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Loggator

Log Search

Loggator provides powerful full-text search capabilities powered by Meilisearch, enabling you to find specific log entries quickly and efficiently.

Search Interface

Section titled “Search Interface”

Access the search interface at http://localhost:3000/search

Section titled “Basic Search”

Simply type your query in the search box:

error
exception
timeout
failed
404

Meilisearch automatically:

  • Finds relevant matches
  • Ranks results by relevance
  • Handles typos and fuzzy matching
  • Highlights matching terms

Advanced Filters

Section titled “Advanced Filters”

Container Filter

Section titled “Container Filter”

Search logs from specific containers:

  1. Click the Container dropdown
  2. Select one or more containers
  3. Results are automatically filtered

Stream Filter

Section titled “Stream Filter”

Filter by output stream:

  • stdout: Standard output (normal logs)
  • stderr: Error output (error logs)
  • Both: No filter (default)

Time Range

Section titled “Time Range”

Filter by timestamp:

  • Last 15 minutes
  • Last hour
  • Last 24 hours
  • Last 7 days
  • Custom range (date picker)

Search Syntax

Section titled “Search Syntax”

Simple Terms

Section titled “Simple Terms”

Search for any word:

error
failed
nginx

Multiple Terms

Section titled “Multiple Terms”

All terms must match (AND logic):

error timeout
nginx 404
database connection

Phrases

Section titled “Phrases”

Exact phrase matching with quotes:

"connection refused"
"out of memory"
"fatal error"

Wildcards

Section titled “Wildcards”

Not directly supported, but Meilisearch handles:

  • Prefix matching: erro matches error, errors
  • Typo tolerance: errro still finds error

Filtering Examples

Section titled “Filtering Examples”

Find Errors

Section titled “Find Errors”
Query: error
Stream: stderr
Time: Last 24 hours

Database Issues

Section titled “Database Issues”
Query: connection database
Container: postgres
Time: Last hour

Specific Error Codes

Section titled “Specific Error Codes”
Query: "500 Internal Server Error"
Container: nginx
Stream: stdout

Recent Warnings

Section titled “Recent Warnings”
Query: warning
Time: Last 15 minutes

Search Results

Section titled “Search Results”

Each result shows:

  • Timestamp: When the log was created
  • Container: Which container produced it
  • Stream: stdout (blue) or stderr (red)
  • Message: The log message with highlighted matches
  • Context: Surrounding text for better understanding

Result Actions

Section titled “Result Actions”
  • Copy: Copy log message to clipboard
  • Scroll: Auto-scroll to follow new logs
  • Export: Download results as JSON or CSV

Performance

Section titled “Performance”

Indexing Speed

Section titled “Indexing Speed”

Loggator indexes logs in batches:

  • Batch size: 100 logs
  • Batch timeout: 5 seconds
  • Throughput: ~1000 logs/second

Search Speed

Section titled “Search Speed”

Meilisearch provides:

  • Response time: <50ms for most queries
  • Typo tolerance: Built-in fuzzy matching
  • Ranking: Relevance-based sorting

Scaling

Section titled “Scaling”

For high-volume logging:

  1. Increase batch size (requires code change)
  2. Use SSD storage for Meilisearch
  3. Allocate more RAM to Meilisearch container
  4. Enable log rotation to limit index size
Section titled “API Search”

Search programmatically via API:

Terminal window
curl "http://localhost:3000/api/logs/search?query=error&limit=10"

See Logs API for full documentation.

