# tstack/lnav

Log file navigator

Repository: https://github.com/tstack/lnav
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/lnav
Homepage: http://lnav.org
Language: C++
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: log-analysis, log-monitor, command-line-tool, less, logging, more, pager, tail, terminal, terminal-pager, tui, log-viewer, log-visualization
Last push: 2026-08-25T05:38:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 88/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 67, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6198, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 143, "gap_med": 84, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 10613, forks 399 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:42.554386+00:00)

## What it is
lnav is an advanced terminal-based log file viewer that automatically detects log formats, merges multiple files by timestamp, and lets users search, filter, and query logs. It includes a TUI with histogram views, syntax highlighting, and a SQLite interface for analyzing log data with SQL.

## Use cases
- view and tail multiple log files merged in one terminal view
- search and filter server logs with regular expressions
- query log files using SQL
- find errors and warnings quickly in large log files
- pretty-print JSON-lines and structured logs
- visualize log message frequency over time with histograms
- analyze web access logs for failed requests

## When to choose
- you need to correlate logs from multiple files or rotated logs in chronological order
- you want a zero-setup terminal tool instead of a centralized log server
- you need to run SQL queries against log data
- you work with many built-in log formats like syslog, nginx, or JSON-lines
- you want to tail live logs while still being able to scroll and search backwards

## When to avoid
- you need centralized, distributed log aggregation across many servers
- you want a GUI or web-based log dashboard
- you need long-term log storage and retention
- you primarily process non-log structured data files

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: logging, search-engine, data-visualization, developer-tools, terminal-ui
- domain: developer-tools, monitoring, analytics
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: log-viewer, log-analysis, tui, pager, tail, sqlite, log-monitoring, log-format-detection, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- tstack/lnav (main) score 88

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:42.554386+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:18:28.533058+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/tstack/lnav (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:42.554386+00:00, sha 1df9135a6fb5)
  - homepage: http://lnav.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:17:36.153956+00:00, sha 6ac15229e3ef)
  - site_page: https://lnav.org/features (fetched 2026-08-29T08:17:36.157590+00:00, sha f87d2cc2d76b)
  - site_page: https://lnav.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:17:36.159619+00:00, sha 13d04ca15538)
  - site_page: https://docs.lnav.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:17:36.161281+00:00, sha b04be3ec970f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.