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Introducing the Tailstream Agent: One Command, Instant Log Streaming

The Tailstream Agent eliminates the setup friction between your existing log files and real-time visualization. Install, configure, and start streaming web server logs to Tailstream in under 60 seconds.

Two Commands, Zero Configuration

curl -fsSL https://install.tailstream.io | sudo bash
sudo -u tailstream tailstream-agent

The agent automatically discovers log files across standard web server directories, detects formats, and starts streaming structured JSON to Tailstream. No log shippers to configure, no parsing rules to write, no infrastructure to maintain.

Automatic Discovery and Parsing

The setup wizard scans common web server locations:

  • /var/log/nginx/
  • /var/log/apache2/
  • /var/log/httpd/
  • /opt/homebrew/var/log/
  • Dozens of other standard locations

The agent analyzes each log file's format and configures parsing automatically. It handles standard Nginx and Apache formats, custom log configurations, JSON logs, and multi-line entries. No format specification required - it reads your actual log lines and detects patterns.

Supported formats include:

  • Standard and custom Nginx/Apache formats
  • JSON-structured logs
  • Multi-line log entries
  • Custom timestamp formats
  • Field extraction for IPs, user agents, status codes, and custom fields

Parsing happens in real-time, converting logs to structured JSON before streaming to Tailstream.

Multi-Stream Configuration

The agent can route different log files to separate Tailstream streams during setup. For example, logs from web01.example.com go to a "Web01" stream, api.example.com logs to an "API" stream, and cdn.example.com logs get their own dedicated stream. This separates different hosts for cleaner visualization and filtering.

Production-Ready Features

  • Runs as a systemd service under dedicated user account
  • Handles log file rotation automatically
  • Minimal memory usage with the Go-based implementation
  • Respects existing file permissions and ownership
  • No changes required to web server configuration

Standard Setup vs. Custom Configuration

Standard setups require answering a few prompts. The agent detects your web server, finds log files, recognizes formats, and creates appropriate streams automatically.

Custom configurations support:

  • Custom file paths
  • Format detection overrides
  • Custom field extraction rules
  • Complex multi-stream routing

Real-Time Visibility

With the agent running, web traffic appears as particles in your Tailstream browser window. Monitor:

  • Traffic patterns and request volumes
  • Error rates and failing endpoints
  • Response times and slow requests
  • User agents and geographic patterns
  • Custom fields from your log format

Open Source

The agent is MIT licensed and completely open source. Modify it for custom use cases, integrate with existing infrastructure, or contribute improvements back to the community.

Beyond Web Servers

The agent works with any text-based log files. Teams use it for Node.js application logs, Docker container logs, system logs, and custom analytics events. The format detection and streaming engine handles general log streaming beyond web servers.

Get Started

Install the agent and start streaming logs in 60 seconds:

curl -fsSL https://install.tailstream.io | sudo bash
sudo -u tailstream tailstream-agent

The agent is production-ready and works with your existing infrastructure. Try it at tailstream.io.

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