Django Admin Log Viewer

A powerful Django app that provides a comprehensive web interface to view and monitor log files directly in the Django admin panel.

📸 Screenshots

Log File Listing

Log Viewer Interface

🌟 Features

Core Features

• Multi-Log File Support: View multiple log files with automatic detection and grouping
• Configurable Log Formats: Support for Django, Celery, Nginx, and custom log formats
• Multi-line Log Processing: Properly handles stack traces and multi-line log entries
• Smart Pagination: Multi-line aware pagination that never splits log entries across pages
• Real-time Monitoring: Live mode with auto-refresh for real-time log monitoring
• Log Rotation Support: Automatic detection and handling of rotated log files (.1, .2, .gz, etc.)

User Experience

• Responsive Design: Works perfectly on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
• Dark Mode Support: Built-in dark theme for comfortable viewing
• Advanced Filtering: Filter by log levels (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL)
• Download Functionality: Download individual log files directly from the interface
• Sidebar Navigation: Easy navigation between multiple log files
• Search & Filtering: Quick search through log content

Technical Features

• Memory Efficient: Streaming file reading for large log files
• Security Focused: Staff-only access with proper file path validation
• Performance Optimized: AJAX-based updates for smooth user experience
• No Database Required: Reads files directly from disk
• Configurable UI: Customizable colors, refresh intervals, and display options

📦 Installation

Production Installation

pip install mamood-django-admin-log-viewer

Development Installation (Editable Mode)

For development or contributing:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ammahmoudi/mamood-django-admin-log-viewer.git
cd mamood-django-admin-log-viewer

# Install in editable mode
pip install -e .

# Or with development dependencies
pip install -e .[dev]

The editable install (-e flag) allows you to modify the source code and see changes immediately without reinstalling.

2. Add to Django Settings

Add mamood_django_admin_log_viewer to your INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'django.contrib.admin',  # Required
    'django.contrib.auth',   # Required  
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',  # Required
    'mamood_django_admin_log_viewer',
]

3. Basic Configuration

Add to your settings.py:

import os
from pathlib import Path

# Basic log viewer settings
LOG_VIEWER_FILES = ['django.log', 'application.log']
LOG_VIEWER_FILES_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'logs'  # or '/path/to/your/logs/'
LOG_VIEWER_PAGE_LENGTH = 25

4. URL Configuration

The log viewer integrates automatically with Django admin - no URL configuration needed!

⚙️ Configuration

The Django Admin Log Viewer comes with comprehensive default settings that work out of the box. You only need to specify the log files you want to monitor - all other settings are optional and have sensible defaults.

Required Settings

# Required: List of log files to monitor
LOG_VIEWER_FILES = ['django.log', 'application.log', 'celery_beat.log']

# Required: Directory containing log files
LOG_VIEWER_FILES_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'logs'

Optional Settings (with defaults)

All the settings below are optional. The app provides comprehensive defaults that work well for most use cases:

# Display settings (defaults shown)
LOG_VIEWER_PAGE_LENGTH = 25                    # Log entries per page
LOG_VIEWER_MAX_READ_LINES = 1000              # Max lines to read per request
LOG_VIEWER_FILE_LIST_MAX_ITEMS_PER_PAGE = 25  # Files per page in file list
LOG_VIEWER_FILE_LIST_TITLE = "Log Files"      # Title for file list page

# Real-time monitoring (defaults shown)
LOGVIEWER_REFRESH_INTERVAL = 10000            # Auto-refresh interval (10 seconds)
LOGVIEWER_AUTO_REFRESH_DEFAULT = True         # Enable auto-refresh by default
LOGVIEWER_AUTO_SCROLL_TO_BOTTOM = True        # Auto-scroll to latest logs
LOGVIEWER_ONLY_REFRESH_WHEN_ACTIVE = True     # Only refresh when tab is active

# Performance settings (defaults shown)
LOGVIEWER_INITIAL_NUMBER_OF_CHARS = 2048      # Initial load size
LOGVIEWER_DISABLE_ACCESS_LOGS = True          # Don't log AJAX requests

💡 Pro Tip: You only need to specify settings that you want to change from the defaults. The app will automatically use sensible defaults for any unspecified settings.

🎯 Quick Start Summary

For most users, you only need these two settings to get started:

# Minimal configuration - just specify your log files!
LOG_VIEWER_FILES = ['django.log', 'application.log'] 
LOG_VIEWER_FILES_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'logs'

# Everything else uses intelligent defaults:
# ✅ 8 built-in log format patterns (Django, Celery, Nginx, Apache, etc.)
# ✅ Beautiful color scheme for all log levels  
# ✅ Real-time monitoring with 10-second refresh
# ✅ 25 entries per page with smart multi-line pagination
# ✅ Performance optimizations enabled by default

Advanced Log Format Configuration

The app comes with 8 built-in log format patterns that handle most common log formats out of the box:

Built-in Log Formats

• django_default - Django standard format: LEVEL YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS,mmm module: message
• simple - Simple format: LEVEL: message
• celery_beat - Celery Beat scheduler logs
• celery_worker - Celery Worker task logs
• nginx_access - Nginx access log format
• nginx_error - Nginx error log format
• apache_common - Apache Common Log Format
• syslog - Standard syslog format

Custom Log Format Configuration

If you need custom log parsing, you can override or extend the default formats:

# Custom log format configuration (optional)
LOG_VIEWER_FORMATS = {
    # Use any of the built-in formats, or define your own
    'my_custom_format': {
        'pattern': r'(?P<level>\w+)\s+(?P<timestamp>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}\s+\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2})\s+(?P<message>.*)',
        'timestamp_format': '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S',
        'description': 'My custom format'
    }
}

