dev_log_viewer 0.2.1

Real-time local log viewer for Flutter/Dart. Streams structured logs from your app to a searchable web UI on localhost.

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.

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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

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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.

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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(project: '...')
4. Runs pub get
5. Prints the one remaining manual step

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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 — or use key:value syntax (e.g. isSettled:true) to match a specific field
• Tag + level filters — API, AUTH, NAV, STORE, ERR, or any custom tag, each auto-assigned a consistent colour
• Sensitive values masked by default — password, pin, token, authorization, and similar keys render as ••••••••; click to reveal
• Smart copy — the copy button on an API entry reconstructs a clean --> METHOD url / CODE <-- url summary with the real JSON body, always unmasked regardless of the on-screen reveal state
• 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 — discovery prefers the right server by project name and recency when more than one is running on 8181–8185

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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 — also returns port, project, and startedAt, used by the client's discovery logic

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Client library

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