TSPIN(1)

📦
version 7.0.0 · 5 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💅 TSPIN(1) — tailspin, bestie edition ✨

okay so real talk, this is tspin, the command-line manual page for tailspin (that's section 1 of the manual, iykyk) — and she's about to become your new favorite log-reading bestie 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

tspin — a log file highlighter. that's it, that's the whole vibe. she highlights your logs. iconic behavior only 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

tspin [OPTION]... [FILE]...

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

tailspin is a command line tool that highlights log files. no cap, that's literally what she does and she does it beautifully. your logs go from "wall of grey text 😭" to "main character energy 🔥" in one command. periodt.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • -f, --follow — follows (tails) the contents of the file, like a little duckling following you around 🦆. heads up though: this is always true when you're using the --exec flag.
  • -p, --print — prints the output to stdout instead of viewing the contents in the pager less. and it's always true if you're using stdin, just so you know ✨
  • --theme PATH — points to your custom theme file. defaults to XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tailspin/theme.toml, or ~/.config/tailspin/theme.toml if that's not set. on Windows it defaults to %APPDATA%\tailspin\theme.toml. you can also set it through the TAILSPIN_THEME environment variable 🎨
  • -e, --exec COMMAND — runs a command and shows the output in a pager. the command traps the interrupt signal so you can cancel and resume follow mode while you're chilling inside less. so handy fr fr 🫶

example:

tspin --exec 'kubectl logs -f pod_name'
  • --highlight COLOR1:word1,word2,... COLOR2:word3,word4,... — highlights the words you give it (comma-separated) in the color you pick. your color options are black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white — and you can slap a bright_ prefix on any of them (like bright_red) for extra pop ✨

example:

tspin logfile.txt --highlight red:error,fail --highlight green:success,ok
  • --enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP] — turns off all the highlighting groups except the ones you name. it's a comma-separated list of groups. cannot be used with --disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP] (pick a lane, bestie 💀). possible groups: numbers, urls, emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes, key-value-pairs, uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.
  • --disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP] — turns off the groups you name. comma-separated list, obviously. cannot be used with --enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP]. important tea ☕: the keywords group controls the builtin keywords (booleans, nulls, log severities, and common REST verbs) — but keywords from the config file and the --highlight flag always apply no matter what. possible groups: numbers, urls, emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes, key-value-pairs, uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.
  • --extras=[EXTRA] — enables extra highlighters, comma-separated. possible values: ipv6, jvm-stack-trace. can also be set via the TAILSPIN_EXTRAS environment variable 🧚
  • --pager COMMAND — overrides the default pager command that tspin uses. keyword here: the command must include the string [FILE], because that gets replaced with the file path internally. no [FILE], no deal 💅

example:

tspin logfile.txt --pager "ov -f [FILE]"
  • --completions SHELL — prints shell completions to stdout. possible values: bash, elvish, fish, powershell, zsh. go get that tab-completion glow-up ⭐
  • --generate-default-theme — prints the default theme to stdout as a theme.toml. every value in the output is a default: copy it into ~/.config/tailspin/theme.toml and then edit just the styles you want to override. so easy, so slay 💜

🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

  • TAILSPIN_PAGER — set this bad boy to override the default pager. it's equivalent to the --pager flag. same rule applies: the command must include the string [FILE], which gets replaced with the file path internally. for example, "ov -f [FILE]".
  • TAILSPIN_EXTRAS — comma-separated list of extras to enable by default. equivalent to the --extras flag. for example, "jvm-stack-trace" or "ipv6,jvm-stack-trace".
  • TAILSPIN_THEME — path to the theme file to use. equivalent to the --theme flag 🎀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

less(1), tail(1) — the OGs. go show them some love 🫶

👑 ABOUT 👑

Ben Sadeh (github.com/bensadeh/tailspin)

Released under the MIT License 📜

okay bestie that's the whole page, you're officially a tailspin expert now, no cap 💀✨

— with love, from tailspin 7.0.0, dated 2026-07-14 🍓 (that's the version and the date, in case you were wondering, and yes she ate) 💖

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