LogWatch is an open-source web application for visualizing and managing PM2 application logs on Unix systems. It provides a modern, intuitive dashboard for monitoring, searching, and analyzing logs across all PM2-managed Node.js applications—no SSH or CLI required.

Note: This authentication system relies on secure cookies, which only work if the site is deployed using HTTPS. We recommend using Cloudflare Tunnels or Nginx with Certbot to ensure your deployment is secure and supports HTTPS.

LogWatch is protected by a simple password-based login system. To use the application, you must set a password as an environment variable.

Setting the Password

Create a .env.local file in the root of your project and add the following line:

LOGWATCH_PASSWORD=your_secure_password_here

Alternatively, you can set the environment variable directly in your shell:

export LOGWATCH_PASSWORD=your_secure_password_here

Use the ecosystem.config.js file to run this app using pm2 as well!

• Auto-discovers log files in ~/.pm2/logs/ (active and rotated logs)
• Parses filenames to extract application names and log types (stdout/stderr)
• Groups logs by application and type for easy navigation

• Grid view of all detected PM2 applications
• Status indicators for active logs (stdout and stderr)
• File size display for each log
• Quick access to log viewer for each log file

• View log contents for any log file (active or rotated)
• Sidebar to switch between rotated and active logs for the same app/type
• Timestamp parsing: Recognizes and displays ISO and bracketed timestamps
• Timezone selection: View timestamps in your preferred timezone
• Date range filtering: Filter logs by start/end date
• Sort order: Toggle ascending/descending by timestamp
• Raw view fallback: Handles logs without timestamps gracefully

• Framework: Next.js 14+ (App Router, React Server Components)
• UI: Tailwind CSS, custom React components, Radix UI primitives
• Icons: Lucide React
• Date/Time: date-fns, date-fns-tz
• File Operations: Node.js fs/promises, os, path
• TypeScript: End-to-end type safety

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   # or
   yarn install

2. Run the development server:

   npm run dev
   # or
   yarn dev

3. Open your browser:
   Visit http://localhost:3000 to access the dashboard.

logwatch/
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── page.tsx            # Dashboard homepage
│   │   └── logs/[logFile]/     # Dynamic log viewer pages
│   ├── components/             # UI components (Card, LogViewer, etc.)
│   ├── lib/                    # Log discovery and parsing logic
├── public/                     # Static assets
├── package.json
└── README.md

• Log Discovery:
  On load, LogWatch scans ~/.pm2/logs/ for all log files matching PM2's naming conventions (including rotated logs).
• Dashboard:
  Displays a card for each application, with quick links to view stdout and stderr logs.
• Log Viewer:
  Lets you browse, filter, and sort log entries. Rotated logs are accessible via a sidebar.

• Read-only access to the PM2 logs directory
• Path sanitization to prevent directory traversal
• Localhost-only by default (see deployment for production security)

• Real-time log streaming (WebSocket)
• Global search and regex filtering
• Error highlighting and statistics
• Multi-pane view for stdout/stderr comparison

• Next.js Documentation
• PM2 Documentation

LogWatch is in active development. Feedback and contributions are welcome!