What is streamtop?

streamtop is a Rust CLI and terminal UI for monitoring live video streams. Point it at an HLS playlist (.m3u8), MPEG-DASH manifest (.mpd), IPTV channel list (.m3u), or WHEP HTTP endpoint and get segment timing, codec wire data, ad markers, and health scores without opening a browser or GUI player.

Use it to debug CDN issues, validate encoder output, compare origin vs edge, run CI smoke tests on manifests, or watch production feeds with Prometheus and OpenTelemetry hooks.

WHEP HTTP endpoints are the supported path for WebRTC egress signaling probes. Legacy srt:// and rtmp:// URLs are rejected at startup.

Use cases

Features

Protocols and inputs

• HLS (.m3u8): live, LL-HLS #EXT-X-PART / PRELOAD-HINT, part TTFB and Part RTF, #EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME, media playlists
• MPEG-DASH (.mpd): live and VOD, ServiceDescription latency, UTCTiming, ContentProtection / PSSH
• IPTV / catalogs (.m3u, .json, .yaml): channel picker, search, playlist audit to JSON/CSV
• WHEP: HTTP POST SDP offer, parse 200/201 answer (signaling TTFB, codecs, ICE candidates, stream IDs)

Wire and container probes

• --probe-headers: fetch only the first bytes of each segment for fast TTFB and header checks
• GOP / FPS / resolution: manifest vs bitstream comparison; mismatch badges in the TUI
• Audio: ADTS, fMP4, MPEG-TS PMT from the probe window
• TR 101 290 (--tr101290): MPEG-TS P1/P2 checks (sync, continuity, PCR, PAT/PMT)
• AES-128-CBC probe: in-memory #EXT-X-KEY fetch and decrypt for encrypted TS/fMP4 wire analysis (no full decoder)
• SEI / HDR (--probe-sei): side metadata from H.264/H.265 elementary streams
• DRM (--probe-drm): key-server / LA_URL TTFB with SSRF-safe pinned GET

Live operations

• LL-HLS part telemetry: per-part TTFB, download ms, Part RTF (part_dl_duration_ratio); Prometheus streamtop_part_dl_duration_ratio
• DNS-over-HTTPS (--doh-provider cloudflare|google|<URL>): pure-Rust DoH JSON lookup; doh_ms in wire timing and summary JSON
• HTTP/2 ALPN telemetry: NetworkTiming reports DNS/TCP/TLS/TTFB/transfer ms and negotiated http_version; Prometheus streamtop_http_version
• Multi-CDN skew (--multi-cdn URL1,URL2,...): concurrent edge polling, live-edge seq/PDT skew matrix, ERR_CDN_SYNC_SKEW
• SCTE-35 / DAI: manifest cues, inband DASH emsg, cross-layer mismatch detection
• Staging ClearKey (--clearkey KID:KEY): cenc CTR and FairPlay cbcs 1:9 pattern probe
• Glass-to-glass latency: PRFT, HLS PDT, DASH publish time -> g2g_total_ms
• Virtual buffer model: rebuffer probability, stall risk index, ABR ladder switch detection
• Synthetic QoE (--simulate-player): player sim with throttle and simulated RTT
• Split-screen compare: two URLs side by side in one TUI
• Quick Play (p): launch mpv or ffplay with active headers

Export and observability

• Unified export (--export FORMAT[:FILE]): report-html, report-json, curl, har, incident, grafana, sarif (repeatable)
• Incident export: redacted curl, .har, diagnostic JSON (Space / --export incident / e)
• Compliance report: --export report-html:report.html or --export report-json:report.json
• SARIF 2.1.0: --summary-format sarif or --export sarif:streamtop.sarif for GitHub Code Scanning
• GitHub Actions step summary: --github-step-summary FILE or auto-write when GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY is set (--summary, budget mode)
• Headless CI: stable streamtop.summary.v1 JSON contract (field version 5), --timeout, PASS/FAIL rules
• Stream budget (--budget-max-rtf, --budget-max-ttfb, --budget-max-cc-errors, --budget-max-drift): threshold assertions with JSON verdict
• Multi-stream agent (--agent agent.example.toml): fleet polling with aggregated /metrics
• Prometheus /metrics on :9184 (Bearer token required on non-loopback bind); streamtop_http_version, streamtop_quic_handshake_seconds, streamtop_dns_doh_duration_seconds, streamtop_part_dl_duration_ratio
• OpenTelemetry: OTLP traces + metric batches (/v1/traces, /v1/metrics)
• Grafana: --export grafana -> dashboard JSON v4 (DAI, ClearKey, agent panels)
• Webhooks: Slack, Discord, generic HTTP on stall, SHI, 5xx, mismatch, ad start

Legacy flags (--export-curl, --export-har, --export-report, --export-grafana, --export-incident) still work but print a deprecation warning; use --export instead.

