colortail ☆

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Description:
Like tail(1), but with various colors for specified output

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 0.3.5@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: cli logging utility color sysadmin

Install: brew install colortail

About:
colortail is a command-line utility that enhances the standard 'tail' command by applying color to log output based on predefined or custom rules. It allows users to easily distinguish between different types of log messages, such as errors, warnings, and informational entries, improving readability and monitoring efficiency. The tool is highly configurable, enabling the definition of specific patterns and associated colors for various log formats.

Key Features:

Colorizes log output based on customizable regex patterns
Supports multiple configuration files for different log formats
Maintains the core functionality of tailing files in real-time
Lightweight and easy to integrate into existing shell scripts

Use Cases:

Monitoring application log files for quick error identification
Parsing and highlighting specific events in system logs
Enhancing CI/CD pipeline output for better visibility

Alternatives:

multitail – More feature-rich with multi-window support, but more complex to configure.
ccze – A log colorizer that can be piped with tail, offering different coloring schemes.

License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Bottles available for: arm64_tahoe, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, arm64_linux, x86_64_linux

Version History

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