Tracer - Lightweight Log Aggregation

Why we built Tracer

• We needed per-request context without running a data platform
• Existing stacks were too heavy for our use cases
• We wanted instant alerts and predictable storage
• We wanted full control over our data

Tracer is the tool we wanted to run in production ourselves.

What it does

Collector

• Ingests JSON, regex-based logs, and journald
• Extracts Trace ID for request-level context
• Collects system stats (CPU, RAM, disk)
• Supports configurable sampling (errors always stored)

Panel

• Groups logs by Trace ID
• Stores data per app in SQLite
• Persists all errors, samples the rest
• Sends alerts via Telegram
• Provides a real-time overview of apps and resources

Architecture

Multiple site collectors ingest log files and journalctl output, funneling structured records into the panel before persisting to SQLite, mirroring raw archives, and alerting Telegram.

%%{init: {"flowchart": {"curve": "linear", "width": 800}, "theme": "neutral", "themeVariables": {"fontSize": "16px"}}}%% graph TD subgraph Collectors CA[Collector A
Log parsing
System stats] CB[Collector B
Log parsing
System stats] CC[Collector C
Log parsing
System stats] end CA -->|WebSocket| Panel CB -->|WebSocket| Panel CC -->|WebSocket| Panel Panel[Panel
Trace grouping
Sampling
Deduplication] --> SQLite[SQLite DBs
Logs & System Stats] Panel --> Notifications[Notifications
Telegram Alerts
Errors, Startups, Resources] Panel --> WebUI[Web UI
Analytics Dashboard
Log Viewer]

Collectors

Multiple collectors per host ingest JSON, regex, log files, and journalctl tracks over WebSocket.

Panel

Panel handles trace grouping, deduplication, and mirrored alert delivery.

Persistence

Data lands in SQLite while raw archives and Telegram alerts stay in sync.

Deployment Options

Self-Hosted

• One-line install via curl script
• Full data ownership
• No recurring costs
• Systemd service management
• Configurable retention and sampling
• Collector-only mode for distributed setups

Managed Hosting

Coming Soon

Hosted infrastructure for teams who want the benefits of Tracer without managing their own servers.

Quick Start

Install Tracer on your server:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ai-shift/tracer/main/install.sh | sudo bash