Log Retention

Section titled “Log Retention”

Automatic Cleanup

Section titled “Automatic Cleanup”

Loggator does not automatically delete old logs. To implement retention:

Option 1: Periodic Deletion

Section titled “Option 1: Periodic Deletion”
Terminal window
# Delete logs older than 7 days
curl -X POST http://localhost:7700/indexes/logs/documents/delete \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEILISEARCH_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "filter": "timestamp < '$(($(date +%s) - 604800))'"
  }'

Option 2: Volume Cleanup

Section titled “Option 2: Volume Cleanup”
Terminal window
# Stop services
docker compose down


# Delete Meilisearch data
rm -rf ./meilisearch-data/*


# Restart services
docker compose up -d

Option 3: Scheduled Cleanup

Section titled “Option 3: Scheduled Cleanup”

Add a cron job:

/etc/cron.daily/loggator-cleanup
#!/bin/bash
SEVEN_DAYS_AGO=$(($(date +%s) - 604800))
curl -X POST http://localhost:7700/indexes/logs/documents/delete \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MEILISEARCH_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"filter\": \"timestamp < $SEVEN_DAYS_AGO\"}"

Search Tips

Section titled “Search Tips”

1. Be Specific

Section titled “1. Be Specific”

❌ Generic: log ✅ Specific: connection timeout error

2. Use Filters

Section titled “2. Use Filters”

Combine search with filters for precision:

  • Container + Query
  • Time range + Stream
  • All three together

3. Check Both Streams

Section titled “3. Check Both Streams”

Some applications log errors to stdout. Always check:

  • stderr first (typical errors)
  • stdout second (application-specific)

4. Use Time Ranges

Section titled “4. Use Time Ranges”

Narrow down issues:

  • Recent problems: Last 15 minutes
  • Ongoing issues: Last 24 hours
  • Historical analysis: Last 7 days

5. Try Variations

Section titled “5. Try Variations”

If no results:

  • Remove some terms
  • Try synonyms (error vs fail vs exception)
  • Check spelling
  • Broaden time range

Common Searches

Section titled “Common Searches”

Application Errors

Section titled “Application Errors”
Query: error exception fatal
Stream: stderr
Container: <your-app>

HTTP Errors

Section titled “HTTP Errors”
Query: 500 502 503 504
Container: nginx
Stream: stdout

Database Problems

Section titled “Database Problems”
Query: connection refused timeout deadlock
Container: postgres

Out of Memory

Section titled “Out of Memory”
Query: "out of memory" OOM killed
Time: Last 24 hours

Authentication Issues

Section titled “Authentication Issues”
Query: authentication failed unauthorized 401 403

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

No results found

Section titled “No results found”

Check:

  1. Logs are being collected: Visit Dashboard
  2. Container is labeled: docker inspect <container> | grep loggator
  3. Spelling: Try simpler terms
  4. Time range: Expand the time window
  5. Indexing delay: Wait 5-10 seconds for recent logs

Search is slow

Section titled “Search is slow”

Causes:

  • Large index size (millions of logs)
  • Insufficient resources
  • Complex queries

Solutions:

  1. Implement log retention
  2. Increase Meilisearch RAM: 
    meilisearch:
      deploy:
        resources:
          limits:
            memory: 2G
  3. Use SSD for storage

Results not relevant

Section titled “Results not relevant”

Meilisearch uses ranking. To improve:

  1. Use exact phrases in quotes
  2. Add more specific terms
  3. Use filters to narrow scope

Logs not appearing

Section titled “Logs not appearing”

Check:

  1. Container is running: docker ps
  2. Container has label: See Docker Setup
  3. Loggator is running: docker logs loggator
  4. Meilisearch is healthy: curl http://localhost:7700/health

Advanced Features

Section titled “Advanced Features”

Highlighting

Section titled “Highlighting”

Matching terms are automatically highlighted in:

  • Search results
  • AI chat responses
  • Live log viewer

Sorting

Section titled “Sorting”

Results are sorted by:

  1. Relevance (default)
  2. Timestamp (newest first)

Pagination

Section titled “Pagination”
  • Default: 50 results per page
  • Maximum: 100 results per page
  • Use API for larger result sets

Export

Section titled “Export”

Download search results:

  • JSON: Machine-readable format
  • CSV: Spreadsheet-compatible
  • Text: Plain log messages

(Feature may require implementation)

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”