Install

cargo

cargo install streamtop
# or: cargo install cargo-binstall && cargo binstall streamtop

Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add streamtop https://github.com/Jorji49/streamtop
scoop install streamtop/streamtop

Winget (Windows)

Validated, awaiting merge: microsoft/winget-pkgs#427437.

winget install Jorji49.streamtop

Homebrew

brew tap Jorji49/tap
brew install streamtop

Arch (binary package)

AUR submission is not listed yet. Use the packaging mirror:

git clone https://github.com/Jorji49/streamtop-bin.git
cd streamtop-bin
makepkg -si

Source: dist/aur/PKGBUILD.

Docker

docker run -it --rm ghcr.io/jorji49/streamtop:v1.4.0 <URL>
docker run -it --rm ghcr.io/jorji49/streamtop:latest <URL>

Metrics on a non-loopback bind require a token:

docker run --rm -p 9184:9184 \
  -e STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN=change-me \
  ghcr.io/jorji49/streamtop:v1.4.0 \
  <URL> --prometheus --metrics-bind 0.0.0.0 \
  --metrics-token "$STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN"

Debian package

cargo install cargo-deb
cargo deb
sudo dpkg -i target/debian/streamtop_*.deb

From source

git clone https://github.com/Jorji49/streamtop.git
cd streamtop
cargo install --path .

Binaries: GitHub Releases.

Quick start

# HLS live stream
streamtop "https://example.com/master.m3u8"

# MPEG-DASH with fast wire probe
streamtop "https://example.com/manifest.mpd" --probe-headers

# IPTV channel list
streamtop "./channels.m3u"

# MPEG-TS TR 101 290 + SEI metadata
streamtop "https://example.com/live.ts.m3u8" --tr101290 --probe-sei

--probe-headers requests only the first bytes of each segment (faster; enough for headers and wire checks).

UI overview

Overlay keys: t TR 101 290, s SEI/HDR, y synthetic QoE.

FPS prefers playlist FRAME-RATE / @frameRate, otherwise the bitstream when available. GOP interval comes from keyframe PTS across segments (Fixed or Variable). Audio codec / rate / channels come from ADTS, fMP4, or MPEG-TS PMT in the probe window.

Usage

# Dashboard
streamtop <URL> [--probe-headers] [-H "Key: Value"] [-A user-agent] [-i MS]

# Side-by-side compare
streamtop --compare <URL_1> <URL_2> --probe-headers

# Multi-CDN skew matrix (TUI) or headless JSON with --summary
streamtop --multi-cdn akamai=https://a.example/live.m3u8,cloudflare=https://b.example/live.m3u8 --max-cdn-skew-ms 3000
streamtop --multi-cdn https://a.example/live.m3u8,https://b.example/live.m3u8 --summary --timeout 15

# Webhooks (Slack / Discord / HTTP). Private and metadata hosts blocked by default.
streamtop <URL> --webhook https://hooks.example/x --alert-on stall,shi_below_70,http_5xx
streamtop <URL> --webhook http://127.0.0.1:9999/hook --allow-insecure-webhooks

# Channel list audit -> audit_report.json / .csv
streamtop ./channels.m3u --audit

# Headless PASS/FAIL (CI). Stable contract: streamtop.summary.v1; field version: 5
streamtop <URL> --summary --summary-format json --timeout 10

# SARIF 2.1.0 for GitHub Code Scanning
streamtop <URL> --summary --summary-format sarif --timeout 10

# GitHub Actions step summary (SHI, RTF, TR 101 290, ABR, budget table)
streamtop <URL> --summary --github-step-summary "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY" --timeout 10
# When GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY is set, --summary and budget mode write it automatically.

