What is LynxDB?

LynxDB is an open-source log analytics database built from scratch in Go. The same static binary can run as a pipe-mode CLI tool (like grep meets awk), a standalone server, and a cluster-mode deployment.

The Problem

The log analytics market is broken:

• On one end: grep and jq -- fast, scriptable, but no persistence, no indexing, no aggregation across time ranges.
• On the other end: Splunk ($2,000+/GB/day), Elasticsearch (cluster of 6+ nodes), Datadog (opaque pricing and vendor lock-in).

There is nothing in between. LynxDB fills the gap.

Three Modes, One Binary

Developer laptop  →  cat app.log | lynxdb query '| stats count by level'
Single server     →  lynxdb server --data-dir /var/lib/lynxdb
3-node HA         →  lynxdb server --cluster.seeds node1:9400,node2:9400
1000-node fleet   →  lynxdb server --cluster.role query --cluster.seeds meta1:9400

Pipe Mode (No Server)

Query local files and stdin using the full SPL2 engine with zero network overhead:

cat /var/log/syslog | lynxdb query '| where level="ERROR" | stats count by service'
kubectl logs deploy/api | lynxdb query '| stats avg(duration_ms), p99(duration_ms) by endpoint'

No daemon, no config file, no data directory. The binary creates an ephemeral in-memory engine, ingests input, runs the SPL2 pipeline, prints results, and exits.

Server Mode (Single Node)

Persistent storage with a full REST API and materialized views:

lynxdb server
lynxdb query '_source=nginx status>=500 | stats count by uri | sort -count | head 10'

Cluster Mode

Cluster mode is available through the same binary. The codebase includes Raft-backed metadata services, gRPC inter-node communication, and S3-aware storage paths for multi-node deployments. For larger separated-role clusters, validate the exact behavior you need in staging against the version you plan to run.

lynxdb server --cluster.seeds node1:9400,node2:9400,node3:9400

How LynxDB Compares

	LynxDB	Splunk	Elasticsearch	Loki	ClickHouse
Deployment	Single binary	Standalone or distributed	Single node or cluster	Single binary or microservices	Single binary or cluster
Dependencies	None	-	Bundled JVM	Object storage (prod)	Keeper (for replication)
Query language	SPL2	SPL	Lucene DSL / ES|QL	LogQL	SQL
Pipe mode	Yes	No	No	No	Yes (clickhouse-local)
Schema	On-read	On-read	On-write	Labels + line	On-write
Full-text index	FST + roaring bitmaps	tsidx	Lucene	Label index only	Token bloom filter
Memory (idle)	~50 MB	~12 GB (min spec)	~1 GB+	~256 MB	~1 GB
License	Apache 2.0	Commercial	ELv2 / AGPL	AGPL	Apache 2.0

Key Features

• SPL2 Query Language -- Splunk-inspired, works everywhere (CLI, API)
• Columnar Storage -- Custom .lsg segment format with delta-varint timestamps, dictionary encoding, LZ4 compression
• Full-Text Search -- FST-based inverted index with roaring bitmap posting lists and bloom filters
• Zero-Allocation VM -- 22ns/op bytecode evaluation, 2.1M events/sec pipeline throughput
• Materialized Views -- Precomputed aggregations with ~400x query acceleration
• Schema-on-Read -- No upfront schema, fields discovered and indexed automatically
• Drop-in Compatibility -- Elasticsearch _bulk, OpenTelemetry OTLP, Splunk HEC

Next Steps

• Quick Start -- Install and run your first query in 5 minutes
• Lynx Flow Reference -- Learn the query language
• CLI Reference -- Explore all commands
• REST API -- Integrate with your stack