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Jiordi Viera
Jiordi Viera

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Laravel Log Cleaner v2.01 - Memory-Efficient Log Management with Compression & Backup

#laravel #php #opensource #devops

Laravel Log Cleaner v2.0 - Memory-Efficient Log Management

The Problem 🔥

We've all been there: your Laravel app runs fine for weeks, then suddenly your server runs out of disk space. You SSH in, check the logs folder, and find a 5GB laravel.log file.

Sound familiar?

Log files can grow out of control fast, especially in production. But clearing them manually is risky, and heavy monitoring tools like Telescope can slow down your app or even crash your server.

The Solution ✨

I built Laravel Log Cleaner to solve this exact problem. Version 2.0 just launched with major improvements:

  • 🧠 Memory-efficient processing - handles multi-GB files without crashing
  • 📦 Compression support - archive old logs instead of deleting
  • 🔒 Backup creation - never lose important data
  • 🎯 Log level filtering - keep only ERROR logs, discard the rest
  • 👀 Dry-run mode - preview changes before applying
  • ⚡ 50%+ performance improvement on large files

Installation 

composer require jiordiviera/laravel-log-cleaner
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That's it! No config files, no service providers to register. Laravel's auto-discovery handles everything.

Basic Usage

Clear all logs:

php artisan log:clear
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Keep the last 30 days:

php artisan log:clear --days=30
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Advanced Features (What's New in v2.0)

1. Safe Operations 🔒

Preview what will be deleted without actually deleting:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --dry-run
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Output:

[DRY RUN] Would remove 15,420 lines from laravel.log
[DRY RUN] Estimated space to free: 45.2 MB
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Create a backup before cleaning:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --backup
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Output:

Backup created: storage/logs/laravel.log.backup.2024-11-05-14-30-15
Logs older than 30 days have been removed.
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2. Compression Instead of Deletion 📦

Archive old logs for compliance or audit purposes:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --compress
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This creates laravel.log.old.2024-11-05.gz - perfect for when you need to keep logs but save disk space.

3. Log Level Filtering 🎯

Keep only critical errors, discard everything else:

php artisan log:clear --days=0 --level=ERROR
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This is huge for production. Most of your logs are probably DEBUG or INFO - useful during development but just noise after a few days in production.

Supported levels: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL

4. Memory-Efficient Processing 🧠

The game-changer for huge log files:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --memory-efficient
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Before v2.0: A 2GB log file would crash PHP with "out of memory" errors

After v2.0: Processes the same file using stream processing, never loads more than 50MB in RAM

The package automatically detects large files (>50MB) and enables memory-efficient mode, but you can force it with this flag.

5. Custom Date Patterns 🔍

Got non-standard log formats? No problem:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --pattern="/^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})/"
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6. Combine Everything 🚀

The complete workflow:

php artisan log:clear --days=30 --backup --compress --level=ERROR --dry-run
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This command:

  1. Previews what would be deleted (dry-run)
  2. Creates a backup before making changes
  3. Compresses old logs instead of deleting
  4. Keeps only ERROR level logs

Real-World Use Case

Here's how I use it in production:

Laravel 11+ (Current)

Schedule in routes/console.php:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schedule;

// Every day at 2 AM - keep 7 days of ERROR logs
Schedule::command('log:clear', [
    '--days' => 7,
    '--backup' => true,
    '--level' => 'ERROR'
])->daily()->at('02:00');

// Weekly deep clean with compression
Schedule::command('log:clear', [
    '--days' => 30,
    '--compress' => true
])->weekly()->sundays()->at('03:00');
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Laravel 10 and Below

Schedule in app/Console/Kernel.php:

protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    $schedule->command('log:clear', [
        '--days' => 7,
        '--backup' => true,
        '--level' => 'ERROR'
    ])->daily()->at('02:00');

    $schedule->command('log:clear', [
        '--days' => 30,
        '--compress' => true
    ])->weekly()->sundays()->at('03:00');
}
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Result:

  • ✅ Keeps 7 days of ERROR logs for quick debugging
  • ✅ Archives everything older in compressed format
  • ✅ Never runs out of disk space
  • ✅ No manual intervention needed
  • ✅ Backups created automatically

Performance Benchmarks 📊

I tested this on a real production log file from one of my client's projects:

