I built a tool to un-dumb Claude Code's CLI output (Local Log Viewer)
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Hi HN,I built this because I got tired of the Claude Code CLI hiding details from me.Recent updates have replaced critical output with summaries like "Read 3 files" or "Edited 2 files". To see what actually happened, I was forced to use `--verbose`, which floods the terminal with unreadable JSON and system prompts.I wanted a middle ground: *Full observability without the noise.*`claude-devtools` is a local Electron app that tails the session logs in `~/.claude/` to reconstruct the execution trace in real-time.*Unlike wrappers, it solves the visibility gap in your native terminal workflow:* 1. *Real Diffs:* It shows inline diffs (red/green) the moment files are edited, instead of just a checkmark. 2. *Context Forensics:* It breaks down token usage by File vs Tool Output vs Thinking (so you know exactly why your context window is full). 3. *Agent Trees:* It visualizes sub-agent execution paths which are usually interleaved and confusing in the CLI.It’s 100% local, and works with the logs already on your machine. No API keys required.Repo: https://github.com/matt1398/claude-devtools (Screenshots and diff viewer demo are in the README)
HN · launched Feb 13, 2026 · 69 upvotes (top 14%) · 0 views
Niche: ai coding agent session managers · 514 launches, 36 in the last 7 days ▼ -18% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Dev tools
- Developer
- AI feature
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 514 launches in ai coding agent session managers →
Could you build this?
Yes It is a local terminal or web log viewer that parses and formats Claude Code's raw JSON log files into a readable visual interface.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Braintrust Claude plugin, Open weight models from China, Claude-trace viewer, Codex
Concerns raised: Hidden information and lack of transparency in Claude Code, Forced adoption of Claude Code for subscription users, Confusing status messages and cute phrases reduce clarity, --verbose flag floods terminal making real-time debugging difficult, Agent performance degrades with longer sessions and technical debt
Feature requests: Infinite scroll in CLI interface, Setting to disable playful status messages, Better visibility into tool outputs and system prompts, Post-mortem session analysis UI for debugging
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 1021 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #208 of 1022 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 101 days after the earliest competitor.
- Nori CLI, a better interface for Claude Code (no flicker) · hn · 2026-01-14 · 37 upvotes · similarity 0.59
- Executable Markdown files with Unix pipes · hn · 2026-01-09 · 126 upvotes · similarity 0.58
- Claudescope · ph · 2026-09-17 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.58
- lmux · ph · 2026-11-11 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.56
- CCViewer · ph · 2026-10-20 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.55
- claude-term · ph · 2026-10-19 · 4 upvotes · similarity 0.55
- Pull Claude Code transcripts into your Codex session, and vice versa · hn · 2026-07-03 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.55
- Runtive · ph · 2026-10-15 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.54
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