dev_log_viewer

A real-time local log viewer for Flutter/Dart development. Runs a local HTTP server that receives structured log entries from your running app and serves a searchable, filterable web UI on localhost via Server-Sent Events.

Installation

Activate globally so dev_log_viewer is available from any directory:

dart pub global activate dev_log_viewer

Or run directly from source:

dart run bin/log_viewer.dart

Usage

dev_log_viewer           # auto-picks a free port starting from 8181
dev_log_viewer 9000      # explicit port

Open the URL printed in the terminal, then start your Flutter app.

If port 8181 is taken, the server automatically tries 8182, 8183, and so on — useful when two projects run simultaneously.

One-command project setup

dev_log_setup

Run from your Flutter/Dart project root. It:

  1. Detects your project type (Flutter, Dart, Dio)
  2. Adds dev_log_client to pubspec.yaml
  3. Patches lib/main.dart with LogForwarder.init()
  4. Runs pub get
  5. Prints the one remaining manual step

Features

  • Real-time via Server-Sent Events — no polling
  • JSON pretty-print with syntax highlighting for request/response bodies
  • Deep search across JSON keys AND values at any nesting depth
  • Tag + level filters — API, AUTH, NAV, STORE, ERR, or any custom tag
  • Request duration shown on every response row (· 42ms)
  • Hot-restart separators — "Hot restarted at 14:23:01" divider in the log list
  • Pause / resume — freeze the live stream while you read; buffered entries flush on resume
  • Collapse / expand all — one click to tidy up expanded entries
  • 500-entry cap — server and browser both trim oldest entries automatically
  • Survives browser reload — history served via GET /logs, live events via SSE
  • Multi-project — auto-discovers the right server on ports 8181–8185

HTTP API

Method Path Description
GET / Web UI
GET /logs All stored entries (JSON)
GET /stream SSE live stream
POST /log Ingest a log entry
POST /session Signal app start / hot restart
DELETE /logs Clear all entries
GET /ping Health check

Client library

Use dev_log_client in your app to forward logs to this server.

Libraries

dev_log_viewer
A local development log viewer for Flutter apps.