# sindresorhus/log-update

Log by overwriting the previous output in the terminal. Useful for rendering progress bars, animations, etc.

Repository: https://github.com/sindresorhus/log-update
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/log-update
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-04-05T07:47:52+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 75, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4035, "days_push": 150, "days_rel": 150, "gap_med": 37, "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 1166, forks 42 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:50.169394+00:00)

## What it is
A small JavaScript library for Node.js that logs to the terminal by overwriting the previous output, enabling in-place updates like progress bars and animations. It performs partial redraws to reduce flicker and supports custom streams, cursor visibility, and persistent output.

## Use cases
- render a progress bar in the terminal
- animate a spinner while a task runs
- update CLI output in place without spamming new lines
- show live task list status in a command-line tool
- write persistent log lines below an updating terminal display

## When to choose
- you're building a Node.js CLI that needs in-place terminal updates
- you want a tiny dependency for spinners or progress rendering
- you need flicker-reduced redraws on stdout or stderr

## When to avoid
- you need a full-featured progress bar library with built-in UI
- your app is not a terminal/CLI environment
- you need browser or non-Node.js support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: logging, terminal-ui, cli
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: progress-bar, terminal-output, animation, stdout, spinner-rendering, command-line, nodejs

## Member repositories
- sindresorhus/log-update (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:50.169394+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 2026-08-30T06:29:18.495670+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sindresorhus/log-update (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:50.169394+00:00, sha f0fd300c676d)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/log-update (fetched 2026-08-29T12:35:20.240814+00:00, sha a43ca8330c7f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.