Retrospective

About

Retrospective is a Mac app for searching, monitoring, and browsing large log file collections from local and remote sources. It fetches log data from Docker containers, Kubernetes (using the kubectl command line tool), and remote log files over SSH, so no log collector agents or additional software are needed on your servers. Log files are collected via SSH, including certificates, jump hosts, and sudo/su, and you can create searches or adapt existing ones using terms and time ranges, as well as create profiles that mix log files and container logs.

For Docker, the guided search criteria composer helps you pinpoint areas of interest in local container logs, and Retrospective offers a unified view when several containers run at once. For Kubernetes, it provides a customized view of local and remote container logs. The app also includes structuring features such as automatic column splitting and different highlighting options, and tabularized data can be exported in several formats for use in other analysis software.

Retrospective is described as Swiss-made software, and the website reports that customers such as the SBB and BKW Group use it to manage complex log files and ease the workload of their developers, testers, and operators.