dlt-tui 0.3.3

A fast, keyboard-centric TUI viewer for Automotive DLT (Diagnostic Log and Trace) files
dlt-tui-0.3.3 is not a library.

dlt-tui

Crates.io License: MIT

A fast, keyboard-centric terminal viewer for Automotive DLT (Diagnostic Log and Trace) files.

Analyze AUTOSAR DLT logs directly in your terminal — no GUI needed. Works over SSH on test benches, in CI pipelines, and inside Docker containers.

Why dlt-tui?

Pain Point dlt-tui Solution
dlt-viewer requires a desktop GUI Works in any terminal — SSH, CI runners, containers
Opening multi-GB DLT files is slow Async streaming parser — starts displaying before full load
Finding the right log is tedious Instant regex search + compound filters (Level × APP × CTX)
Compressed logs need manual extraction Transparently reads .dlt, .dlt.gz, and .dlt.zip
Mouse-heavy workflows slow you down Vim-style navigation — hands never leave the keyboard

Features

  • Built-in File Explorer — Browse directories and open files without leaving the TUI
  • Log Table View — ECU ID, APP ID, CTX ID, Log Level, Timestamp, and Payload at a glance
  • Log Detail and Hex Dump — Inspect raw payload bytes for deep protocol analysis
  • Color-coded Log Levels — Fatal (red), Error (light red), Warn (yellow), Info (green), Debug (blue), Verbose (gray)
  • Real-time Filtering — Stack multiple filters to isolate exactly what you need:
    • / — Regex text search across payloads
    • l — Filter by minimum log level
    • a — Filter by APP ID
    • c — Filter by CTX ID
    • C — Clear all filters instantly
  • Live TCP Connection — Connect directly to a running dlt-daemon for real-time log streaming
  • Compression Support — Directly open .gz and .zip compressed DLT files
  • Security Hardened — Zip bomb protection (500MB limit), terminal injection sanitization

Quick Start

Install from crates.io

cargo install dlt-tui

Or build from source

git clone https://github.com/tkmsikd/dlt-tui.git
cd dlt-tui
cargo build --release

Run

# Open file explorer in current directory
dlt-tui

# Open a specific directory
dlt-tui /path/to/log/directory/

# Directly open a DLT file (also works with .gz and .zip)
dlt-tui /path/to/ecu_recording.dlt.gz

# Connect to a running dlt-daemon over TCP
dlt-tui --connect localhost:3490

# Typical ADB workflow for IVI development
adb forward tcp:3490 tcp:3490
dlt-tui --connect localhost:3490

Keybindings

File Explorer

Key Action
j / Down Move down
k / Up Move up
Ctrl+f / Page Down Page down
Ctrl+b / Page Up Page up
Ctrl+d Half page down
Ctrl+u Half page up
g / Home Jump to top
G / End Jump to bottom
Enter Open directory / Load file
q Quit

Log Viewer

Key Action
j / Down Scroll down
k / Up Scroll up
Ctrl+f / Page Down Page down
Ctrl+b / Page Up Page up
Ctrl+d Half page down
Ctrl+u Half page up
g / Home Jump to first log
G / End Jump to last log
Enter Open detail view with hex dump
/ Search text (regex supported)
l Filter by log level (F/E/W/I/D/V)
a Filter by APP ID
c Filter by CTX ID
C Clear all filters
F Toggle auto-scroll (tail mode)
q / Esc Back to File Explorer

Log Detail

Key Action
j / k Navigate between log entries
q / Esc Back to Log Viewer

In any filter input mode, press Enter to apply or Esc to cancel and reset the filter.

Use Cases

ECU Bring-Up and Debugging

SSH into your target hardware and inspect DLT logs on the spot — no need to copy files back to your workstation.

ssh ecu-bench "cat /var/log/dlt/*.dlt" > combined.dlt && dlt-tui combined.dlt

CI / Test Bench Pipeline

Integrate log inspection into your CI pipeline. When a test fails, quickly triage the issue:

dlt-tui ./test-results/ecu_log_$(date +%Y%m%d).dlt.gz

Quick Triage with Compound Filters

Stack filters to isolate exactly what you need:

  1. Press l, type W, press Enter (show warnings and above only)
  2. Press a, type DIAG, press Enter (narrow to diagnostics module)
  3. Press /, type CAN, press Enter (find CAN-related messages)
  4. Press Enter on a suspicious log to inspect the hex dump

Roadmap

  • Page-up / Page-down scrolling
  • Horizontal scroll for long payloads
  • Bookmarking and log annotation
  • Saved filter configurations (.dlt-tui.toml)
  • Multi-file / directory batch loading
  • Timestamp delta display between messages
  • DLT lifecycle and session tracking
  • Export filtered logs to file
  • Plugin system for custom decoders (SOME/IP, UDS, etc.)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

git clone https://github.com/tkmsikd/dlt-tui.git
cd dlt-tui
cargo test

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.