# electron-timber

> Pretty logger for Electron apps

<img src="screenshot.png" width="1100">

By default, logs from the renderer process don't show up in the terminal. Now they do.

You can use this module directly in both the main and renderer process.

## Install

```sh
npm install electron-timber
```

*Requires Electron 30 or later.*

## Usage

Main process:

```js
import {app, BrowserWindow} from 'electron';
import logger from 'electron-timber';

let mainWindow;

(async () => {
	await app.whenReady();

	mainWindow = new BrowserWindow();
	await mainWindow.loadURL(…);

	logger.log('Main log');
	logger.error('Main error');

	const customLogger = logger.create({name: 'custom'});
	customLogger.log('Custom log');
})();
```

Renderer process:

```js
import logger from 'electron-timber';

logger.log('Renderer log');
logger.error('Renderer error');
```

## API

## logger

Logging will be prefixed with either `main` or `renderer` depending on where it comes from.

Logs from the renderer process only show up if you have required `electron-timber` in the main process.

The methods are bound to the class instance, so you can do: `const log = logger.log; log('Foo');`.

### log(…values)

Like `console.log`.

### warn(…values)

Like `console.warn`.

### error(…values)

Like `console.error`.

### time(label)

Like `console.time`.

### timeEnd(label)

Like `console.timeEnd`.

### streamLog(stream)

Log each line in a [`stream.Readable`](https://nodejs.org/api/stream.html#stream_readable_streams). For example, `child_process.spawn(…).stdout`.

### streamWarn(stream)

Same as `streamLog`, but logs using `console.warn` instead.

### streamError(stream)

Same as `streamLog`, but logs using `console.error` instead.

### create(options?)

Create a custom logger instance.

You should initialize this on module load so prefix padding is consistent with the other loggers.

#### options

Type: `object`

##### name

Type: `string`

Name of the logger. Used to prefix the log output. Don't use `main` or `renderer`.

##### ignore

Type `RegExp`

Ignore lines matching the given regex.

##### logLevel

Type: `string`

Can be `info` (log everything), `warn` (log warnings and errors), or `error` (log errors only). Defaults to `info` during development and `warn` in production.

### getDefaults()

Gets the default options (across `main` and `renderer` processes).

### setDefaults(options?) <sup><small>*Main process only*</small></sup>

Sets the default options (across `main` and `renderer` processes).

#### options

Type: `object`

Same as the `options` for `create()`.

## Toggle loggers

You can show the output of only a subset of the loggers using the environment variable `TIMBER_LOGGERS`. Here we show the output of the default `renderer` logger and a custom `unicorn` logger, but not the default `main` logger:

```sh
TIMBER_LOGGERS=renderer,unicorn electron .
```

## Related

- [electron-util](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-util) - Useful utilities for developing Electron apps and modules
- [electron-reloader](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-reloader) - Simple auto-reloading for Electron apps during development
- [electron-serve](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-serve) - Static file serving for Electron apps
- [electron-debug](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-debug) - Adds useful debug features to your Electron app
- [electron-context-menu](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-context-menu) - Context menu for your Electron app
- [electron-dl](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-dl) - Simplified file downloads for your Electron app
- [electron-unhandled](https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-unhandled) - Catch unhandled errors and promise rejections in your Electron app