Forensic Starter Kit

A cross‑language forensic instrumentation toolkit for developers who need repeatable, toggle‑driven, low‑overhead logging across multiple stacks.

This kit gives you drop‑in helpers for:

• Toggle‑driven logging — enable/disable forensic output with a single flag.
• Correlation IDs — trace execution across services and scripts.
• Structured JSON Lines output — Splunk/ELK‑friendly, machine‑parseable logs.
• Assumption validation — forensicCheck to assert and log unexpected states.
• Scoped timers — automatic start/end logging with elapsed time for code blocks.

Languages Included

• Bash — Functions and a subshell trap‑based scope (idiomatic), plus forensicScope "Name" command... for cross‑language parity.
• C# — Static helper methods with a ForensicScope IDisposable class for idiomatic using blocks, plus forensicScope(name, Action) for cross‑language parity.
• Go — Functions with an idiomatic StartScope(name)/defer end() pattern, plus forensicScope(name, fn) for cross‑language parity.
• Node.js — Functions with forensicScope(name, fn) for cross‑language parity; idiomatic usage via try/finally block.
• PowerShell — Functions plus a ForensicScope IDisposable class for idiomatic using blocks, plus forensicScope "Name" {} for cross‑language parity.
• Python — Functions with an idiomatic with forensic_scope(name): context manager, plus forensicScope(name, fn) for cross‑language parity.
• T‑SQL — forensicLog and forensicCheck stored procedures, plus forensicScope @Name, @Mode for cross‑language parity; idiomatic usage via TRY/FINALLY.
• Generic pseudocode — For adapting the pattern to other languages, including both parity and idiomatic scope options where applicable.

Scope Options at a Glance

Language	Cross‑Language Parity Scope	Idiomatic Scope Option
Bash	forensicScope "MyBlock" sleep 0.2	Subshell/trap: (_forensic_scope_start "MyBlock"; sleep 0.2; _forensic_scope_end "MyBlock")
C#	Forensic.forensicScope("MyBlock", () => { /*...*/ });	using (new Forensic.ForensicScope("MyBlock")) { /*...*/ }
Go	forensicScope("MyBlock", func() { /*...*/ })	end := startScope("MyBlock"); defer end()
Node.js	forensicScope("MyBlock", () => { /*...*/ });	const start = new Date(); forensicLog("MyBlock start", start); try { /*...*/ } finally { forensicLog("MyBlock end", start); }
PowerShell	forensicScope "MyBlock" { /*...*/ }	using ($scope = [ForensicScope]::new("MyBlock")) { /*...*/ }
Python	forensicScope("MyBlock", lambda: do_work())	with forensic_scope("MyBlock"):\n do_work()
T‑SQL	EXEC dbo.forensicScope @Name = N'MyBlock', @Mode = N'start'; /*...*/ EXEC dbo.forensicScope @Name = N'MyBlock', @Mode = N'end';	TRY/FINALLY: EXEC dbo.forensicScope @Name = @BlockName, @Mode = N'start'; BEGIN TRY /*...*/ END TRY BEGIN FINALLY EXEC dbo.forensicScope @Name = @BlockName, @Mode = N'end'; END FINALLY;
Pseudocode	forensicScope("MyBlock", fn)	with forensic_scope("MyBlock"):\n fn()

Output Format

All helpers emit JSON Lines with the same schema:

{"ts":"2025-09-04T17:56:00.123Z","elapsed_ms":42,"corr_id":"abc123","level":"INFO","msg":"Starting batch"}

Fields

• ts — UTC timestamp in ISO‑8601 format.
• elapsed_ms — Milliseconds since the forensic start time.
• corr_id — Correlation ID for tracing across systems.
• level — Log level (INFO, WARN, ERROR).
• msg — Message text.

Usage Pattern

1. Set the toggle (forensicOn, FORENSIC_ON, @ForensicOn) to true/1 to enable logging.
2. Log checkpoints with forensicLog at key points in your code.
3. Validate assumptions with forensicCheck — logs a warning if the condition fails.
4. Wrap blocks in a scoped timer to auto‑log start/end with elapsed time.

Example (Python)

with forensic_scope("DataLoad"):
    forensic_log("Fetching data", forensic_start)
    # ... load logic ...
    forensic_check(len(rows) > 0, "No rows returned from source")

Why This Kit Exists

When you work across multiple languages and environments, ad‑hoc logging patterns become a maintenance headache. This kit standardizes:

• Toggle location — always at the top of the file.
• Function names — forensicLog, forensicCheck, forensicScope.
• Output format — identical JSON schema across stacks.
• Minimal dependencies — no external logging frameworks required.

Folder Structure

forensic-starter-kit/
│
├── README.md
└── src
   │
   ├── bash/forensic_helpers.sh
   ├── csharp/forensic_helpers.cs
   ├── go/forensic_helpers.go
   ├── node/forensic_helpers.js
   ├── powershell/forensic_helpers.ps1
   ├── python/forensic_helpers.py
   ├── transact-sql/forensic_helpers.sql
   └── pseudocode/forensic_helpers_pseudocode.txt

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and integrate into your own projects.