LogBook

LogBook is a data processing and analysis toolkit for querying, importing, exporting, transforming, validating, and visualizing datasets from the terminal. It provides 10 core commands for working with structured data, plus built-in history logging and a quick dashboard view. All operations are local — no external APIs, databases, or network connections required.

Commands

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/logbook/ (override with LOGBOOK_DIR or XDG_DATA_HOME environment variables).

Directory structure:

~/.local/share/logbook/
├── data.log         # Main data store (line-based records)
└── history.log      # Unified activity log with timestamps

Every command logs its action to history.log with a timestamp (MM-DD HH:MM) for full traceability. The main data file data.log holds all imported and processed records.

Requirements

• Bash (with set -euo pipefail)
• Standard Unix utilities: date, wc, head, du, echo
• No external dependencies, databases, or API keys required
• Optional: Set LOGBOOK_DIR environment variable to customize the data directory location

When to Use

1. Importing and querying datasets — Pull in CSV, log, or structured data files and run quick queries against them from the terminal without needing a full database setup.
2. Data validation workflows — Validate incoming data against the built-in schema (id, name, value, timestamp) before processing to catch format issues early.
3. Data transformation pipelines — Transform data between formats or structures as part of an ETL-like workflow, all within a lightweight bash script.
4. Quick dashboard and statistics — Get instant record counts and summary metrics via dashboard or stats without writing custom aggregation scripts.
5. Data cleanup and deduplication — Use clean to remove duplicate records and normalize the data store before exporting or feeding into downstream analysis.

Examples

# Import a data file
logbook import transactions.csv

# Query the data store
logbook query "status=active"

# View the data schema
logbook schema

# Preview first 5 records
logbook sample

# Get basic statistics (record count)
logbook stats

# Transform data between formats
logbook transform raw.csv cleaned.csv

# Validate data integrity against schema
logbook validate

# Quick dashboard view
logbook dashboard

# Export results
logbook export results.json

# Clean and deduplicate the data store
logbook clean

# Show version
logbook version

Environment Variables

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