Laravel Log Viewer Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal Setup

1. Installation

   composer require ttbooking/laravel-log-viewer
   

2. Register Provider Add to config/app.php under providers:

   Rap2hpoutre\LaravelLogViewer\LaravelLogViewerServiceProvider::class,
   

3. Publish Config (Optional)

   php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Rap2hpoutre\LaravelLogViewer\LaravelLogViewerServiceProvider" --tag="config"
   

4. Route the Controller Add to routes/web.php:

   Route::get('/logs', [\Rap2hpoutre\LaravelLogViewer\LogViewerController::class, 'index']);
   

First Use Case

• Debugging Live Issues: Access /logs to inspect real-time logs without tailing files manually.
• Quick Error Triage: Filter logs by date, level (error, warning, etc.), or search for specific keywords (e.g., SQLSTATE[42S22]).

Implementation Patterns

Core Workflows

1. Log Filtering

   • Date Range: Use the UI dropdown to select log files by date (e.g., yesterday, last 7 days).
   • Log Levels: Filter by severity (e.g., error, critical) via the UI toggle buttons.
   • Search: Enter keywords in the search box to narrow down logs (e.g., auth, payment).

2. Integration with Existing Logs

   • Custom Monolog Handlers: Works seamlessly with default Laravel logging (e.g., single, daily, syslog handlers).
   • Third-Party Loggers: Extend the package to support custom log paths by overriding the LogViewerController's getLogFiles() method.

3. Security

   • Route Protection: Wrap the route in middleware (e.g., auth, admin) to restrict access:

     Route::get('/logs', [LogViewerController::class, 'index'])->middleware('can:view-logs');
     

   • IP Whitelisting: Add middleware to allow only specific IPs:

     Route::middleware(['ip', 'throttle:60,1'])->group(function () {
         Route::get('/logs', [LogViewerController::class, 'index']);
     });
     

4. Automated Log Review

   • Scheduled Checks: Use Laravel’s schedule to trigger log reviews (e.g., daily error reports):

     // app/Console/Kernel.php
     protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
     {
         $schedule->command('log:review')->dailyAt('9:00');
     }
     

   • Slack/Email Alerts: Parse logs via the API and send alerts for critical issues:

     $logs = $this->logViewer->getLogs(['level' => 'error']);
     if ($logs->contains('payment_failed')) {
         Notifiable::send(new PaymentFailedAlert($logs));
     }
     

Advanced Patterns

• Log Anonymization Override the formatLogLine() method in a custom controller to redact sensitive data:

  public function formatLogLine($line)
  {
      return preg_replace('/"password":"\w+"/', '"password":"[REDACTED]"', $line);
  }
  

• Log Archiving Use the package to identify stale logs, then archive them programmatically:

  $oldLogs = $this->logViewer->getLogFiles()->where('date', '<', now()->subDays(30));
  foreach ($oldLogs as $file) {
      Storage::disk('logs')->move($file, "archive/{$file}");
  }
  

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

1. Log Rotation Conflicts

   • Issue: If logs are rotated/archived by a cron job (e.g., logrotate), the viewer may show incomplete or missing logs.
   • Fix: Ensure the package’s log_file_glob_pattern in config/laravel-log-viewer.php matches your rotation scheme (default: storage/logs/laravel-*.log).

     'log_file_glob_pattern' => storage_path('logs/laravel-*.log'),
     

2. Large Log Files

   • Issue: Loading multi-GB log files can crash PHP or time out.
   • Fix:
     • Limit the number of lines displayed via config:

       'max_lines' => 10000,
       

     • Use tail functionality to load logs incrementally (requires custom controller extension).

3. Permission Denied

   • Issue: Access denied errors if the web server user (e.g., www-data) lacks read permissions.
   • Fix: Grant permissions to the log directory:

     chmod -R 755 storage/logs/
     chown -R www-data:www-data storage/logs/
     

4. Lumen Compatibility

   • Issue: Lumen’s minimal setup may require manual route registration.
   • Fix: Register the controller manually in bootstrap/app.php:

     $app->router->get('/logs', [\Rap2hpoutre\LaravelLogViewer\LogViewerController::class, 'index']);
     

Debugging Tips

• Log File Paths: Verify the correct paths are being scanned by dumping the getLogFiles() output:

  dd($this->logViewer->getLogFiles());
  

• Custom Log Handlers: If using non-standard log paths (e.g., syslog), extend the controller:

  public function getLogFiles()
  {
      return [sys_get_temp_dir() . '/custom.log'];
  }
  

• Performance: For slow responses, check if the log_file_glob_pattern is matching too many files. Use a more specific pattern (e.g., laravel-*.log instead of *.log).

Extension Points

1. Custom Log Formatting Override the formatLogLine() method to add syntax highlighting or context:

   public function formatLogLine($line)
   {
       return highlight_string($line, true);
   }
   

2. API Endpoint Expose logs via an API for external tools:

   // routes/api.php
   Route::get('/api/logs', [LogViewerController::class, 'apiGetLogs']);
   

   Extend the controller to support JSON responses:

   public function apiGetLogs(Request $request)
   {
       return response()->json($this->logViewer->getLogs($request->all()));
   }
   

3. Database-Backed Logs For database log handlers, create a custom adapter to query the failed_jobs or logs tables directly.

Config Quirks

• Timezone Handling: Log timestamps may appear in UTC. Force local timezone in the config:

  'timezone' => 'America/New_York',
  

• Log Level Mapping: Customize the severity labels (e.g., map debug to info):

  'log_levels' => [
      'debug' => 'Info',
      'info' => 'Info',
      'notice' => 'Notice',
      // ...
  ],