# Stream budget assertions (JSON verdict on stdout; non-zero exit on breach)
streamtop <URL> --budget-max-rtf 1.0 --budget-max-ttfb 500ms --budget-duration 30

# Unified export (repeatable)
streamtop <URL> --export report-html:report.html --timeout 10
streamtop <URL> --export report-json:report.json --timeout 10
streamtop <URL> --export curl --probe-headers --timeout 10
streamtop <URL> --export har:incident.har --timeout 10
streamtop <URL> --export sarif:streamtop.sarif --timeout 10
streamtop --export grafana

# LL-HLS with DoH timing and Prometheus scrape
streamtop <URL> --doh-provider cloudflare --probe-headers --prometheus

# WHEP signaling probe (JSON report; no media decode)
streamtop "https://origin.example/whep/feed"

# Headless background agent: multi-stream monitoring without a TUI (see agent.example.toml)
streamtop --agent agent.example.toml

# VOD playlist crawl
streamtop --vod <URL> --summary

# OTEL trace export
streamtop <URL> --otel-endpoint http://127.0.0.1:4318

# Profile from ~/.config/streamtop/config.toml (see config.example.toml)
streamtop <URL> --profile cdn

# Prometheus /metrics (default bind 127.0.0.1:9184)
streamtop <URL> --prometheus
streamtop <URL> --prometheus 9184 --metrics-bind 0.0.0.0 \
  --metrics-token "$STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN"
# curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN" http://host:9184/metrics
# Query ?token= is not accepted; Bearer header only.

# DRM key / LA_URL TTFB (SSRF-filtered; no redirects)
streamtop <URL> --probe-drm --summary

# Encrypted HLS with staging ClearKey + TR 101 290
streamtop <URL> --clearkey KID:KEY --tr101290 --probe-headers

CI examples

# Budget thresholds + SARIF findings + GHA step summary
streamtop "$STREAM_URL" \
  --budget-max-rtf 1.0 \
  --budget-max-ttfb 500ms \
  --budget-max-cc-errors 0 \
  --budget-duration 30 \
  --github-step-summary "${GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY:-step.md}"

streamtop "$STREAM_URL" --export sarif:streamtop.sarif --timeout 15

# Live LL-HLS origin check with DoH and part RTF metrics
streamtop "$LL_HLS_URL" \
  --doh-provider google \
  --probe-headers \
  --summary --summary-format json \
  --timeout 12

# WHEP endpoint smoke test (signaling only)
streamtop "https://webrtc.example/live/whep" --timeout 5

--alert-on values: stall, shi_below_70, http_5xx, mismatch, ad_start, ad_mismatch.

Non-loopback --metrics-bind requires a non-empty --metrics-token or STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN.

Deprecated flags

These hidden aliases still work but log a warning; migrate to --export:

Keyboard shortcuts

Compare mode: Space pause/resume, d detail, l log focus, c curl, h HAR, Tab switch pane. e also exports HAR in compare mode.

Headless verdict

--summary returns PASS only when the stream is LIVE, SHI is at least 85, no critical RFC errors or origin stalls were observed, the last HTTP status is 200/206, and at least one segment was fetched. Any failed condition returns FAIL and a non-zero exit code. The schema file is schemas/summary.v1.json; schema_version is currently 5.

FAQ

How is streamtop different from ffprobe or VLC?
ffprobe inspects a single file or URL snapshot. streamtop polls live playlists, tracks segment health over time, surfaces SCTE-35 and SHI trends, and exports Prometheus metrics and CI-friendly summary JSON.

Does it work headless in CI?
Yes. Use --summary --summary-format json --timeout N for PASS/FAIL output, --summary-format sarif or --export sarif:FILE for Code Scanning, and --budget-max-* for threshold gates. Hermetic E2E tests live in tests/e2e_verify.sh and tests/e2e_verify.ps1.

Which streaming protocols are supported?
HLS (including LL-HLS parts), MPEG-DASH, IPTV M3U lists, and WHEP HTTP egress. Wire probes cover fMP4, MPEG-TS, ADTS, and elementary H.264/H.265 without invoking full decoders.

Is it safe to expose Prometheus metrics?
Bind to loopback by default. For remote scrape targets, set --metrics-token or STREAMTOP_METRICS_TOKEN; Bearer auth is required on non-loopback binds.

Related searches

HLS stream monitor, MPEG-DASH diagnostics tool, IPTV analyzer CLI, live stream health check, LL-HLS latency monitor, LL-HLS part RTF, WHEP probe, SCTE-35 ad detection, TR 101 290 MPEG-TS analyzer, CDN TTFB probe, DoH stream diagnostics, SARIF CI export, OTT stream QA, Rust terminal video diagnostics.

License

MIT.