DEV Community

Cover image for Logtide 0.4.0: We Rebranded (And Shipped Our Best Features Yet)
Polliog
Polliog

Posted on

Logtide 0.4.0: We Rebranded (And Shipped Our Best Features Yet)

#programming #devops #opensource #discuss

Big news: LogWard is now Logtide. 🌊

Same mission (privacy-first observability). Same code (AGPLv3, self-hostable). New name.

Let me tell you what happened and what we built.

🎭 Why We Rebranded

Early January 2025: We discovered a trademark conflict with our name.

Our reaction: "This is fixable. Let's do it right."

January 7-12: Professional communication led to a resolution.

Result: Smooth transition completed in 5 days. Zero legal drama.

What We Learned About Trademarks

The hard truth: Trademark conflicts happen even in different industries.

Key lesson: Check trademarks BEFORE naming anything.

Tools everyone should use:

Our mistake: We didn't check thoroughly enough before launch. Don't repeat it.

🤝 How We Handled It

Instead of fighting, we communicated professionally.

The Approach

  1. Acknowledged the conflict (legitimate trademark holder)
  2. Proposed a solution (we'll rebrand voluntarily)
  3. Executed quickly (5-day turnaround)
  4. Maintained goodwill (professional throughout)

Result:

  • Zero legal fees
  • Zero hostility
  • Quick resolution

Takeaway: Professional communication > legal warfare.

Most founders would either:

  1. Ignore it (terrible idea)
  2. Fight aggressively (expensive)
  3. Panic (chaos)

We chose: Acknowledge, execute, move forward.

🌊 Why "Logtide"?

Requirements:

  • ✅ Not trademarked (we checked carefully this time)
  • ✅ Related to logs
  • ✅ Available domains (.dev, .com)
  • ✅ Easy to pronounce globally
  • ✅ Memorable

Logtide = "Log" + "Tide"

Metaphor: Logs flow continuously like tides. You monitor the patterns, detect anomalies, ride the wave of observability data.

📦 What Changed (Migration Guide)

URLs & Domains

Before:

  • logward.dev

After:

  • logtide.dev ✅

Good news: GitHub auto-redirects old URLs.

Docker Images

Before:

services:
  backend:
    image: logward/backend:0.3.0
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

After:

services:
  backend:
    image: logtide/backend:0.4.0
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

SDKs

All SDKs renamed:

Language Old Package New Package
Node.js @logward-dev/sdk-node @logtide/sdk-node
Python logward-sdk logtide-sdk
Go logward-sdk-go logtide-sdk-go
PHP logward-dev/sdk-php logtide-dev/sdk-php
Kotlin logward-sdk-kotlin logtide-sdk-kotlin
C# / .NET LogWard.SDK LogTide.SDK

Environment Variables

Breaking changes:

Old New
LOGWARD_PORT LOGTIDE_PORT
LOGWARD_BACKEND_IMAGE LOGTIDE_BACKEND_IMAGE
LOGWARD_FRONTEND_IMAGE LOGTIDE_FRONTEND_IMAGE

Migration:

# 1. Stop containers
docker compose down

# 2. Update .env file
sed -i 's/LOGWARD/LOGTIDE/g' .env

# 3. Pull new images
docker compose pull

# 4. Start
docker compose up -d
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Your data is preserved. No database migration needed. ✅

🚀 New Features in v0.4.0

1. Substring Search Mode (#68)

The problem: Full-text search uses word boundaries. Searching for "bluez" won't find "spa.bluez5.native".

The solution: Two search modes

Full-Text (default):

  • Word-based with stemming
  • Fast
  • Handles plural/tenses

Substring (new):

  • Finds text anywhere in messages
  • Perfect for partial strings, UUIDs, paths
  • Powered by PostgreSQL pg_trgm (trigram index)

Example:

Log: "spa.bluez5.native connection failed"
Search: "bluez" in substring mode
Result: ✅ Match found
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

How to use:

  1. Search page → "Search mode" dropdown
  2. Select "Substring"

Admin: Set default search mode system-wide in settings.

2. Clickable Dashboard Elements (#67)

Before: Dashboard showed numbers. You manually filtered logs.

After: Click any dashboard item → filtered search results.

Example:

Dashboard: "Top service: api-gateway (450 errors)"
Click → Search with: service=api-gateway, level=error
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

What's clickable:

  • Recent errors chart
  • Top services list
  • Alert history
  • Detection events

Result: Faster incident investigation.

