# Log File Viewer for the Terminal

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/log-file-viewer-for-the-terminal/

5 people recommended Log File Viewer for the Terminal in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 12 months, in 1 thread. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

5 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Log File Viewer for the Terminal”.

**Verdict:** A terminal tool for reading log files that people say saves time. Critics point out that it parses untrusted input and is written in C++, and that its JSON configuration is a poor fit.

Summary written by Claude from 9 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 8 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful, time-saving tool (2 comments in the sample): "Looks very useful, will give it a go." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47499215)) "This looks genuinely useful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500281))
- Plans to try it (1 comment in the sample): "very nice, definitely will use it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500266))

## What people warn about

- Parses untrusted input in C++ (1 comment in the sample): "this is reading potentially untrusted input (e.g. in the case of http request logs) and written in c++, so a possible attack vector" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47501125))
- Configuration in JSON, not XDG (1 comment in the sample): "I really wish the configuration wasn't done in json and loaded from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500693))

## Other log viewers people recommend

- [lnav](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lnav/): 12 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize
- [journalctl](https://hackerapproved.com/p/journalctl/): 7 recommend, 0 mixed, 10 criticize
- [GoAccess](https://hackerapproved.com/p/goaccess/): 6 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Log File Viewer for the Terminal", https://hackerapproved.com/p/log-file-viewer-for-the-terminal/ (5 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.