LightLogger

LightLogger is a lightweight log collection and monitoring platform built for startups, small teams, and internal systems that want visibility into logs without complex or expensive tools.

It focuses on simplicity, clarity, and low overhead.

Table of Contents

• Usage Warning
• Why LightLogger
• Current Features
• What LightLogger Does NOT Do (Yet)
• Tech Stack
• Architecture Overview
• Example Use Cases
• Who Is It For
• Getting Started
• Customization

Usage Warning

⚠️ Important Notice:

This setup is not ready for public deployment. It is intended only for internal company logging and testing purposes.

• Do not expose this service to the internet without proper security measures.
• Default credentials and settings are insecure for production.
• Use strong secrets and restrict access if deploying internally.

Always treat the dashboard and logs as sensitive internal data.

Why LightLogger

Most logging platforms are heavy and costly. LightLogger keeps things simple and easy to run.

• Easy log ingestion
• Centralized log storage
• Fast search and filtering
• Clean web dashboard

Current Features

Log Ingestion

• Accept logs over HTTP
• JSON structured logs
• Tag logs by service, level, and environment

Log Storage

• PostgreSQL based storage
• Indexed for fast queries
• Reliable and easy to manage

Log Viewing

• Real time style log viewing via polling

Dashboard

• Web based UI
• Minimal and clean interface
• Designed for quick understanding

What LightLogger Does NOT Do (Yet)

• No alerts or notifications
• No anomaly detection
• No automatic security response
• No distributed tracing
• Log filtering

Tech Stack

Backend

• Go
• Gin framework

Database

• PostgreSQL

Frontend

• React

Deployment

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Architecture Overview

1. Applications send logs to LightLogger API
2. Backend validates and stores logs
3. Logs are indexed and stored in PostgreSQL
4. Dashboard queries logs for display

Example Use Cases

• Centralize logs from multiple services
• Debug production issues
• Monitor errors manually
• Observe system behavior over time

Who Is It For

• Startups
• Small businesses
• Solo developers
• Internal tools
• Learning observability fundamentals

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Configuration

Before running the server, update the default environment values in the compose.yml file to suit your setup. This ensures security and proper database connection.

Backend service environment variables:

environment:
  DB_HOST: db
  DB_PORT: 5432
  DB_USER: lightlogger # Change to your database username
  DB_PASSWORD: lightlogger # Change to your database password
  DB_NAME: lightlogger # Change to your database name
  JWT_SECRET: your-secret-key-change-in-production # Change to a strong secret

PostgreSQL service environment variables:

environment:
  POSTGRES_USER: lightlogger # Change to match backend DB_USER
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: lightlogger # Change to match backend DB_PASSWORD
  POSTGRES_DB: lightlogger # Change to match backend DB_NAME

Make sure these values are consistent between the backend and database services. Never use default secrets in production.

Running

Clone the repository and start the services using Docker Compose:

git clone https://github.com/heshanthenura/lightlogger
cd lightlogger
docker-compose up -d

• Dashboard will be accessible at http://<<host_ip>>:8080

  If you want to use a different port, update the ports mapping for the backend service in the docker-compose.yml file. For example:

  ports:
    - "9090:8080" # Maps container port 8080 to host port 9090

To stop the services:

docker-compose down

Usage

1. Access the dashboard at http://<<host_ip>>:8080 and log in using the default credentials:

   Username: admin
   Password: admin
   

2. Add a new service in the dashboard.

3. After adding, note the service ID and its corresponding URL.
4. Send an HTTP POST request to the service URL with a JSON body like this:

{
  "level": "warn",
  "message": "Query execution time exceeded threshold - 2500ms"
}

• Supported log levels:

  debug, info, warn, error, fatal
  

5. The logs will appear in the dashboard under the corresponding service.

Customization

This setup can be customized according to your company’s requirements. If you want additional features, integrations, or workflow changes, reach out to me.

customization can be done for an affordable cost to suit your internal logging needs.