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Log Streaming

Real-time log streaming provides visibility into command execution on targets.

Log Viewer

Section titled “Log Viewer”

Access logs from the deployment detail page:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Deployment Logs  [Connected]                               │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [All Levels ▼]  [Search logs...________]  Auto-scroll [✓]  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│  [14:30:01] INFO  [web-prod-01] Starting migration script   │
│  [14:30:02] INFO  [web-prod-01] Running migration 001       │
│  [14:30:03] INFO  [web-prod-01] Migration 001 complete      │
│  [14:30:04] INFO  [web-prod-01] Running migration 002       │
│  [14:30:05] INFO  [web-prod-01] Migration 002 complete      │
│  [14:30:06] INFO  [web-prod-01] All migrations complete     │
│  [14:30:07] INFO  [web-prod-01] Stopping service...         │
│  [14:30:08] INFO  [web-prod-01] Service stopped             │
│  [14:30:09] INFO  [web-prod-01] Copying files...            │
│  [14:30:15] INFO  [web-prod-01] Files copied (1.2 GB)       │
│  [14:30:16] INFO  [web-prod-01] Starting service...         │
│  [14:30:18] INFO  [web-prod-01] Service started             │
│  ▼ (streaming...)                                           │
│                                                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  12 of 12 logs                         Scroll: Auto         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Filtering Logs

Section titled “Filtering Logs”

By Log Level

Section titled “By Log Level”

Filter by severity level using the All Levels dropdown:

LevelContent
AllAll log entries
InfoInformational messages
WarnWarnings
ErrorError messages
DebugVerbose diagnostic output

By Text

Section titled “By Text”

Use the search box to filter log entries. See Text Search below.

Log Output Streams

Section titled “Log Output Streams”

Standard Output (stdout)

Section titled “Standard Output (stdout)”

Normal command output:

14:30:09 [stdout] Copying files to /opt/app...
14:30:10 [stdout] file1.txt copied
14:30:11 [stdout] file2.txt copied
14:30:12 [stdout] Copy complete

Standard Error (stderr)

Section titled “Standard Error (stderr)”

Error output and warnings:

14:30:15 [stderr] Warning: Config file not found, using defaults
14:30:16 [stderr] Error: Permission denied for /etc/app/config

System Messages

Section titled “System Messages”

Mantis orchestration messages:

14:30:00 [system] Starting step: deploy-backend
14:30:00 [system] Executing action: copy-files (v1.2.0)
14:30:20 [system] Step completed in 20 seconds

Real-Time Streaming

Section titled “Real-Time Streaming”

Live Output

Section titled “Live Output”

Logs stream in real-time as commands execute:

Auto-Scroll

Section titled “Auto-Scroll”

When enabled, the log viewer automatically scrolls to new content:

[✓] Auto-scroll - Follows new output
[ ] Auto-scroll - Manual scrolling

Connection Status

Section titled “Connection Status”
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│  ● Connected                     │
└──────────────────────────────────┘

If disconnected:

┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│  ○ Reconnecting (2/10)           │
└──────────────────────────────────┘

Log Display

Section titled “Log Display”

Entry Format

Section titled “Entry Format”

Each log entry shows a timestamp, a colour-coded level badge, an optional target name, and the message body:

[14:30:01] INFO  [web-prod-01] Copying files to /opt/app...
[14:30:02] WARN  [web-prod-01] Config file not found, using defaults
[14:30:03] ERROR [web-prod-01] Permission denied for /etc/app/config

Level Badge Colours

Section titled “Level Badge Colours”

Log entries are colour-coded by their severity level badge:

LevelBadge colour
InfoTertiary
WarnWarning
ErrorError/Red
DebugSurface/muted

The message body is rendered as monospace plain text; no pattern-based highlighting is applied to the message content itself.

Multi-Target Log View

Section titled “Multi-Target Log View”

View logs from all targets simultaneously:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Logs: All Targets                                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│  14:30:01 [web-01] Starting deployment...                   │
│  14:30:01 [web-02] Starting deployment...                   │
│  14:30:02 [web-01] Copying files...                         │
│  14:30:03 [web-02] Copying files...                         │
│  14:30:05 [web-01] Files copied                             │
│  14:30:06 [web-02] Files copied                             │
│  14:30:07 [web-01] Starting service...                      │
│  14:30:08 [web-02] Starting service...                      │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Logs are interleaved by timestamp, showing parallel execution.

