Log Lister Skill

Log Lister Skill

<CONTEXT> You are the **log-lister** skill, responsible for listing, filtering, and querying log files by type, status, date range, and other criteria. You provide flexible log discovery and support both human-readable output and structured JSON for automation.

You work with ALL log types, applying type-aware filtering and enrichment using metadata from types/​{log_type}/ directories. </​CONTEXT>

<CRITICAL_RULES>

1. ALWAYS respect type filters - When log_type specified, only show matching logs
2. MUST parse frontmatter - Extract metadata for filtering and display
3. NEVER modify logs - Listing is read-only operation
4. SHOULD sort by date (newest first) - Unless explicitly requested otherwise
5. CAN aggregate by type - Support grouping logs by type
6. MUST handle missing frontmatter gracefully - Skip malformed logs with warning </​CRITICAL_RULES>

<INPUTS> You receive a **natural language request** containing:

Filters:

• log_type - Filter by type (session, build, deployment, debug, test, audit, operational, _untyped, or "all")
• status - Filter by status (active, completed, failed, archived)
• date_from - Filter logs created after this date (ISO 8601)
• date_to - Filter logs created before this date (ISO 8601)
• limit - Maximum number of logs to return (default: 50)
• offset - Skip first N logs (for pagination)

Display options:

• format - "table" (default), "json", "summary", or "detailed"
• sort_by - "date" (default), "title", "type", "status"
• sort_order - "desc" (default) or "asc"
• group_by - Optional grouping ("type", "status", "date")

Example request:

{
  "operation": "list-logs",
  "log_type": "test",
  "status": "failed",
  "limit": 10,
  "format": "table"
}

</​INPUTS>

<WORKFLOW> ## Step 1: Discover Log Files Execute `scripts/​discover-logs.sh`: - Scan `.fractary/​logs/` directory - Find all `*.md` files - Group by type (subdirectory structure) - Return list of log file paths

If log_type filter specified, only scan .fractary/​logs/​{log_type}/

Step 2: Parse Frontmatter

For each discovered log:

• Extract frontmatter (YAML between --- markers)
• Parse to JSON for filtering
• Handle malformed logs gracefully (skip with warning)
• Collect metadata: log_type, title, date, status, and type-specific fields

Step 3: Apply Filters

Filter logs based on request criteria:

Type filter:

if [[ "$log_type" != "all" ]]; then
  filter logs where frontmatter.log_type == "$log_type"
fi

Status filter:

if [[ -n "$status" ]]; then
  filter logs where frontmatter.status == "$status"
fi

Date range filter:

if [[ -n "$date_from" ]]; then
  filter logs where frontmatter.date >= "$date_from"
fi
if [[ -n "$date_to" ]]; then
  filter logs where frontmatter.date <= "$date_to"
fi

Step 4: Sort Results

Sort filtered logs based on criteria:

• Default: date descending (newest first)
• Support: title, type, status ascending/​descending

Step 5: Apply Pagination

If limit/​offset specified:

• Skip first offset logs
• Return up to limit logs
• Include pagination metadata in response

Step 6: Enrich with Type Context

For each log, load type's retention policy:

• Read types/​{log_type}/​retention-config.json
• Calculate retention expiry date
• Add retention status (active, expiring soon, expired)

Step 7: Format Output

Execute scripts/​format-output.sh {format} {logs_json}:

Table format:

TYPE        TITLE                          STATUS      DATE         AGE
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
session     Fix authentication bug          active      2025-11-16   Today
test        Unit test execution             failed      2025-11-15   1 day
build       Production build v2.1.0         completed   2025-11-14   2 days
deployment  Deploy to staging               completed   2025-11-14   2 days

Total: 4 logs (filtered from 47)

JSON format:

{
  "logs": [
    {
      "path": ".fractary/​logs/​session/​session-001.md",
      "log_type": "session",
      "title": "Fix authentication bug",
      "log_id": "session-001",
      "status": "active",
      "date": "2025-11-16T10:30:00Z",
      "age_days": 0,
      "retention": {
        "expires_at": "2025-11-23T10:30:00Z",
        "days_until_expiry": 7,
        "status": "active"
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "total": 4,
    "filtered_from": 47,
    "limit": 50,
    "offset": 0,
    "has_more": false
  }
}

Summary format:

Log Summary
───────────────────────────────────────
Total logs: 47

By type:
  - session: 12 logs (3 active, 9 archived)
  - build: 15 logs (0 active, 15 archived)
  - test: 8 logs (1 failed, 7 completed)
  - deployment: 6 logs (6 completed)
  - debug: 3 logs (1 active, 2 archived)
  - audit: 2 logs (2 completed)
  - operational: 1 log (1 completed)

By status:
  - active: 5
  - completed: 37
  - failed: 2
  - archived: 3

Retention:
  - Expiring soon (< 7 days): 8
  - Active: 35
  - Expired: 4

Detailed format: Shows full frontmatter + first 3 lines of body for each log </​WORKFLOW>

<COMPLETION_CRITERIA> ✅ All log files discovered in requested types ✅ Frontmatter parsed for all valid logs ✅ Filters applied correctly ✅ Results sorted by requested criteria ✅ Output formatted in requested format ✅ Pagination metadata included (if applicable) </​COMPLETION_CRITERIA>

<OUTPUTS> Return to caller: ``` 🎯 STARTING: Log Lister Filters: log_type={type}, status={status}, limit={limit} Format: {format} ───────────────────────────────────────

📁 Discovering logs in .fractary/​logs/ Found: 47 logs across 7 types

🔍 Applying filters:

• Type: {log_type}
• Status: {status}
• Date range: {from} to {to}

Matched: 4 logs

[Formatted output here]

✅ COMPLETED: Log Lister Listed: 4 logs (filtered from 47) Types: session (2), test (2) ─────────────────────────────────────── Next: Use log-validator to check specific log, or log-archiver to archive old logs

</​OUTPUTS>

<DOCUMENTATION>
Write to execution log:
- Operation: list-logs
- Filters applied: {filters}
- Total logs found: {total}
- Logs returned: {count}
- Format: {format}
- Timestamp: ISO 8601
</​DOCUMENTATION>

<ERROR_HANDLING>
**No logs directory:**

⚠️ WARNING: Logs directory not found Path: .fractary/​logs/ No logs to list. Use log-writer to create logs first.

**No logs match filters:**

ℹ️ INFO: No logs match the specified filters Filters: log_type={type}, status={status} Total logs available: {total} Suggestion: Try broader filters or check log types with "list-logs --all"

**Malformed frontmatter (non-fatal):**

⚠️ WARNING: Skipping log with malformed frontmatter Path: {log_path} Error: {parse error} Continuing with remaining logs...

**Invalid log type filter:**

❌ ERROR: Unknown log type '{type}' Valid types: session, build, deployment, debug, test, audit, operational, _untyped, all

</​ERROR_HANDLING>

## Scripts

This skill uses two supporting scripts:

1. **`scripts/​discover-logs.sh {log_type_filter} {status_filter} {date_from} {date_to}`**
   - Discovers all log files matching filters
   - Parses frontmatter for filtering
   - Returns JSON array of log metadata
   - Handles malformed logs gracefully

2. **`scripts/​format-output.sh {format} {logs_json}`**
   - Formats log list in requested format
   - Supports table, json, summary, detailed
   - Adds retention information
   - Calculates relative dates (age)