fahd09

fahd09 / watchtower

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Watchtower — monitor, inspect, and debug all API traffic between AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex CLI) and their APIs, with a real-time web dashboard.

12
0
100% credibility
Found Mar 03, 2026 at 12 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
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AI Summary

Watchtower is a monitoring tool that captures and displays in a real-time web dashboard all interactions between AI coding agents and their services.

How It Works

1
🔍 Discover Watchtower

You're using an AI coding helper but can't see what it's doing behind the scenes, so you find Watchtower to peek inside.

2
📥 Get Watchtower Ready

Download and start Watchtower on your computer with a simple command, and it begins listening quietly.

3
🔗 Connect Your AI Helper

Tell your AI coding tool to send its messages through Watchtower instead of directly, so it captures everything.

4
🌐 Open the Live Dashboard

Open your web browser to a local page where you see a beautiful dashboard ready for action.

5
👀 Watch Your AI in Action

Run a task with your AI helper and watch every message, response, and detail appear live on the dashboard.

6
📊 Explore Every Detail

Click through tabs to see conversation history, tools used, speeds, limits, and more, all in real time.

✅ Master Your AI

Now you fully understand your AI helper's inner workings, debug issues easily, and save logs for later review.

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Star Growth

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AI-Generated Review

What is watchtower?

Watchtower is a Node.js proxy that intercepts all API traffic between AI coding agents like Claude Code and Codex CLI and their providers (Anthropic, OpenAI), serving it up in a real-time web dashboard at localhost:8025. Install globally with `npm install -g watchtower-ai` and run `watchtower-ai`, then point your agent to `http://localhost:8024` via env vars like `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`. It solves the black-box problem of hidden API calls—streams, token counts, subagents—by logging everything to JSON files and displaying requests, responses, SSE events, rate limits, and agent hierarchies.

Why is it gaining traction?

Unlike Docker-focused tools like containrrr/watchtower or docker watchtower monitor only modes from centurylinklabs, this watchtower alternative targets AI API debugging with Chrome DevTools-style tabs for messages, tools, streams, and headers. Developers grab it for instant visibility into opaque agent behaviors, auto-provider detection, and WebSocket updates—no config hassles. As a watchtower github fork contender against nickfedor or percona versions, its SSE decoding and disk logs hook those tired of blind quota checks or subagent spawns.

Who should use this?

AI tinkerers running Claude Code sessions or Codex CLI pipelines who need to debug streaming chats, track token burn, or inspect tool calls. Backend devs integrating OpenAI-compatible clients facing rate limit mysteries. Early adopters seeking a watchtower docker alternative for non-container workflows, like watchtower docker compose setups but for API proxying.

Verdict

Try it if you're deep in AI agents—solid docs and zero-build Node.js setup make the 12 stars and 1.0% credibility score forgivable for an early project. Still maturing (light on tests, basic roadmap), but logs and dashboard deliver immediate value over manual curl debugging.

(198 words)

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