# Per-file format assignment
LOG_VIEWER_FILE_FORMATS = {
    'django.log': 'django_default',
    'application.log': 'simple', 
    'celery_beat.log': 'celery_beat',
    'access.log': 'nginx_access',
}

# Default format for unspecified files
LOG_VIEWER_DEFAULT_FORMAT = 'django_default'

Styling and Colors

The app comes with a comprehensive default color scheme for all log levels. You only need to customize colors if you want to override the defaults:

Default Color Scheme

• DEBUG: #6c757d (Gray) - Low-priority debug information
• INFO: #0dcaf0 (Cyan) - General informational messages
• WARNING/WARN: #ffc107 (Yellow) - Warning messages
• ERROR: #dc3545 (Red) - Error conditions
• CRITICAL/FATAL: #6f42c1 (Purple) - Critical system errors
• NOTICE: #17a2b8 (Teal) - Important notices
• ALERT: #fd7e14 (Orange) - Alert conditions

Custom Color Configuration (Optional)

# Override default colors only if needed
LOG_VIEWER_LEVEL_COLORS = {
    'ERROR': '#ff0000',    # Custom red for errors
    'DEBUG': '#888888',    # Custom gray for debug
    # ... other custom colors
}

# Optional: Exclude certain log patterns  
LOG_VIEWER_EXCLUDE_TEXT_PATTERN = r'healthcheck|ping'  # Regex pattern

🚀 Usage

Accessing the Log Viewer

1. Login to Django Admin as a staff user
2. Look for "Log Files" in the admin interface, or navigate directly to admin/logs/
3. Click to view the list of available log files
4. Select any log file to view its contents

Direct URL Access: You can also access logs directly at http://your-domain.com/admin/logs/ after logging in as a staff user.

Features in Action

• Real-time Monitoring: Toggle "Live Mode" to auto-refresh logs
• Multi-line Support: Stack traces and exceptions are properly grouped
• Download Logs: Click the download button to save log files locally
• Pagination: Navigate through large log files with smart pagination
• Filtering: Filter by log levels using the dropdown menu
• Search: Use browser search (Ctrl+F) to find specific content

🔧 Advanced Usage

Custom Log Formats

Create custom regex patterns for your specific log formats:

LOG_VIEWER_FORMATS = {
    'my_custom_format': {
        'pattern': r'(?P<timestamp>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2})\s+(?P<level>\w+)\s+(?P<message>.*)',
        'timestamp_format': '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S',
        'description': 'Custom ISO timestamp format'
    }
}

Log Rotation Support

The viewer automatically detects rotated log files:

• application.log (current)
• application.log.1 (yesterday)
• application.log.2.gz (compressed older logs)
• application.log.2023-12-01 (dated logs)

Multi-line Processing

Perfect handling of:

• Python stack traces
• Java exceptions
• SQL query logs
• JSON formatted logs
• Any multi-line log entry

🛡️ Security

• Staff Only Access: Only Django staff users can access log files
• Path Validation: Prevents directory traversal attacks
• File Size Limits: Configurable limits prevent memory exhaustion
• Error Handling: Graceful handling of missing or corrupt files

📋 Requirements

• Python: 3.8+
• Django: 4.2+
• Permissions: Staff access to Django admin

🚀 Future Features

We're continuously working to enhance the Django Admin Log Viewer. Here are some exciting features planned for future releases:

Cloud Storage Integration

• Amazon S3: Read logs directly from S3 buckets with configurable credentials and path patterns
• Google Cloud Storage: Support for GCS log files with service account authentication
• Azure Blob Storage: Integration with Azure storage accounts for enterprise scenarios

Advanced Log Sources

• Remote Servers: SSH/SFTP integration to read logs from remote servers
• Docker Containers: Direct container log streaming and monitoring
• Kubernetes Pods: Native K8s log aggregation and viewing
• Database Logs: Read logs stored in database tables or collections

Enhanced Features

• Log Streaming: Real-time log tailing with WebSocket connections
• Advanced Search: Full-text search with regex support and saved searches
• Log Analytics: Basic statistics, error rate monitoring, and trend analysis
• Alert System: Configurable alerts for error patterns or log volume spikes
• Export Options: Export filtered logs to CSV, JSON, or PDF formats

Integrations

• Elasticsearch: Integration with ELK stack for advanced searching
• Prometheus: Metrics export for monitoring and alerting
• Slack/Teams: Notification integrations for critical log events
• API Access: REST API for programmatic log access and automation

Have ideas for other features? Feel free to open an issue or contribute to the project!

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Log Files Not Showing

• Check LOG_VIEWER_FILES_DIR path exists
• Verify file permissions
• Ensure files are listed in LOG_VIEWER_FILES

Performance Issues

• Reduce LOG_VIEWER_PAGE_LENGTH for large files
• Increase LOGVIEWER_REFRESH_INTERVAL
• Set LOGVIEWER_DISABLE_ACCESS_LOGS = True

Multi-line Logs Not Grouping

• Check your log format regex pattern
• Ensure the pattern matches the first line of log entries
• Verify timestamp format matches your logs

🎯 Changelog

v2.0.0 (Latest)

• ✅ Multi-line log processing with smart pagination
• ✅ Configurable log format parsing
• ✅ Log rotation support
• ✅ Dark mode theme
• ✅ Real-time monitoring with live mode
• ✅ Module/logger name display
• ✅ Download functionality
• ✅ Responsive sidebar navigation
• ✅ Memory-efficient streaming

⭐ Star this repo if you find it useful!