We use socat to buffer logs sent from containers (docker-compose) during the short window at startup where logstash and elasticsearch are not ready yet. Works great!
It's also an CLI IMAPS client, with history: socat READLINE,history=$HOME/.imaps_history EXEC:'"openssl s_client -connect mailserver:993"'
or a CLI web browser with history: socat -d -d READLINE,history=$HOME/.http_history TCP4:www.domain.com:www,crnl
or, if you have to interact with something that has no readline, say sendmail: socat READLINE EXEC:"sendmail -bt"
See also https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap