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Commands

CommandDescription
initSet up AI agent config files (skills, CLAUDE.md, and agent-specific rule files)
agent-helpPrint a usage guide for AI coding agents to read
cleanRemove old log sessions. Use --retain N to keep the last N sessions (default: 5). Use --dry-run to preview
lnavOpen the latest session in lnav. Use --session <name> for a specific session
lnav-installInstall the lnav format definition for viewing JSONL logs with lnav
# Examples
docker-agent-tail init
docker-agent-tail clean --retain 3
docker-agent-tail clean --dry-run
docker-agent-tail lnav
docker-agent-tail lnav --session 2026-03-04-143700
docker-agent-tail lnav-install

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Global Flags

FlagDescription
--all, -aDiscover and tail all running containers
--names, -nComma-separated list of container names to tail (e.g., api,web,db)
--compose, -cTail all services in a Docker Compose project (requires docker-compose.yml)
--follow, -fReattach on container restart (default: false)
--jsonOutput logs as JSON Lines to stdout instead of human-readable format
--output, -oOutput directory for log files (default: ./logs)
--since, -sOnly show logs since a duration ago (e.g., 5m, 1h)
--no-colorDisable colored output (useful for piping to files)
--version, -vShow version and exit
--help, -hShow help message

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Filter Flags

FlagDescription
--exclude, -eExclude log lines matching a regex pattern. Example: --exclude 'health.*check'
--mute, -mHide log lines matching a regex pattern from terminal output (still written to log files). Example: --mute 'worker'

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Positional Arguments

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PATTERN

Optional glob pattern to filter containers by name. Example: web-* matches all containers starting with “web-”. 
docker-agent-tail 'api-*' --follow

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Examples

docker-agent-tail --all

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Output Files

When using --output (default: ./logs), a timestamped session directory is created with the following files:
FileDescription
combined.jsonlAll logs from all containers in one JSONL file
<container-name>.jsonlIndividual JSONL log file for each container
metadata.jsonSession metadata (start time, command, container list)
A latest symlink always points to the most recent session directory.

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Log Format

Log files use JSON Lines (.jsonl). Each line is a valid JSON object. 
{"ts":"2026-03-04T10:30:01.789Z","container":"api","stream":"stdout","message":"GET /api/users 200 12ms"}
  • ts: ISO 8601 timestamp (RFC3339Nano)
  • container: Container name
  • stream: stdout or stderr
  • level: Normalized log level (when detected from structured JSON)
  • message: Log message (plain text output only)
Structured JSON from containers is automatically merged with metadata fields. Log levels are normalized to canonical values (debug, info, warning, error, fatal, trace).

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Exit Codes

CodeMeaning
0Success
1General error
2No containers found matching criteria
3Docker daemon error (connection failed, timeout)
64Usage error (invalid flags or arguments)

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Environment Variables

VariableDescription
DOCKER_HOSTDocker socket or daemon address. Default: ~/.docker/run/docker.sock or /var/run/docker.sock