pretty-zerolog

README

pretty-zerolog

A small CLI that pretty-prints zerolog JSON log output using zerolog's built-in ConsoleWriter. Pipe logs in from a running program or pass one or more JSONL files as arguments.

Installation

Homebrew

brew install cybo42/tap/pretty-zerolog

Go install

go install github.com/cybo42/pretty-zerolog@latest

From source

git clone https://github.com/cybo42/pretty-zerolog.git
cd pretty-zerolog
make build

This produces a pretty-zerolog binary in the project root.

Releases

Prebuilt binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows are available on the GitHub Releases page.

Usage

pretty-zerolog [--time-format default|full] [file ...]

Flags

• --time-format — default (kitchen time, e.g. 3:04PM) or full (RFC1123). Defaults to default.

Pipe from a running program

Most zerolog setups write JSON to stderr, so redirect stderr into the pipe:

my-app 2>&1 | pretty-zerolog

Or with process substitution to only pretty-print stderr:

my-app 2> >(pretty-zerolog)

Read from files

pretty-zerolog app.jsonl
pretty-zerolog --time-format full app.jsonl other.jsonl

Example

Given JSON input like:

{"level":"info","time":"2026-05-12T10:15:30Z","message":"server started","port":8080}
{"level":"error","time":"2026-05-12T10:15:31Z","message":"db connect failed","err":"timeout"}

pretty-zerolog renders it with colored levels, a compact timestamp, and key=value fields — the same output you would get from zerolog.ConsoleWriter in development.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.