TSPIN(1)                           tailspin                           TSPIN(1)

NAME
       tspin - A log file highlighter

SYNOPSIS
       tspin [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       tailspin is a command line tool that highlights log files.

OPTIONS
       -f, --follow
           Follow (tail) the contents of the file.  Always true when using the
           --exec flag.

       -p, --print
           Print the output to stdout instead of viewing the contents in the
           pager less.  Always true if using stdin.

       --theme PATH
           Specify the path to a custom theme file.  Defaults to
           XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tailspin/theme.toml or
           ~/.config/tailspin/theme.toml if not set.  On Windows, defaults to
           %APPDATA%\tailspin\theme.toml.  Can also be set via the
           TAILSPIN_THEME environment variable.

       -e, --exec COMMAND
           Run command and view the output in a pager.  The command traps the
           interrupt signal to allow for cancelling and resuming follow mode
           while inside less.

           Example:

               tspin --exec 'kubectl logs -f pod_name'

       --highlight COLOR1:word1,word2,... COLOR2:word3,word4,...
           Highlight the provided comma-separated words in the specified
           color.  Possible colors are black, red, green, yellow, blue,
           magenta, cyan, and white, optionally prefixed with bright_ (e.g.
           bright_red).

           Example:

               tspin logfile.txt --highlight red:error,fail --highlight green:success,ok

       --enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP]
           Disable all highlighting groups except the ones specified.  Comma
           separated list of groups.  Cannot be used with
           --disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP].  Possible groups: numbers, urls,
           emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes, key-value-pairs,
           uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.

       --disable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP]
           Disable the specified highlighting groups.  Comma separated list of
           groups.  Cannot be used with --enable=[HIGHLIGHT_GROUP].  The
           keywords group controls the builtin keywords (booleans, nulls, log
           severities and common REST verbs); keywords from the config file
           and the --highlight flag always apply.  Possible groups: numbers,
           urls, emails, pointers, dates, durations, paths, quotes,
           key-value-pairs, uuids, ipv4, processes, json, keywords.

       --extras=[EXTRA]
           Enable extra highlighters.  Comma separated list of extras.
           Possible values: ipv6, jvm-stack-trace.  Can also be set via the
           TAILSPIN_EXTRAS environment variable.

       --pager COMMAND
           Override the default pager command used by tspin.  The command must
           include the string [FILE] which will be replaced with the file path
           internally.

           Example:

               tspin logfile.txt --pager "ov -f [FILE]"

       --completions SHELL
           Print shell completions to stdout.  Possible values: bash, elvish,
           fish, powershell, zsh.

       --generate-default-theme
           Print the default theme as a theme.toml to stdout.  Every value in
           the output is a default: copy it to ~/.config/tailspin/theme.toml
           and edit the styles you want to override.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       TAILSPIN_PAGER
           Set the TAILSPIN_PAGER environment variable to override the default
           pager.  Equivalent to the --pager flag.  The command must include
           the string [FILE] which will be replaced with the file path
           internally.  For example, "ov -f [FILE]".

       TAILSPIN_EXTRAS
           Comma separated list of extras to enable by default.  Equivalent to
           the --extras flag.  For example, "jvm-stack-trace" or
           "ipv6,jvm-stack-trace".

       TAILSPIN_THEME
           Path to the theme file to use.  Equivalent to the --theme flag.

SEE ALSO
       less(1), tail(1)

ABOUT
       Ben Sadeh (github.com/bensadeh/tailspin)

       Released under the MIT License

tailspin 7.0.0                    2026-07-14                          TSPIN(1)