Logging

Every component type can log. Log messages are stored in the database with the execution and shown in the Web UI next to the execution log.

console in JavaScript

JavaScript activities, workflows, and webhooks log with the familiar console methods. Each call becomes one log entry with a level:

console.log("Processing order", orderId);
console.warn(`Retrying, attempt ${attempt}`);

Arguments are joined with spaces. Logging from a workflow is safe: messages are not part of the execution log, so adding a console.log does not affect replay.

Rust components log through the obelisk:log WIT interface with the same five levels, see Rust Activities.

stdout/stderr Forwarding

Activities and webhook endpoints can also produce byte-stream output on stdout and stderr: exec activities print to them, and Rust components use println!. This output can be forwarded to the database or to the server's console. Workflows do not support stdout/stderr forwarding.

Forwarding is controlled per component in the deployment configuration:

[[activity_exec]]
ffqn = "myapp:scripts/greet.greet"
# ...
forward_stdout = "db"      # One of "none"|"stdout"|"stderr"|"db". Default: "db"
forward_stderr = "db"      # One of "none"|"stdout"|"stderr"|"db". Default: "db"

Reading Stored Logs

Logs are visible in the Web UI on the execution detail page, and can be followed from the CLI with obelisk execution submit --follow-logs. They can also be retrieved via the REST API. Export OBELISK_API_TOKEN as described in Authentication first:

curl 127.1:5005/v1/executions/<EXECUTION_ID>/logs -H 'Accept: text/plain' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBELISK_API_TOKEN"

logs_store_min_level

The logs_store_min_level setting controls the minimum level of log messages that are persisted to the database. It can be configured per component:

[[activity_js]]
name = "my_activity"
# ...
logs_store_min_level = "debug"  # One of "off"|"trace"|"debug"|"info"|"warn"|"error"

The default is "debug", which stores all messages at debug level and above. Set to "off" to disable log persistence entirely, or to "info" to reduce storage in high-throughput scenarios. This setting applies to activities, workflows, and webhook endpoints.