3. Enhanced Exception & Stack Trace Visualization (#23)

Multi-language auto-detection:

  • Node.js (V8 stack traces)
  • Python (traceback)
  • Java (printStackTrace)
  • Go (panic)
  • PHP (Exception)

Example (Node.js):

Error: Database connection failed
    at Database.connect (/app/db.js:42:15)
    at Server.start (/app/server.js:18:3)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Extracted:

  • Exception type: Error
  • Message: Database connection failed
  • File: /app/db.js, Line: 42, Function: connect

UI improvements:

  • Syntax highlighting (files, line numbers)
  • Exception badges (Error, TypeError, etc.)
  • Collapsible frames
  • Copy buttons (entire trace or single frame)

Error grouping:

Similar exceptions grouped by stack trace fingerprint.

Same error from 15 users → 1 group with "Frequency: 15"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

How fingerprinting works:

// These are "same error":
Error at /app/db.js:42:15 (user A)
Error at /app/db.js:42:15 (user B)

// This is different:
Error at /app/auth.js:23:9
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Result: See unique errors instead of thousands of duplicates.

4. Customizable Log Retention Policy

Before: 30 days (hardcoded)

After: Configure per organization

Examples:

Startup: 7 days
Compliance: 365 days
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

How to configure:

  1. Organization Settings → "Retention Policy"
  2. Set days (7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 365, custom)
  3. Save

Background worker deletes old logs daily. TimescaleDB makes this instant.

5. Improved Custom Time Range Picker (#72)

Before: Switching preset ↔ custom reset everything.

After:

  • Fields pre-populated from presets
  • Values preserved when switching
  • Quick adjustments

Example:

1. Select "Last 7 days"
2. Switch to "Custom"
3. Fields auto-fill: 2025-01-06 to 2025-01-13
4. Adjust end date only
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🐛 Bug Fix: Export All Pages (#71)

Before: Export only current page (~25 logs)

Problem: 10,000 logs = 400 manual exports

After: Export all logs matching filters

Example:

Filter: service=api, level=error, last 7 days
Matching: 10,247 logs
Export: CSV
Result: 1 file, 10,247 rows ✅
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Backend streams in batches to avoid memory issues.

📚 New Documentation Site

We moved docs to a separate Astro project for better performance and DX.

New site: logtide.dev/docs

Features:

  • Fast (Astro SSG)
  • Search-optimized
  • Better navigation
  • Code examples
  • API reference

GitHub: logtide-dev/logtide.dev

📊 Project Stats (January 2026)

Since launch:

  • ⭐ 223 GitHub stars
  • 🐳 3,000+ Docker Hub pulls (before migration)
  • 👥 ~500 active users (cloud + self-hosted)
  • 🌍 Global community

Growth trajectory: Steady adoption in privacy-conscious teams across Europe and North America.

🗺️ What's Next

OpenTelemetry Phase 2:

  • OTLP metrics support
  • Metrics dashboard
  • Full correlation: logs ↔ traces ↔ metrics

Advanced Analytics:

  • Log pattern detection
  • Anomaly detection
  • Service dependency graphs

💡 Lessons from the Rebrand

1. Trademarks Matter

Always check before naming anything:

  • Search multiple databases
  • Consider consulting IP lawyer
  • Budget for potential rebrand

2. Professional Communication Works

Acknowledge → Propose → Execute

Result: Resolution in days, not months.

3. Move Fast When Needed

5-day migration including:

  • New branding
  • Docker images
  • All SDKs
  • Documentation
  • Cloud platform

Possible because: Clean architecture, good CI/CD.

4. Community Support

Our users were incredible:

  • "Take your time"
  • "We'll update configs"
  • "Love the new name"

Open-source communities are amazing.

🚀 Try Logtide

Cloud (Free):
👉 logtide.dev

Self-Hosted:

git clone https://github.com/logtide-dev/logtide.git
cd logtide
docker compose up -d
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Visit http://localhost:3000

Documentation: logtide.dev/docs

🙏 Thank You

To the community:

  • Everyone who starred the repo
  • Contributors who submitted PRs
  • Users who reported issues
  • People spreading the word

To early adopters:

  • For migrating without complaint
  • For providing feedback
  • For believing in the project

Let's build the future of privacy-first observability. 🌊

Questions? Join us:

P.S. - Building open-source? **Always check trademarks first.* Learn from our experience.*

Top comments (1)

Collapse
 
art_light profile image
Art light •

Wow, this rebrand and release is incredibly impressive! 🌊 I really appreciate how smoothly you handled the trademark issue and turned it into a positive, professional experience—definitely a smart approach. The new features, especially substring search and clickable dashboards, look like they’ll make log analysis so much more efficient. I’m really interested to see how Logtide evolves with OpenTelemetry Phase 2 and advanced analytics; it feels like a tool with huge potential for privacy-conscious teams.