Log Viewer

Open a log file of any size and start reading immediately. Log Viewer memory-maps the file instead of loading it, so a two-gigabyte log opens as fast as a two-kilobyte one.

Paste a copied terminal or CI excerpt with Command-V when you only need a quick look. It opens as a temporary log for searching and filtering, never appears in Recent Files, and is removed when you close it.

Filter a million lines down to the handful that matter. Follow a file as it's being written. Read the color codes a terminal log carries instead of printing them as text. Color-code severity so problems are visible while scrolling.

Free, with no accounts, no network, and no in-app purchases. Nothing you open ever leaves your Mac.

Because it's sandboxed for the App Store, you open files yourself with Command-O or drag and drop - including logs in system locations like /var/log, though a few of those are readable only by root.

OPEN ANYTHING, INSTANTLY

• Gigabyte files open in milliseconds, at any size
• Line indexing streams in behind the content, so nothing blocks reading
• Memory stays flat - the file is mapped, never loaded
• Opens files other viewers refuse: invalid encodings, no trailing newline, binary bytes, a single enormous line

PASTE A COPIED EXCERPT

• Command-V opens copied plain-text logs without making you save a file first
• Pasted logs are private and temporary: no Recent Files entry, no stray file left behind

FILTER, DON'T JUST SEARCH

• Filter mode collapses the file to the matching lines
• Original line numbers are kept, and every gap is drawn as an explicit break
• Optional surrounding lines for context
• Literal and regular-expression queries, with match positions marked on the scrollbar
• Results stream in while the search is still running

FOLLOW A FILE AS IT'S WRITTEN

• Pin to the bottom and the window follows new lines
• Scroll away and it stops, tells you how many lines arrived, and waits
• Survives truncation, rotation and deletion without losing what you were reading

READS TERMINAL COLOR, DOESN'T PRINT IT

• Logs captured from docker compose or a CI run carry their color as escape codes
• Log Viewer paints them and hides the codes - or drops them, or leaves them visible
• Often more of the window's width back than the messages themselves take
• Copying a line gives you what you could see, not the codes you couldn't

A REAL MAC APP

• Light and dark, both designed rather than inverted
• Native window tabbing, Command-Option-Arrow between tabs, find bar, and menus
• Editable highlight rules - pattern to text color and line tint, in the order you choose
• Select across lines by dragging, or whole lines from the gutter
• Adjustable text size, recent files, Go to Line, copy selected lines

PRIVACY

No accounts, no network, no telemetry, no analytics. The app has no way to send your logs anywhere, because it has no networking code at all.