Test File: 1.2 GB, 3.5 million lines

Operation v1.0 v2.0 Improvement
Clear all logs 45s 12s 73% faster ⚡
Filter by date (30 days) Memory error ❌ 18s Now possible ✅
Memory usage (peak) 512MB+ 48MB 90% reduction 🎯
Compression Not supported 8s New feature 🆕

Why Not Use X? 🤔

vs. Manual deletion (rm laravel.log or echo "" > laravel.log)

  • ❌ No selective date filtering
  • ❌ Risk of deleting current day's logs
  • ❌ No backup option
  • ❌ Can't filter by log level

vs. Laravel Telescope

  • ❌ Telescope is heavy (database overhead, UI, background jobs)
  • ❌ Can actually slow down your app in production
  • ✅ Laravel Log Cleaner has zero runtime overhead
  • ✅ Only runs when you schedule it

vs. Other log cleaner packages

Most alternatives:

  • ❌ Don't handle memory efficiently (crash on large files)
  • ❌ No compression support
  • ❌ No log level filtering
  • ❌ No dry-run mode for safety
  • ❌ Limited or no backup functionality

Compatibility

Current Version (v2.x):

  • PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3+
  • Laravel 9.x, 10.x, 11.x, 12.x

Legacy Support (v1.x):
If you're still on older versions:

composer require jiordiviera/laravel-log-cleaner:^1.0
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  • PHP 7.0+
  • Laravel 7.x, 8.x

Migration from v1.x

Upgrading from v1.x? It's seamless!

Step 1: Update via Composer

composer update jiordiviera/laravel-log-cleaner
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Step 2: Check PHP/Laravel requirements

  • Requires PHP 8.1+
  • Requires Laravel 9+

Step 3: Enjoy new features!
All your existing commands still work. The new features are opt-in via command flags.

Breaking changes:

  • Dropped PHP 7.x support
  • Dropped Laravel 7.x and 8.x support
  • If you need these versions, stay on v1.x

Common Use Cases

1. Development: Keep Recent Logs Only 

php artisan log:clear --days=3
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2. Production: Aggressive Cleanup with Safety 

php artisan log:clear --days=7 --backup --level=ERROR
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3. Compliance: Archive Everything 

php artisan log:clear --days=90 --compress
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4. Emergency: Server Running Out of Space 

# Preview impact first
php artisan log:clear --days=1 --dry-run

# If safe, execute
php artisan log:clear --days=1 --backup
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5. CI/CD Pipeline: Clean After Tests 

php artisan log:clear --days=0
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What's Next? 🔮

I'm considering these features for future releases:

  • 🗂️ Multiple log file support (--file=api.log)
  • 📧 Slack/Email notifications on cleanup completion
  • ⚙️ Config file for environment-specific retention policies
  • ☁️ Cloud storage integration (S3, GCS, Azure)
  • 📊 Log analytics before cleanup (show stats)
  • 🔄 Auto-rotation based on file size (not just days)

What would YOU like to see? Drop a comment below! Your feedback shapes the roadmap.

Try It Out 

composer require jiordiviera/laravel-log-cleaner
php artisan log:clear --help
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Links:

Contributing

Found a bug? Have a feature request? Contributions are welcome!

  1. Fork the repo
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Write tests (we use Pest)
  4. Submit a PR

Check out the Contributing Guide.

About Me

I'm Jiordi Viera, a fullstack developer from Douala, Cameroon 🇨🇲. I work primarily with Laravel, Next.js, and React.

I built this package after dealing with production log issues one too many times. What started as a simple script evolved into a full package when I realized others had the same problem.

If this package helps you, consider:

  • ⭐ Starring the GitHub repo
  • 📢 Sharing this article
  • ☕ Buying me a coffee (if you're feeling generous)

Connect with me:

  • 🌐 Website: jiordiviera.me
  • 🐙 GitHub: @jiordiviera
  • 💼 LinkedIn: [Add your LinkedIn if you have one]
  • 🐦 Twitter/X: [Add your handle if you have one]

Other projects:

  • Codepit - A minimal platform to share code snippets

Thanks for reading! If you found this helpful, please leave a ❤️ and share your experience in the comments below.

Happy logging! 🚀

Laravel #PHP #OpenSource #DevOps #WebDev #BackendDevelopment

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