tspin1
A log file highlighter
Usage
tspin [OPTION] ...
[FILE] ...
Overview
tailspin is a command line tool that highlights log files.
Options
-
-f, --follow -
Follow (tail) the contents of the file. Always true when using the --exec flag.
-
-p, --print -
Print the output to stdout instead of viewing the contents in the pager less. Always true if using stdin.
-
--theme PATH -
Specify the path to a custom theme file. Defaults to
XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tailspin/theme.tomlor~/.config/tailspin/theme.tomlif not set. On Windows, defaults to%APPDATA%\tailspin\theme.toml. Can also be set via the TAILSPIN_THEME environment variable.
-
-e, --exec COMMAND -
Run command and view the output in a pager. The command traps the interrupt signal to allow for cancelling and resuming follow mode while inside less.
Example:tspin --exec 'kubectl logs -f pod_name'
--highlight COLOR1:word1,word2,... COLOR2:word3,word4,...
Highlight the provided comma-separated words in the specified color. Possible colors are black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white, optionally prefixed with bright_ (e.g. bright_red).
Example:
tspin logfile.txt --highlight red:error,fail --highlight green:success,ok
-
--enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP] -
Disable all highlighting groups except the ones specified. Comma separated list of groups. Cannot be used with
--disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP]. Possible groups: numbers, urls, emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes, key-value-pairs, uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.
-
--disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP] -
Disable the specified highlighting groups. Comma separated list of groups. Cannot be used with
--enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP]. The keywords group controls the builtin keywords (booleans, nulls, log severities and common REST verbs); keywords from the config file and the--highlightflag always apply. Possible groups: numbers, urls, emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes, key-value-pairs, uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.
-
--extras=[EXTRA] -
Enable extra highlighters. Comma separated list of extras. Possible values: ipv6, jvm-stack-trace. Can also be set via the TAILSPIN_EXTRAS environment variable.
-
--pager COMMAND -
Override the default pager command used by tspin. The command must include the string [FILE] which will be replaced with the file path internally.
Example:tspin logfile.txt --pager "ov -f [FILE]"
-
--completions SHELL -
Print shell completions to stdout. Possible values: bash, elvish, fish, powershell, zsh.
-
--generate-default-theme -
Print the default theme as a theme.toml to stdout. Every value in the output is a default: copy it to
~/.config/tailspin/theme.tomland edit the styles you want to override.
Environment
TAILSPIN_PAGER
Set the TAILSPIN_PAGER environment variable to override the default pager. Equivalent to the --pager flag. The command must include the string [FILE] which will be replaced with the file path internally. For example, "ov -f [FILE]".
TAILSPIN_EXTRAS
Comma separated list of extras to enable by default. Equivalent to the --extras flag. For example, "jvm-stack-trace" or "ipv6,jvm-stack-trace".
TAILSPIN_THEME
Path to the theme file to use. Equivalent to the --theme flag.
About
Ben Sadeh (github.com/bensadeh/tailspin)
Released under the MIT License
History
- Arch Linux 2026-11-01: the text shown here
- Debian 13 (Trixie)
--completions since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--disable since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--enable since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--exec since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--extras since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--follow since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--generate-default-theme since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--pager since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--print since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--theme since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-e since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-f since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-p since Arch Linux 2026-11-01.