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cw-tail

cw-tail is a Python-based CLI tool that tails AWS CloudWatch logs and displays them in a colored, simplified two‑column layout. It's designed to help you quickly monitor log activity directly from your terminal.

Features

  • Multiple Named Configurations: Store different configurations for various environments or use cases in a single YAML file
  • Colored Output: Uses ANSI escape codes to colorize output, making it easier to spot important messages
  • Flexible Filtering: Filter, highlight, or exclude logs based on user‑specified tokens
  • Configurable Time Window: Tail logs from a specified duration (e.g., the last 1 hour, 15 minutes, etc.)
  • Stream Name Shortening: Automatically shortens container/log stream names for a cleaner display

Requirements

  • Python 3.12 or later
  • AWS credentials configured (via environment variables, AWS CLI configuration, or IAM roles)
  • boto3 (installed automatically with the package)

AWS CLI Setup

  • Install AWS CLI: Make sure the AWS CLI is installed. You can follow these instructions for installation.

  • Configure AWS Credentials: You must have a properly configured ~/.aws/credentials file with valid aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key. For example:

    [default]
aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID
aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Alternatively, you can set these values as environment variables.

Installation

It's best to install cw-tail inside a virtual environment to avoid any system conflicts.

  1. Create & Activate a Virtual Environment:

    python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate  # On Windows: env\Scripts\activate

  2. Install the Package:

    pip install .

Simple Installation

The install.sh script will create a virtual environment and install the package:

./install.sh

Configuration

Create a configuration file at /cw-tail/config.yml. There is an example configuration file in the repository in the correct location. The tool will create a default configuration if none exists. Here's an example configuration:

default:
  region: us-east-1
  since: 1h
  colorize: true

prod:
  log_group: production-logs
  since: 10m
  highlight_tokens: [301, 302, 429, 500, error, warning, critical]
  exclude_tokens: []
  exclude_streams: []
  formatter: json_formatter
  format_options:
    remove_keys: logger
    key_value_pairs: level:info,level:debug,ip:my-ip-address

dev:
  log_group: development-logs
  since: 10m
  highlight_tokens: [429, 500, error, warning, critical]
  exclude_tokens: []
  formatter: json_formatter
  format_options:
    remove_keys: logger,request_id
    key_value_pairs: ip:my-ip-address

Any values provided via command‑line arguments will override these configuration values.

Usage

After installation, run the tool using the command‑line script cw-tail. To view the help text with all available options, run:

source env/bin/activate  # On Windows: env\Scripts\activate
cw-tail --help

Examples

# Use the prod configuration
cw-tail --config prod

# Use the dev configuration but override the time window
cw-tail --config dev --since 30m

# Use default configuration with a specific log group
cw-tail --log-group my-logs --colorize

AWS CLI Setup Reminder

  • Install AWS CLI: Follow the installation guide for your operating system.
  • Configure AWS Credentials: Run aws configure or manually edit your ~/.aws/credentials file to ensure that your AWS credentials are correctly set up.

Development & Packaging

The project uses a pyproject.toml for packaging. To reinstall locally after making changes:

pip install -e .

Contributing

Pull requests, bug reports, and suggestions are welcome. Please follow the standard GitHub flow for contributions.

License

This project is licensed under the Unlicense.