LogRaker v2.5 Documentation

LogRaker is a native macOS app for monitoring log output from files - local or remote - in real time. Pick a Source, point it at a file, and the lines arrive in a live tail.

Topics

• Getting Started - first launch, adding your first Source.
• Local System Sources - tailing files on your own Mac.
• SSH Sources - tailing files on a remote host over SSH.
• GCP & Firebase Sources - tailing Google Cloud Logging output for a GCP project or a Firebase project.
• Execution Highlighting - follow one serverless request through interleaved Google Cloud and Firebase output.
• Amazon CloudWatch Sources - live-tailing log groups in Amazon CloudWatch.
• Amazon S3 Sources - polling a bucket for delivered log objects (ALB, CloudTrail, CloudFront, Firehose).
• Supabase Sources - following a Supabase project's API, Postgres, Auth, and function logs.
• Source Groups - organize related Sources into folders in the sidebar.
• SSH Key Manager - create SSH keys and install them on your servers without Terminal.
• Streams - what a Stream is and how to configure it.
• Regular Expressions - the pattern syntax Find accepts, with examples.
• Stream Groups - organize a Source's Streams into nestable folders in the sidebar.
• Journal Streams (journald) - follow a host's systemd journal over SSH with journalctl instead of tailing a file.
• Unified Log Streams - follow this Mac's unified log, the messages Console shows, instead of tailing a file (Web Edition).
• Layouts - multi-pane views of several Streams side by side.
• Layout Groups - organize Layouts into folders in the sidebar.
• Terminal - a shell on the SSH Source you are watching, in a drawer under the logs, without logging in again.
• Monitors - pattern-matched watchers that highlight lines you care about across many Streams, plus the desktop widget.
• Monitor Groups - organize Monitors into folders in the sidebar, rolling their status and match counts into the group's row.
• Workspaces - keep separate sets of Sources, Layouts and Monitors and switch the whole sidebar between them.
• Desktop Widgets - keep an eye on your Monitors right on the Mac desktop and in Notification Center.
• Apple TV - show a Dashboard full screen on a television, driven by your Mac.
• Automation with Shortcuts & Siri - drive and read LogRaker from the Shortcuts app, Siri, and Spotlight.
• Keyboard Shortcuts - the full shortcut reference.
• Settings - defaults for new Streams, timestamp display, trusted SSH hosts, the MCP Server for AI agents, and your license.
• MCP Server - let AI agents like Claude Code list your Streams, read live tails, and search scrollback over the local Model Context Protocol.
• iCloud Sync - keep your Sources, Streams, and credentials in sync across your Macs, and how your credentials are protected.
• Troubleshooting - common issues and how to resolve them.

Editions

The same LogRaker codebase ships in two flavors:

• App Store Edition - sandboxed, from the Mac App Store. Reads files you pick via the standard open panel, including hidden directories like ~/.ssh/. Cannot reach system-restricted paths like /var/log/ or TCC-protected user vaults.

• Web Edition - notarized direct download from the website. Not sandboxed. Can read anywhere your user account can read.

The edition is shown in the Welcome window and the About panel.

Need more help?

If something here doesn't answer your question, every editor sheet has a ? button in the bottom-left corner that jumps straight to the relevant topic, and overview panes carry the same button in their header. Help ▸ 'Send Feedback…' opens a pre-addressed email if you would rather ask.

Enjoying LogRaker? In the App Store Edition, Help ▸ 'Rate LogRaker on the App Store' opens the App Store with its rating and review form.