praytel(1)

Synopsis

praytel [flags] -- command [args ...]

Description

praytel runs command to completion, forwards signals to it, captures its stdout and stderr, receives the OTLP traces and logs it exports, joins them and prints a unified view. The -- separator is required.

By default the output is an append-only stream. --tui renders a live trace/span tree instead.

Flags

Rendering

Flag	Default	Meaning
`--tui`	off	Render an interactive live trace tree.

Ingest and drain

Flag	Default	Meaning
`--grpc-port PORT`	`4317`	OTLP gRPC listen port.
`--http-port PORT`	`4318`	OTLP HTTP listen port.
`--drain-idle DURATION`	`250ms`	Idle time with no OTLP after child exit before drain completes.
`--drain-timeout DURATION`	`2s`	Hard cap on drain after child exit.

Memory limits

Flag	Default	Meaning
`--max-spans N`	`1000000`	Maximum retained spans, including pending and orphans.
`--max-log-lines N`	`1000000`	Maximum retained log lines, including pending and orphans.

When a limit is reached praytel evicts the oldest closed traces, then sheds the newest data. It reports both on stderr.

Environment

Praytel sets these variables for the child so its OpenTelemetry SDK exports to the in-process receiver. Any OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_* variables inherited from the caller’s environment are replaced.

Variable	Value
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	The gRPC receiver.
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL`	`grpc`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT`	The HTTP receiver’s `/v1/logs` path.
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_PROTOCOL`	`http/protobuf`

TUI keys

Typing edits the search. Trace search is a subsequence match over span names and attributes; a single matching span surfaces its whole trace.

Key	Action
any character	Append to the search.
Backspace	Delete the last character.
Esc	Clear the search.
Tab	Switch between searching traces and searching log bodies.
Ctrl-G	Switch between the tree view and the call graph view.
↑ / ↓ (or Ctrl-K / Ctrl-J)	Scroll one line.
PgUp / PgDn	Scroll one page.
← / → (or Ctrl-B / Ctrl-F)	Scroll horizontally.
Home	Return to the left edge.
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-Q	Quit.

The TUI stays open after the child exits, until you quit.

Exit status

If the child started, praytel exits with the child’s exit code. If the child never started (it could not be executed, a port could not be bound, or the TUI could not start) or the invocation is malformed, praytel exits with 1. Warnings and praytel’s own logs go to stderr.

Examples

praytel -- go test ./...
praytel --tui -- ./server
praytel --grpc-port 14317 --http-port 14318 -- ./server

praytel(1).