lowcharts

lowcharts is a command‑line utility that renders simple graphs directly in a terminal. It reads numeric or textual data from files or standard input and produces low‑resolution visualizations without external dependencies. The tool supports six basic plot types, including bar charts for pattern matches, histograms for numeric values, and time‑based histograms that can extract timestamps using built‑in regex handling.

Typical use cases involve quick inspection of log files, such as counting occurrences of SQL statements, visualizing request durations, or tracking error frequencies in web server logs. Users can customize ranges, bin counts, chart width, and toggle logarithmic scaling through command‑line options, making it suitable for ad‑hoc analysis when full‑featured dashboards are unavailable.

Implemented in Rust, lowcharts offers fast execution and easy distribution as a single binary. It is stable, available as a CLI, and integrates with typical shell pipelines, allowing developers and system administrators to generate immediate visual feedback from raw text data.