WebLogView

A cross-platform, web-based log viewer with real-time file monitoring and Kubernetes pod log streaming.

Features

• 🔄 Real-time log file monitoring
• ☸️ Kubernetes pod log streaming (connect directly to pods)
• 🌐 Multi-cluster support (switch between Kubernetes contexts)
• 🎯 Smart namespace & pod discovery (autocomplete with live filtering)
• 🎨 ANSI color rendering (terminal colors displayed properly)
• 🔍 Regex filtering (include/exclude patterns)
• 📑 Tabbed interface for multiple log sources
• 📊 Dual-pane layout (all lines + filtered lines)
• 🖱️ Click-to-highlight line navigation
• ⚙️ Persistent settings with recent namespaces
• 🌐 Web-based UI (works on any platform)
• 📦 Single executable (no dependencies)

Quick Start

Download Pre-built Binary

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

First-time Setup (macOS only)

macOS may block the application because it's not signed. To run it:

# Make the file executable
chmod +x weblogview-darwin-arm64

# Remove macOS quarantine attribute (for downloaded files)
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine weblogview-darwin-arm64

Alternatively, after the first run attempt, go to System Preferences → Security & Privacy and click "Open Anyway".

Run

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
./weblogview-darwin-arm64

# macOS (Intel)
./weblogview-darwin-amd64

# Linux
./weblogview-linux-amd64

# Windows
weblogview-windows-amd64.exe

The application will automatically open your browser to http://localhost:8080.

Usage

Viewing Log Files

1. Drag and drop a log file onto the interface, or
2. Click "Choose File" and enter the file path
3. Logs will stream in real-time as the file is updated

Kubernetes Pod Logs

1. Click the "Kubernetes" option on the landing page
2. Select your cluster context (switches between multiple clusters)
3. Enter or select a namespace (autocomplete with validation):
   • ✓ Green checkmark: namespace exists with pods
   • ⚠ Orange warning: namespace exists but no pods running
   • ✕ Red X: namespace not found
4. Select a pod from the autocomplete dropdown (live filtering)
5. Optionally select a specific container (for multi-container pods)
6. Click "Connect" to start streaming logs

Kubernetes Features:

• Recent namespaces are saved and suggested
• All namespaces are available via dropdown with live filtering
• Pod discovery with autocomplete search
• Container selection for multi-container pods
• Context switching for multi-cluster environments

Command Line Options

-port int       Port to run the server on (default 8080)
-host string    Host to bind the server to (default "localhost")
-no-browser     Don't automatically open browser

Prerequisites

For File Watching

• No additional dependencies required

For Kubernetes Integration

• kubectl configured with access to your clusters
• Valid ~/.kube/config file with cluster contexts
• Appropriate RBAC permissions to list namespaces, pods, and read logs

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21 or later
• Node.js 18 or later
• npm

Quick Build

make release

This will create production-ready executables in the dist/ directory for all platforms.

Development Build

# Install dependencies
go mod download
cd web && npm install && cd ..

# Run backend
go run ./cmd -no-browser

# In another terminal, run frontend dev server
cd web && npm run dev

The frontend dev server runs on http://localhost:3000 and proxies to the backend on http://localhost:8080.

Project Structure

WebLogView/
├── cmd/
│   └── main.go                 # Application entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── config/                 # Configuration management
│   ├── server/                 # HTTP server and API
│   │   └── static/             # Embedded frontend (generated)
│   ├── settings/               # Persistent settings
│   ├── websocket/              # WebSocket hub and client
│   └── watcher/                # File watching and K8s log streaming
│       ├── watcher.go          # File watcher
│       ├── k8s_watcher.go      # Kubernetes pod log streaming
│       ├── k8s_pods.go         # Pod discovery
│       ├── k8s_contexts.go     # Context management
│       └── k8s_namespaces.go   # Namespace listing
├── web/                        # Frontend Preact application
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   ├── K8sConnector.jsx    # Kubernetes connection UI
│   │   │   ├── DropZone.jsx        # File/K8s source selector
│   │   │   └── ...
│   │   ├── hooks/
│   │   └── main.jsx
│   ├── vite.config.js
│   └── package.json
├── scripts/
│   └── build-release.sh        # Release build script
├── go.mod
├── Makefile
├── DESIGN.md
└── README.md

Settings

Settings are stored in ~/.weblogview/settings.json and persist across sessions:

• Initial Window Size: Number of lines to load initially (default: 1000)
• ANSI Rendering: Toggle colored log display per pane (default: enabled)
• Recent Files: Last 10 opened log files
• Recent Namespaces: Last 10 used Kubernetes namespaces

Access settings via the ⚙️ button in the control bar.

API Endpoints

File Operations

• GET /api/recent-files - Get recently opened files
• WS /ws - WebSocket for log streaming

Kubernetes Operations

• GET /api/k8s/contexts - List available Kubernetes contexts
• POST /api/k8s/switch-context - Switch active context
• GET /api/k8s/namespaces - List all namespaces in current context
• GET /api/k8s/pods?namespace=X - List pods in namespace
• GET /api/k8s/containers?namespace=X&pod=Y - List containers in pod
• GET /api/recent-namespaces - Get recently used namespaces
• WS /ws - WebSocket for pod log streaming (type: "open-k8s")

Architecture

See DESIGN.md for detailed architecture and design documentation.

License

MIT