# bensadeh/tailspin

🌀 A log file highlighter

Repository: https://github.com/bensadeh/tailspin
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/tailspin
Language: Rust
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: tail, log, syntax-highlighting, less, follow, colors, logfile, file, log-file, colorizer, highlighter, ccze, grc
Last push: 2026-08-17T04:12:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 97/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 93, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1522, "days_push": 16, "days_rel": 50, "gap_med": 8, "n_releases_24m": 16}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7946, forks 136 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:10.130375+00:00)

## What it is
tailspin (binary: tspin) is a Rust CLI tool that highlights log files in the terminal, recognizing dates, numbers, IPs, UUIDs, URLs, and severity keywords without any configuration. It can read files, stdin, or command output and display results in the less pager.

## Use cases
- highlight log files in the terminal
- colorize kubectl logs output
- tail a log file with syntax highlighting
- view log files with no configuration
- pipe command output through a log colorizer
- alternative to grc or ccze for log coloring

## When to choose
- you want zero-config log highlighting that works across any log format
- you frequently view or tail logs in the terminal and want dates, IPs, and severities colorized
- you want to pipe logs from other commands like kubectl through a highlighter

## When to avoid
- you need log aggregation, parsing, or structured log analysis rather than visual highlighting
- you need a GUI or web-based log viewer
- you need to store or query logs rather than view them

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cli, developer-tools, logging
- domain: developer-tools, files
- platform: cli, windows, rust
- tags: log-highlighter, less-pager, tail, syntax-highlighting, terminal, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- bensadeh/tailspin (main) score 97

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:10.130375+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 2026-08-29T17:33:12.883742+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/bensadeh/tailspin (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:10.130375+00:00, sha d7d3c23a2a47)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/tailspin (fetched 2026-08-29T08:29:45.694402+00:00, sha 3ea9aae768df)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.