Log Viewer & Search

About

Log Viewer & Search is a log viewer chrome extension for developers, DevOps teams, QA engineers, and support people who need to open .log, .txt, JSONL, syslog, Apache, and application logs without uploading private data anywhere. Drop a file into Chrome, search with plain text or regex, filter by level, inspect JSON log lines, and keep the whole workflow local on your machine. 🚀

🚀 Why developers love this log viewer

Most log work starts with a simple problem: you have a file, you need to find the failure, and you do not want to wait for a heavy desktop tool or paste production logs into an online site. Log Viewer & Search turns Chrome into a focused log file viewer with the basics done right: fast opening, readable monospace rows, line numbers, level colors, regex search, filter chips, copyable results, and a privacy model you can explain to your security team.

This log viewer chrome tool is built for real debugging sessions. It avoids scary permissions, does not inject scripts into websites, and does not ask for browsing history. The extension opens a bundled viewer tab and uses Chrome file access, drag and drop, and local parsing. Your logs stay in the browser process on your device.

⚡ Everything in the free plan

✓ Open one .log, .txt, .json, or .jsonl file up to 10 MB
✓ Drag and drop files or use the native file picker
✓ Search by keyword, request ID, user ID, stack trace text, host, path, or status code
✓ Turn on regex search for patterns like timeout|exception|failed
✓ Filter visible rows by ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE, or OTHER
✓ Auto-detect common log levels from plain text and JSON log fields
✓ Show line numbers, timestamps, file size, total lines, and visible result count
✓ Select any line to inspect the full message without losing your place
✓ Copy filtered lines for a ticket, incident note, or chat handoff
✓ Load a built-in sample log to learn the interface quickly
✓ Use a local-first tool with no signup for the core viewer
✓ Hide timestamp noise when you want to focus on messages
✓ Convert common ANSI terminal colors into readable highlighted rows

🔓 What Pro unlocks

✦ Large files: open 100 MB+ logs with chunked reading and virtual scrolling, so the interface stays responsive instead of rendering every row into the DOM.
✦ Tail follow: re-read a growing local file and keep the newest matching lines in view while an app, build, or server process keeps writing.
✦ Saved filters: keep recurring searches such as OutOfMemory, 502, payment_failed, user_id, trace_id, or request_id ready for the next session.
✦ Multi-file workflow: merge related app, worker, proxy, and error logs by timestamp when one file does not tell the whole story.
✦ Export: save the filtered view as CSV for incident reports, QA evidence, or spreadsheet review.
✦ JSON log expansion: pretty-print structured JSON log lines so nested fields are readable inside the viewer.

🎯 Who it is for

This log file viewer is for backend developers checking application errors, frontend engineers reading local build output, DevOps teams triaging deploy issues, QA testers collecting failure evidence, support teams following customer request IDs, and founders debugging production problems without opening a full observability stack. It is also useful on Chromebooks and locked-down machines where installing a native log viewer is slow or impossible.

🛠️ How it works

1. Pin Log Viewer & Search to the Chrome toolbar.
2. Click the extension icon to open the viewer tab.
3. Drop a .log file or choose one with the file picker.
4. Search with text or regex, then filter by log level.
5. Copy the matching lines, inspect JSON entries, export CSV, or use tail follow when the file is still growing.

💡 Real use cases

• Find every ERROR line after a failed deployment.
• Search a production request ID across a downloaded application log.
• Filter nginx or Apache logs to 500-level responses.
• Inspect JSONL logs from Node, Python, Laravel, Rails, Go, or serverless functions.
• Keep a growing local log open while reproducing a bug.
• Copy only the relevant lines into a Jira, GitHub, Linear, or support ticket.
• Review CI build logs without the noise around successful steps.
• Check whether failures are warnings, errors, retries, or noisy debug entries.

🔒 Privacy you can verify

Your log content is never uploaded by this extension. Parsing, search, regex filtering, level detection, virtual scrolling, JSON expansion, and export all run locally in Chrome. The extension requests only the storage permission plus the Peak Productivity license host. Storage is used for settings, saved filters, license cache, and anonymous activation counters. The extension does not request tabs, history, downloads, scripting, webRequest, or all-sites access.

📊 Performance and benchmarks

The viewer reads files in chunks and renders only the visible rows. That matters because a log viewer that freezes on a real file is not useful. Free users can open files up to 10 MB. Pro is designed for 100 MB+ logs through chunked reading, a worker-backed filter index, and virtualized rows that keep the DOM small. Regex work runs off the main UI path so typing a search does not lock the page.

🆚 Why this over the alternatives

✓ Unlike online log viewers, your logs are not uploaded to a third-party server.
✓ Unlike a generic text editor, levels, timestamps, filtering, and JSON log entries are part of the workflow.
✓ Unlike heavyweight observability tools, this is for the file already on your machine.
✓ Unlike terminal-only workflows, the interface is searchable, visual, and easy to share with non-terminal teammates.
✓ Unlike extensions that hijack pages, this log viewer opens only when you click it.

🛡️ Security

Log Viewer & Search uses Manifest V3, has no remote JavaScript, and ships its logic inside the extension bundle. It does not inject content scripts into websites. It does not need all-sites access. It does not monitor browsing activity. It does not collect website content. The only network calls are license checks, checkout links, optional email opt-in pages, and anonymous growth events that do not contain log text.

❓ Frequently asked questions

Q: Is this a log viewer chrome extension or a website?
A: It is a Chrome extension. The viewer runs from the extension bundle and opens in a Chrome tab when you click the toolbar icon.

Q: Are my logs uploaded?
A: No. Log files stay local. The extension reads and filters them in Chrome on your device.

Q: Does it support regex?
A: Yes. Turn on Regex and search for patterns such as error|fatal, status=5\\d\\d, user_id=\\d+, or timeout.*payment.

Q: What log formats work?
A: Plain text logs, .log files, .txt files, JSON logs, JSONL logs, syslog-style lines, Apache or nginx access logs, app logs, and CI logs all work as text. Level detection covers common ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE, fatal, exception, failed, and warning patterns.

Q: How big can files be?
A: Free opens one file up to 10 MB. Pro is built for 100 MB+ logs with chunked reading and virtual scrolling.

Q: Can it follow a growing log file?
A: Yes, with Pro. Open the file through the file picker, then use Tail follow to re-read new content from disk.

Q: Why does it need storage permission?
A: Storage saves settings, saved filters, license state, and local usage flags. It does not store log contents unless you explicitly copy or export them yourself.

Q: Does it work offline?
A: Core viewing, search, filtering, and copy work offline. License refresh, checkout, and email opt-in pages need network access.

🚀 Get started

Install Log Viewer & Search, pin it, open a log, and search the line that matters. If you need a fast, private log file viewer in Chrome with regex, level coloring, tail follow, large-file support, and CSV export, this extension is built for exactly that job.