Quickly Tail Logs from Multiple Kubernetes Pods with Kubetail and Stern

1. Kubetail Tool

Bash script to tail Kubernetes logs from multiple pods at the same time

Kubetail is a simple shell script that aggregates logs from multiple pods, supports colored output and conditional filtering.

1.1 Installation

Installation is straightforward and adapts to different platforms.

Homebrew

# install kubetail using brew
$ brew tap johanhaleby/kubetail && brew install kubetail

Linux

# download and install
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/johanhaleby/kubetail/master/kubetail
$ chmod +x kubetail
$ cp kubetail /usr/local/bin

Zsh plugin

# oh-my-zsh
$ cd ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/
$ git clone https://github.com/johanhaleby/kubetail.git kubetail

$ vim ~/.zshrc
plugins=( ... kubetail )

$ source ~/.zshrc

1.2 Usage

Very easy to use; you can get started in about 2 minutes.

Prepare pod list

# show all your pods
$ kubectl get pods -n test
NAME               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
app1-v1-aba8y      1/1     Running   0          1d
app1-v1-gc4st      1/1     Running   0          1d
... (other pods)

Tail logs

# tail logs of two "app2" pods
$ kubetail app2
$ kubetail app1,app2

# specify container name
$ kubetail app2 -c container1
$ kubetail app2 -c container1 -c container2
$ kubetail app2 -c container1 -n namespace1

# use regex
$ kubetail "^app1|.*my-demo.*" --regex

Color options

# pod: only pod names colored
# line: whole line colored (default)
# false: no color
$ kubetail app2 -k pod
$ kubetail app2 -k line
$ kubetail app2 -k false

Common flags

-n: specify namespace -c: specify container name in multi‑container pod -k: enable colored output -b: use line‑buffered mode (default false) -l: label filter to ignore pod names -t: show logs since a relative time (e.g., 5s, 2m, 3h, default 10s)

2. Stern Tool

Multi pod and container log tailing for Kubernetes

Stern is a Go‑based, ready‑to‑use tool that aggregates logs from multiple pods with colored output and conditional filtering. It is no longer actively maintained, so use with caution.

2.1 Installation

Installation is straightforward and adapts to different platforms.

Homebrew

# install stern using brew
$ brew install stern

Linux

# download and install
$ wget https://github.com/wercker/stern/releases/download/1.11.0/stern_linux_amd64
$ chmod +x stern_linux_amd64
$ mv stern_linux_amd64 /usr/local/bin

Zsh plugin

# bash completion
$ brew install bash-completion
$ source <(brew --prefix)/etc/bash-completion
$ source <(stern --completion=bash)

# zsh completion
$ source <(stern --completion=zsh)

2.2 Usage

Very easy to use; you can get started in about 2 minutes.

Prepare pod list

# show all your pods
$ kubectl get pods -n test
... (output omitted)

Tail logs

# tail all logs in the current namespace
$ stern .

# tail logs of a specific container
$ stern app2 --container container1

# tail logs in a specific namespace
$ stern app2 --namespace namespace1

# exclude a container
$ stern --namespace namespace1 --exclude-container container1 .

# tail logs from the last 15 minutes
$ stern app2 -t --since 15m

# filter by label across all namespaces
$ stern --all-namespaces -l run=nginx

# filter by selector (e.g., canary release)
$ stern frontend --selector release=canary

# pipe logs to jq for JSON processing
$ stern backend -o json | jq .

# output raw log messages only
$ stern backend -o raw

# custom template output
$ stern --template '{{.Message}} ({{.Namespace}}/{{.PodName}}/{{.ContainerName}})' backend

# template with colored pod and container names
$ stern --template '{{.Message}} ({{.Namespace}}/{{color .PodColor .PodName}}/{{color .ContainerColor .ContainerName}})' backend

Common flags

--container: container name regex (default .*) --exclude-container: container name regex to exclude --container-state: filter by container state (default running) --timestamps: print timestamps --since: show logs newer than a relative duration --context: Kubernetes context to use --exclude: exclude log lines by regex --namespace: namespace to use --kubeconfig: path to kubeconfig file (default ~/.kube/config) --all-namespaces: tail across all namespaces --selector: label selector query --tail: number of lines from the end (default -1) --color: force color output (auto, always, never) --output: predefined output format (default, raw, json)

3. Reference Links

johanhaleby/kubetail

wercker/stern

Two highly useful Kubernetes real‑time log viewing tools