# Filebeat

Filebeat is an open source file harvester, mostly used to fetch logs files and feed them into logstash.
Together with the libbeat lumberjack output is a replacement for [logstash-forwarder](https://github.com/elastic/logstash-forwarder).

To learn more about Filebeat, check out https://www.elastic.co/products/beats/filebeat.


## Getting started

Please follow the [getting started](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-getting-started.html)
guide from the docs.

## Documentation

Please visit [elastic.co](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/index.html)
 for the documentation.


## Bugs and feature requests

If you have an issue, please start by opening a topic on the
[forums](https://discuss.elastic.co/c/beats/filebeat). We'll help you
troubleshoot and work with you on a solution.

If you are sure you found a bug or have a feature request, open an issue on
[Github](https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues).

## Contributions

We love contributions from our community! Please read the
[CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md) file.

## Snapshots

For testing purposes, we generate snapshot builds that you can find [here](https://beats-nightlies.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html?prefix=filebeat). Please be aware that these are built on top of master and are not meant for production.