FuzzyTail (ft)

A modern, fast replacement for tail with split-pane log monitoring, syntax highlighting, and powerful filtering. Built in Rust.

Features

• Split-pane monitoring - Tail multiple files simultaneously in a multitail-style split-screen layout with per-file status bars
• Auto-follow - Multiple files automatically enter follow mode with split panes
• 6 themes - Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Dracula, Rose Pine, Lackluster, Miasma
• Smart syntax highlighting - Timestamps, IPs, log levels, HTTP methods, services, and more are automatically colorized
• Filtering - Include/exclude patterns with regex, filter by log level
• Multiple output formats - Colorized text, JSON, CSV
• Drop-in tail replacement - All standard flags work: -f, -n, -c, -q, -v
• Theme-controlled status bars - Each theme defines its own status bar colors via statusbar_bg and statusbar_fg

Quick Start

# Install
git clone https://github.com/yodabytz/fuzzytail
cd fuzzytail
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/ft /usr/local/bin/ft
sudo mkdir -p /etc/fuzzytail/themes
sudo cp themes/ft.conf.* /etc/fuzzytail/themes/

Usage

Single file

ft /var/log/syslog                        # Last 10 lines, colorized
ft -f /var/log/syslog                     # Follow mode
ft -n 50 /var/log/auth.log                # Last 50 lines

Multi-pane monitoring

# Split-pane view with status bars (auto-follows)
ft /var/log/syslog /var/log/auth.log /var/log/mail.log

# Exclude noisy lines
ft --exclude "CRON" /var/log/syslog /var/log/auth.log

# Filter by log level across multiple files
ft --level ERROR /var/log/syslog /var/log/nginx/error.log

In multi-pane mode:

• Each file gets its own pane with a status bar showing the filename, line count, and timestamp
• Press q or Esc to quit
• Press h for help
• Press 1-9 to view a single file full-screen

Filtering

ft --level ERROR app.log                  # Show ERROR and above
ft --include "nginx|mysql" /var/log/syslog  # Only matching lines
ft --exclude "GET.*200" access.log        # Exclude patterns
ft --level WARN --exclude "timeout" app.log  # Combine filters

Output formats

ft --format json app.log                  # JSON output
ft --format csv app.log > logs.csv        # CSV export
ft --no-color app.log                     # Plain text

Pipe support

journalctl -f | ft                        # Colorize any stream
cat app.log | ft --level ERROR            # Filter piped input

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/fuzzytail/config.toml

[general]
theme = "tokyo-night"
buffer_size = 8192
follow_retry_interval = 1000

[themes]
builtin_path = "/etc/fuzzytail/themes"
user_path = "~/.config/fuzzytail/themes"

Available themes

Theme format

Themes are plain text files in /etc/fuzzytail/themes/. Format:

# Base text color (xterm-256)
base:147

# Status bar colors (xterm-256)
statusbar_bg:103
statusbar_fg:255

# Line highlight: entire line colored if pattern matches
line:ALERT=210

# Word highlight: matching text colored
word:ERROR=210
word:(Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec)\s+\d+\s+\d+:\d+:\d+=137

# Colors are xterm-256 numbers (0-255)

Create custom themes by copying an existing one:

cp /etc/fuzzytail/themes/ft.conf.tokyo-night /etc/fuzzytail/themes/ft.conf.mytheme

Command reference

ft [OPTIONS] [FILES...]

Options:
  -n, --lines <N>       Number of lines to show (default: 10)
  -c, --bytes <N>       Show last N bytes instead of lines
  -f, --follow          Follow file changes
  --no-follow           Disable auto-follow for multiple files
  -q, --quiet           Never show file headers
  -v, --verbose         Always show file headers
  --include <REGEX>     Show only lines matching pattern
  --exclude <REGEX>     Hide lines matching pattern
  --level <LEVEL>       Filter by log level (ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG)
  --format <FMT>        Output format: text, json, csv
  --no-color            Disable colors
  --buffer-size <N>     Buffer size in bytes (default: 65536)
  --config <PATH>       Config file path
  -h, --help            Show help

Building

# Requires Rust toolchain
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

License

MIT