Diagnostics is a free, native Mac application that surfaces Apple's crash and diagnostic report files in a clean, readable interface — turning the raw, hard-to-navigate logs buried inside ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports into something a developer or power user can actually act on.
What is Diagnostics?
Diagnostics is an open-source macOS utility by Jean-David Morani (macmade on GitHub) that reads the system's crash and spin report files and presents them in a well-organised browser window. Instead of hunting through the Finder or opening Console.app and fighting its relentless live log stream, you get a quiet, focused view of every crash report the OS has ever generated on your machine.
The app reads the standard Apple .crash, .ips, and related diagnostic artefacts that macOS writes any time an application terminates unexpectedly, a kernel panic fires, or a process hangs long enough to earn a spin dump. These files contain the full stack trace, exception type, OS version, and binary image list — everything you need to understand what died and why.
What does Diagnostics do best?
The strongest thing Diagnostics does is get out of your way. I have found Console.app useful for exactly one thing: watching logs in real time. For post-mortem crash review it is a genuine obstacle — the sidebar is cluttered, search is slow, and the log viewer forces you to scroll through noise. Diagnostics strips all of that out and shows you exactly one thing: the structured list of crash reports, sorted and ready to read.
Report files are grouped logically, and the full text of each report is rendered in a readable, fixed-width view. Copying the content of a report to paste into a GitHub issue or a support thread takes about two seconds. If you are developing a Mac app and a tester reports a crash, this is the fastest path from "something blew up" to "I have the stack trace in my clipboard."
- Instant access — no navigating to ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports manually
- Noise-free — only crash and diagnostic reports, nothing else
- Fast copy — select a report, copy the content, done
- Open source — the full source is on GitHub; you can audit exactly what the app reads
- Zero network access — reports never leave your machine
Is Diagnostics free?
Yes, Diagnostics is completely free to download and use. It is open source under a permissive licence on GitHub, and there is no paid tier, no in-app purchase, and no account required. You can install it via the project's GitHub releases page or through Homebrew Cask.
Who should use Diagnostics?
Mac developers are the primary audience — anyone who regularly needs to read crash reports during testing, or who wants to triage a production crash report sent by a beta tester. That said, power users who manage their own machines and want to understand why an app keeps crashing will also find it immediately useful. If you are comfortable opening a terminal and you have ever wished Console.app had a simpler crash-only mode, Diagnostics is essentially that.
It is not aimed at casual users. The raw report text is still raw Apple crash log format — symbolication, thread states, binary image offsets. The app does not interpret or summarise the crash for you; it just presents the data cleanly. Xcode's Organizer remains the better choice if you need automated symbolication of App Store crash logs from hundreds of users.
How does Diagnostics compare to Console?
Console.app ships with every Mac and handles the full breadth of unified logging — thousands of messages per second from every process on the system. It is powerful but overwhelming for targeted crash review. Diagnostics is narrower by design: it ignores the live log stream entirely and focuses solely on the diagnostic report archive. Think of Console as a fire hose and Diagnostics as a precise tap into just the crash folder. For day-to-day crash triage, I reach for Diagnostics every time.
What are the best Diagnostics alternatives?
For symbolicated App Store crash logs, Xcode Organizer is the gold standard — but it only works with your own developer account's crash data, not arbitrary reports on your local machine. Console.app is always available and requires no install, but it is far noisier. For command-line workflows, the symbolicatecrash tool bundled with Xcode gives you full symbolication but requires scripting. Diagnostics sits in a comfortable middle ground: no Xcode project required, no command line, no noise — just the reports.
