog. kubectl logs -f pod | simplelog

⬒

Tabs & split panes

Each tab holds one or more panes. Split side-by-side or stacked inside the active tab — resize freely, close individually.

🎨

Syntax highlighting

Color-coded ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, timestamps, and JSON keys — instantly readable.

🔍

Sidebar search & filter

Incremental search (Ctrl+F) with ▲/▼ navigation. Live filter with AND / OR logic. Detected JSON keys listed automatically.

💾

Workspaces

Save and restore complete sessions — sources, split layout, and filters — in one click.

🌐

5 languages

Full interface in English, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese with persistent language preference.

Command line

CLI Reference

SimpleLog works as a standalone GUI app and as a Unix-style filter.

simplelog [--split MODE] [--tail N] [FILE ...] command | simplelog [--split MODE]
Argument Default Description
FILE ... — One or more log file paths to open. Each gets its own tab. Multiple files are opened left-to-right. Glob expansion is handled by your shell (logs/*.log).
--split MODE tab Layout for multiple files.
tab — each file opens as a new tab.
vertical — files open as panes split side-by-side inside the active tab (│).
horizontal — files open as panes split top/bottom inside the active tab (─).

The selected mode is also reflected in the sidebar radio buttons inside the app.
--tail N 100 Number of lines loaded from the end of each file on startup. Keeps the UI responsive on large files. The app then tails the file live for new lines. Raise it for deeper history (e.g. --tail 5000).
stdin (pipe) auto When stdin is not a terminal, SimpleLog automatically reads from it — no flag needed. Works with any command that writes to stdout.

Keyboard shortcuts

ShortcutAction
Ctrl+F Open / focus sidebar search
Ctrl+Shift+F Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+W Close all open logs
Enter / ▼ Next Find next match
▲ Prev Find previous match
Escape Close the search bar

Examples

Launch CloudWatch browser

$ simplelog

Tail a single file

$ simplelog /var/log/syslog

Load the last 1000 lines

$ simplelog --tail 1000 /var/log/nginx/access.log

Multiple files as tabs

$ simplelog app.log worker.log scheduler.log

Side-by-side split

$ simplelog --split vertical app.log error.log

Top / bottom split

$ simplelog --split horizontal service-a.log service-b.log

Split + custom tail

$ simplelog --split vertical --tail 500 app.log error.log

Pipe from journalctl

$ journalctl -f | simplelog

Pipe from kubectl

$ kubectl logs -f my-pod | simplelog

Pipe from Docker

$ docker logs -f my-container | simplelog

Pipe with grep pre-filter

$ tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep -i error | simplelog

Open all logs in a directory

$ simplelog logs/*.log

Installation

Get SimpleLog

Choose the method that works best for your system.

Automatic installer

Detects your OS and installs the right package automatically.

1 Run in your terminal
$ curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/simplelogdev/simplelog/master/install.sh | bash
2 Launch
$ simplelog

macOS

Requires macOS 12 Monterey or later. Apple Silicon and Intel both supported.

1 Add the tap
$ brew tap simplelogdev/simplelog
2 Install
$ brew install simplelog
3 Launch
$ simplelog

Don't have Homebrew? Install it here — or download the .dmg directly:

Download .dmg

If macOS blocks the app: right-click → Open → Open

Debian / Ubuntu

Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+. All architectures supported via Snap.

1 Install via Snap
$ sudo snap install simplelog
2 Launch
$ simplelog

Prefer a .deb package? (x86-64 only)

Download .deb
$ sudo dpkg -i simplelog_amd64.deb

Other Linux distributions

Snap works on Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, and most major distributions.

1 Install via Snap
$ sudo snap install simplelog
2 Launch
$ simplelog

No snapd on your distro? Use the universal AppImage instead (x86-64 only):

Download AppImage
$ chmod +x simplelog-x86_64.AppImage && ./simplelog-x86_64.AppImage

Removal

Uninstall SimpleLog

Clean removal instructions for each platform.

macOS — Homebrew

Installed via brew

Uninstall
$ brew uninstall simplelog

macOS — .dmg

Installed from the disk image

Remove the app bundle
$ rm -rf /Applications/SimpleLog.app

Linux — Snap

Installed via snap

Uninstall
$ sudo snap remove simplelog

Linux — .deb

Installed from the .deb package

Remove with apt
$ sudo apt remove simplelog

Linux — AppImage

Self-contained binary, nothing was installed system-wide

Remove the binary
$ rm -f ~/.local/bin/simplelog