# hpcloud/tail

Go package for reading from continously updated files (tail -f)

Repository: https://github.com/hpcloud/tail
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/tail
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2022-10-25T19:40:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4958, "days_push": 1408, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2780, forks 502 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:21.700125+00:00)

## What it is
A Go library that emulates the BSD `tail -f` behavior, streaming lines from files that are continuously updated. It supports truncation and move detection for compatibility with log rotation tools.

## Use cases
- follow log files in a Go application
- stream new lines from a growing file like tail -f
- monitor nginx or app logs in real time
- handle log rotation while tailing files
- build a log watcher service in Go

## When to choose
- you need tail -f functionality inside a Go program
- you must handle log truncation and rotation gracefully
- you want a simple channel-based line streaming API

## When to avoid
- you need full Windows support
- you need an actively developed project with recent maintenance
- you just need tail on the command line rather than in code

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: file-system, streaming, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, files, backend
- platform: go, cross-platform
- tags: tail-f, log-following, log-rotation, file-watching, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- hpcloud/tail (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:21.700125+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 2026-08-30T08:16:07.477252+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hpcloud/tail (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:21.700125+00:00, sha a8541a92743c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.