Feature Request: Stream Claude output to log file in real-time

[mohsen1]

Problem

When Ralph is running with --monitor, the logs/claude_output_*.log file remains empty (0 bytes) until Claude Code finishes execution. This makes it difficult to monitor what Claude is doing during long-running tasks.

Current Behavior

$ ls -la logs/
-rw-r--r--  1 user  staff     0 Jan  3 12:42 claude_output_2026-01-03_12-42-28.log

The log file shows 0 bytes even though Claude has been running for several minutes and making progress (visible via git diff or tmux).

Expected Behavior

The log file should stream Claude's output in real-time, similar to tee, so users can:

• tail -f logs/claude_output_*.log to watch progress
• Check logs without attaching to tmux session
• Debug issues without interrupting the session

Suggested Implementation

Instead of capturing output at the end:

timeout ${TIMEOUT}s claude ... > "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1

Use unbuffered output or tee:

timeout ${TIMEOUT}s claude ... 2>&1 | tee "$LOG_FILE"
# or
script -q "$LOG_FILE" timeout ${TIMEOUT}s claude ...
# or use stdbuf
stdbuf -oL timeout ${TIMEOUT}s claude ... > "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1

Environment

• Ralph version: 0.9.0
• OS: macOS
• Shell: fish/bash

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🔗 Similar Issues

Related Issues

• [P0] Phase 1.1: Update CLI commands with modern options #28
• Windows: Git Bash windows spawn when running Ralph loop commands #42

👤 Suggested Assignees

• frankbria
• WeSolveX

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[github-actions]

✨ Triage: Enhancement

This issue has been labeled as an enhancement. Real-time log streaming would make it much easier to monitor Ralph's progress without attaching to a tmux session.

Good news: Ralph's --monitor/--live mode (added in later versions) does stream output in real time. If you're on a recent version, try:

ralph --monitor

If you're still seeing empty log files with the latest version, that may be a regression worth filing separately as a bug.

For older versions, the tee approach suggested in the issue body is the correct fix — piping Claude's output through tee "$LOG_FILE" rather than redirecting at the end.

Generated by Issue Triage Assistant

[frankbria]

Closing — this has been addressed by the --live mode added in v0.10+. Running ralph --live or ralph --monitor streams Claude's output in real-time. PR #209 (pending) adds further enhancements with configurable verbosity levels.

If there's still a gap vs. what you were looking for, feel free to reopen with specifics.