toolstail system logs

Tail System Logs

tail_system_logs

Reads the last N lines of a local log file — ideal for debugging runtime errors from dev servers, npm run dev, uvicorn, or any process that writes to a file. Use when: a process errored and you need to see recent log output, you're tailing a dev server log, or you want to check system/application logs without leaving the agent session. Scope: local filesystem only. Read-only. Any file the current user can read. Not for: streaming live log output (returns a snapshot), checking if a process is running (use list_processes), or reading structured log files as JSON (returns raw lines).

How to use tail_system_logs

Provide only the required inputs below. Start with the smallest scope that answers the task, then review the risk properties before an agent executes the call.

Risk and execution properties

Read only: yes

Destructive: no

Idempotent: yes

Open world: no — operates locally or through configured services

Inputs

pathstringrequired

Absolute path to the log file. Example: '/var/log/nginx/error.log' or '/tmp/dev-server.log'.

linesinteger

Number of lines to read from the end of the file. Default: 50. Max: 1000.

Default: 50

filterstring

Optional: only return lines containing this string (case-insensitive). Useful for filtering 'error', 'warn', 'exception'.

encodingstring

File encoding. Default: 'utf-8'. Use 'latin-1' for legacy log files with non-UTF characters.

Default: "utf-8"

Example input

{
  "path": "<string>",
  "lines": 50,
  "filter": "<string>",
  "encoding": "utf-8"
}

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