bgtail

Run long-running commands in background with minimal CLI output (heartbeat dots) while streaming combined stdout/stderr to a log file.

Install

Dev (editable)

uv tool install -e .

Release tag install

uv tool install git+https://github.com/PeachlifeAB/bgtail.git@0.1.0

Usage

Start a job

bgtail [--project-log|--global-log] <command> [args...]

• Default log dir: ./log/bgtail/
• With --project-log: ./log/bgtail/ (explicit alias for the default)
• With --global-log: /tmp/<CallerDirBasename>/

bgtail prints an ID and log path, then prints a dot every 8 seconds until the job completes, then prints DONE and exits with the same exit code as the command.

Reconnect

bgtail --reconnect <ID>

Reconnect resolves the log path for the given ID and prints dots (if still running) until completion.

Options

• --project-log - Store logs under ./log/bgtail/ explicitly
• --global-log - Store logs under /tmp/<CallerDirBasename>/

Help

bgtail --help