Documentation
Live tail
Watch logs stream in the browser with the Blazor dashboard.
The dashboard is where you watch logs in real time.
Open a tail
URL pattern:
/tail/{source}Local example: http://localhost:5081/tail/demo
Replace demo with whatever source name you use when ingesting.
What you see
- Timestamp — when the event occurred (or when the server received it)
- Level — color-coded severity
- Message — the log body
- Status badge — SignalR connection state (
connected,reconnecting, etc.) - Auto-scroll — follows new lines (toggle off to freeze the viewport)
- Clear — empties the on-screen buffer (does not delete stored history)
The on-screen buffer keeps the most recent 500 lines. Older lines drop from the view but remain in Postgres if persistence is enabled.
Turn on History (default on) to preload the latest stored rows for that source from GET /v1/sources/{source}/logs before live SignalR events arrive.
How it works
The web app connects to the API SignalR hub and joins group source:{name}. Every successful POST /v1/logs for that source is pushed to your browser immediately.
Tail and authentication
Whether the tail page needs credentials depends on how the API is configured:
| API config | What the tail page does |
|---|---|
QikLog__AuthEnforcement__Enabled=false (default local demo) | Connects anonymously; no key needed to view |
QikLog__AuthEnforcement__Enabled=true (production) | The hub requires a tenant credential — an OIDC session or QikLog__HubApiKey on the web container |
When enforcement is on and no credential is available, the hub handshake is rejected. The page still renders: the status badge shows disconnected and a Live tail unavailable notice appears above the viewport. Stored history still loads if the web app can reach GET /v1/sources/{source}/logs.
To give the dashboard a credential, set QikLog__HubApiKey on the web container to an active API key. The same key is used for the hub and for reading stored history, so both the live stream and the preloaded rows work.
Tips
- Use one source per service or environment so tabs stay focused.
- Keep the tail tab open while reproducing a bug, then ship logs from your app or curl in another terminal.
- If the badge stays
disconnected, check that the API is running and thatQikLog__ApiBaseUrlin the web container points at the API (Docker Compose sets this automatically). - A Live tail unavailable notice mentioning a rejected connection means the API enforced auth and the web app had no credential — see the table above.