---
name: "nqtail"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nq"
version: "1.0-0.2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nqtail"
---

# nqtail(1)

job queue log viewer

## NAME

**nqtail** – job queue log viewer

## SYNOPSIS

**nqtail** \[**-a**\] \[**-n**\] \[**-q**\] \[*job id* *...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**nqtail** is a simple utility for “following” the output of [nq(1)](/nq/1.md) jobs.

Without arguments, the output of the currently running and queued as-of-now jobs is emitted; else the presented job ids are used.

**nqtail** automatically terminates after the corresponding jobs are done.

The options are as follows:

- **-a**

  Output all log files, even of already finished jobs.

- **-n**

  Don't wait for new output. Can be used to look at enqueued commands.

- **-q**

  Only print the first line of each job output (i.e. the exec line).

## ENVIRONMENT

- NQDIR

  Directory where lock files/job output resides, see [nq(1)](/nq/1.md).

## EXIT STATUS

The **nqtail** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## INTERNALS

On Linux, [inotify(7)](/inotify/7.md) is used to monitor job output. On FreeBSD and macOS, [kqueue(2)](/kqueue/2.md) is used. On other operating systems, polling is used.

## SEE ALSO

[nq(1)](/nq/1.md), [nqterm(1)](/nqterm/1.md)

## AUTHORS

Leah Neukirchen ⟨*leah@vuxu.org*⟩

## LICENSE

**nqtail** is in the public domain.

To the extent possible under law, the creator of this work has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.

**http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/**