# Where does Discourse store and show logs?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-does-discourse-store-and-show-logs/58022>\
**Category:** Self-Hosting\
**Tags:** reference\
**Created:** [27.Февраль.2017 15:56:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-does-discourse-store-and-show-logs/58022 "2017-02-27T15:56:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/148734_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)\
**Post date:** [27.Февраль.2017 15:56:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-does-discourse-store-and-show-logs/58022/1 "2017-02-27T15:56:29Z")

</div>

When troubleshooting issues or errors with Discourse it is important you look at your logs. Here’s a listing of where they are and what’s in there.

 

Your site domain

## Administration logs shown in the UI

The Discourse admin panel contains several forms of logging:

- Emails that are sent, skipped, bounced, received and rejected are logged at https://=DOMAIN=/admin/email-logs and the neighboring tabs.
- Staff actions are logged at https://=DOMAIN=/admin/logs/staff\_action\_logs
- Email addresses and IP addresses that have been banned from registration will be listed at https://=DOMAIN=/admin/logs/screened\_emails and https://=DOMAIN=/admin/logs/screened\_ip\_addresses
- Links posted by accounts that have been banned as spammers are listed at https://=DOMAIN=/admin/logs/screened\_urls
- Search analytics logs are shown at https://=DOMAIN=/admin/logs/search\_logs

## The Logster web UI

Every Discourse instance ships with a GUI log viewer. It is located at: https://=DOMAIN=/logs

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/b/9/b90477a0fc345daeebd6af4692115a0d8ca41321.png)

Note: if you are on a hosted plan, this page may be hidden from you. Instead, contact support when you’re getting this kind of issue!

If you’re investigating a mysterious 500 error on the forums, you should always try this spot first!

Select an error line to get details about it. You may be asked to provide the contents of the `env` and `backtrace` tabs here on Meta.

## The Rails / Pitchfork logs

Ruby on Rails contains a very verbose log which is written to disk. Additionally the web server [pitchfork](https://github.com/Shopify/pitchfork) (a fork of unicorn) also logs to disk.

To access:

```plaintext
cd /var/discourse
./launcher enter app
cd /shared/log/rails

```

This folder contains "`production.log`" and "`unicorn.stderr.log`" in addition to "rotated" log files. You can use standard Unix tools such as `less production.log` to inspect them.

This folder is also available without entering the container as `/var/discourse/shared/standalone/log/rails`.

## The NGINX logs

Occasionally NGINX logs may contain some extra tips, they are located at:

```plaintext
cd /var/discourse
./launcher enter app
cd /var/log/nginx

```

The files `access.log` and `error.log` will be there as well as a bunch of rotated compressed files. Running `less access.log.2.gz` will automatically decompress and display the logfile for you.

This directory is also available on the host at `/var/discourse/shared/standalone/log/var-log/nginx` .

## Redis logs

While it is very uncommon to need to see Redis logs, if you do need them, they go into `/var/log/redis` inside the container and `/var/discourse/shared/standalone/log/var-log/redis` on the host. The most recent log entries will be in the `current` file in that directory.

### PostgreSQL logs

If you need to consult the database server logs, they’re in `/var/log/postgres` inside the container and `/var/discourse/shared/standalone/log/var-log/postgres` on the host; the most recent entries are in the `current` file in that directory.

> Last edited by @JammyDodger 2024-05-25T11:27:33Z
> 
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-does-discourse-store-and-show-logs/58022)._