Searching Logs

Section titled “Searching Logs”

Text Search

Section titled “Text Search”

The search box live-filters the visible log list to entries whose message contains the search text. Filtering is applied with a short debounce (150 ms) to avoid reprocessing on every keystroke. The footer shows how many entries match out of the total loaded:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [Search logs...______]                                     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│  [14:30:15] ERROR [web-prod-01] Error: Connection refused   │
│  [14:30:17] ERROR [web-prod-01] Error: Connection refused   │
│  [14:30:19] ERROR [web-prod-01] Error: Max retries exceeded │
│                                                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  3 of 12 logs                          Scroll: Auto         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Search is always case-insensitive and performs a simple substring match against the log message. Complex patterns (OR terms, exact phrase with quotes, regex) are not supported.

Log Retention

Section titled “Log Retention”

During Deployment

Section titled “During Deployment”

Full logs available in real-time during execution.

After Completion

Section titled “After Completion”

Logs are retained based on configuration:

RetentionDescription
Short-termFull logs for recent deployments
Long-termSummary logs for older deployments
ArchivedCompressed logs for compliance

CLI Log Access

Section titled “CLI Log Access”

View logs from the command line:

Terminal window
# Stream logs for a deployment
mantisctl deployment logs <deployment-id> --follow


# View logs for a specific target
mantisctl deployment logs <deployment-id> --target <target-id>


# Filter by log level
mantisctl deployment logs <deployment-id> --level error


# Fetch historical logs (non-streaming), limiting the number of entries
mantisctl deployment logs <deployment-id> --limit 500

CLI Options

Section titled “CLI Options”
OptionDescription
--follow, -fStream live logs
--level, -lFilter by log level (debug/info/warn/error)
--target, -tFilter by target ID
--historyNo effect — historical logs are returned by default when --follow is omitted
--limitMaximum number of log entries (default 100)

Troubleshooting with Logs

Section titled “Troubleshooting with Logs”

Finding Errors

Section titled “Finding Errors”
  1. Search for “error” or “fail”
  2. Check stderr output
  3. Look at exit codes in system messages

Identifying Slow Steps

Section titled “Identifying Slow Steps”
14:30:00 [system] Starting step: copy-files
14:35:00 [system] Step completed in 300 seconds ← Slow!

Debugging Command Failures

Section titled “Debugging Command Failures”
14:30:15 [system] Action failed: deploy-app
14:30:15 [system] Exit code: 1
14:30:15 [stderr] Error: Package not found: nodejs
14:30:15 [stderr] Please install required dependencies

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”

1. Log Meaningful Output

Section titled “1. Log Meaningful Output”

Write scripts that produce clear logs:

Terminal window
echo "Starting deployment of $APP_NAME v$VERSION"
echo "Copying files to $DEST_DIR..."
# ...
echo "Deployment complete. Service running on port $PORT"

2. Use Structured Output

Section titled “2. Use Structured Output”

For easier parsing:

Terminal window
echo "[INFO] Starting step 1 of 3"
echo "[INFO] Processing 100 items"
echo "[SUCCESS] Step 1 complete"

3. Handle Sensitive Data

Section titled “3. Handle Sensitive Data”

Never log secrets:

Terminal window
# Bad
echo "Connecting with password: $DB_PASSWORD"


# Good
echo "Connecting to database..."

4. Include Context

Section titled “4. Include Context”

Provide enough information:

Terminal window
echo "Deploying $APP_NAME v$VERSION to $HOSTNAME at $(date)"

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Logs Not Streaming

Section titled “Logs Not Streaming”

Cause: SSE (Server-Sent Events) connection issue

Solution: Refresh the page or check network connection. The log stream is a long-lived HTTP GET that emits text/event-stream events; the client reconnects over normal HTTP rather than pushing over the stream.

Incomplete Logs

Section titled “Incomplete Logs”

Cause: Large output may be buffered

Solution: Wait for step completion or check target directly

Log Viewer Slow

Section titled “Log Viewer Slow”

Cause: Very large log volume

Solution: Filter by log level or use the search box to narrow visible entries

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”