# kilianc/rtail

rtail(1) - Terminal output to the browser in seconds, using UNIX pipes.

Repository: https://github.com/kilianc/rtail
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rtail
Homepage: https://rtail.ciuffolo.com
Language: TypeScript
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-22T16:19:25+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 65, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4329, "days_push": 11, "days_rel": 22, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1612, forks 101 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:11.124798+00:00)

## What it is
rtail is a CLI utility that pipes stdin lines over UDP to an rtail-server, which streams them into a browser in realtime via socket.io. It requires no agents, no log format changes, and no persistence layer, making it a lightweight alternative to traditional log aggregation tools.

## Use cases
- tail log files in the browser in realtime
- monitor logs from multiple remote servers without ssh
- view colored terminal output of test runs in a browser
- stream node server.js output to a live web dashboard
- replace logio for realtime log viewing
- pipe any command output to a shared web viewer

## When to choose
- you want zero-config realtime log viewing over unix pipes
- you need to watch logs from many machines in one browser tab
- you don't want to change application code or adopt a logging protocol
- you want fire-and-forget UDP streaming with no back-pressure

## When to avoid
- you need log persistence, search, or retention
- you need authentication — rtail-server has none
- you need guaranteed delivery or ordered logs over unreliable networks
- you need a production-grade log aggregation platform

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: logging, monitoring, cli, http-server, websocket
- domain: developer-tools, monitoring
- platform: cli, self-hosted, cross-platform
- tags: log-streaming, udp-broadcast, unix-pipes, realtime-logs, terminal-output, socket-io, ansi-colors, no-persistence, devops, command-line, real-time, nodejs, docker, web-server

## Member repositories
- kilianc/rtail (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:11.124798+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 2026-08-30T03:51:10.184223+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/kilianc/rtail (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:11.124798+00:00, sha 55ab7464582e)
  - homepage: https://rtail.ciuffolo.com (fetched 2026-08-29T11:23:20.370533+00:00, sha e54ef48afd78)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.