JSON Log Viewer is a terminal application for examining structured log messages represented as JSON objects. It provides an interactive alternative to reading raw JSON output, particularly when individual records contain numerous fields or deeply nested information.
The application presents log messages in a compact, navigable format. Users can investigate individual records when more detail is required, making it easier to understand the information generated by applications and services.
JSON Log Viewer is suitable for examining saved log files as well as investigating output produced by running commands. It can also handle streams containing a mixture of JSON and ordinary text messages, which is useful when applications do not produce consistently structured output.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Structured log viewing – displays JSON messages in an interactive terminal interface.
- Expandable records – opens individual messages to reveal their complete JSON structure.
- Hierarchical display – presents nested objects and arrays in a readable tree.
- Non-JSON handling – retains lines that cannot be parsed as JSON.
- Interactive filtering – narrows displayed records using search expressions and field-based conditions.
- Customisable fields – selects which properties appear in the compact log list.
- Severity highlighting – uses colours to distinguish log levels.
- Timestamp formatting – converts numeric timestamps into readable dates and times.
- Multiple file support – opens several files together, including files matched by patterns.
- Standard input – processes messages piped from other commands.
- Live streams – supports continuously arriving output from commands such as kubectl logs.
- Keyboard navigation – provides shortcuts for filtering, expanding records and moving through messages.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: github.com/hedhyw/json-log-viewer
Support:
Developer: Maksym Kryvchun
License: MIT License
JSON Log Viewer is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Terminal Log Viewers | |
|---|---|
| lnav | Powerful navigation, filtering and analysis of system and application logs |
| Nerdlog | Remote-first monitoring with powerful querying and filtering capabilities |
| lazyjournal | Browse systemd journal entries with intuitive keyboard controls |
| toolong | Tail, merge and search multiple files in real time |
| logrifle | Quickly browse and search records with a keyboard-driven interface |
| nless | Interactive pager with structured data navigation |
| MultiTail | Monitor multiple files simultaneously with colour-coded output |
| Logria | Aggregate multiple data streams with live filtering and highlighting |
| logana | Fast, interactive exploration with filtering and search |
| JSON Log Viewer | Explore structured JSON records with interactive filtering and navigation |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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