> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: /docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Agent home for Datum, with what it is, pricing, and how to act: https://agents.datum.net
> If you can only fetch URLs: read https://www.datum.net/docs/llms.txt in full and open the most specific page for the task. Commands, limits, and field paths are on task, operations, and limits pages, not on section overviews. Pages described as "Documentation is coming soon" are placeholders.
> If you have a shell or can save files: download https://www.datum.net/docs/llms-full.txt (every page, about 740 KB) once and search it with grep, instead of fetching pages one at a time.
> datumctl describes itself: `datumctl api-resources` lists resource types and `datumctl explain <resource>` shows a schema. To act on live resources, use Datum MCP or datumctl. To search the docs, use the Docs MCP server at https://www.datum.net/docs/mcp.

# View Compute logs

> Read and follow workload Instance output and ALB access logs with datumctl compute logs.

`datumctl compute logs` reads the output of a workload's Instances. Pass a **workload name**, not an Instance name. By default, it merges the newest 200 lines from all of the workload's Instances over the last 24 hours and prefixes each line with its Instance.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Install the Compute plugin with `datumctl plugin install compute`. If `datumctl compute logs` is an unknown command, run `datumctl plugin upgrade compute` and check `datumctl compute logs --help`.

## Read and follow Instance output

Replace `WORKLOAD_NAME` with the name of your workload:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --follow
```

Use `--since` to read a longer or shorter window. A time window shows all matching lines unless you also set `--tail`:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --since=1h
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --since=1h --tail=100
```

To narrow the output, use the location, Instance, or container name. `--instance` accepts a full name or the short name shown in line prefixes. `--container` applies to standard container Instances; [unikernel](/docs/compute/runtimes/unikernels.md) logs aren't split by container.

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --location=us-central-1 --since=15m
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --instance=INSTANCE_NAME --follow
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --container=app --search=error
```

`--search` matches text case-sensitively. For machine-readable output, use `-o json`, which prints one JSON object per line:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME -o json | jq .line
```

The command can also read logs left by replaced Instances or a deleted workload. To inspect an Instance's preceding generation, use `--instance=INSTANCE_NAME --previous` and widen the time window with `--since` if needed. To find the Instance name, run `datumctl compute instances --workload=WORKLOAD_NAME` (see [Scaling and operations](/docs/datumctl/compute/scaling-and-operations.md)), or read it from the prefix on each line of `datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME`.

## Read ALB access logs

For a workload published through an ALB, use `--alb` to read requests to its public URL:

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --alb --since=15m
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --alb --follow
```

ALB access logs belong to the published URL, so `--alb` can't be combined with `--instance`, `--location`, `--container`, or `--search`. If the workload has no published URL, there are no ALB access logs to read.

## Open logs in the Cloud Portal

```bash theme={null}
datumctl compute logs WORKLOAD_NAME --browser
```

This opens the workload's Logs tab. Add one `--instance=INSTANCE_NAME` to open that Instance's Logs tab. For an overview of Compute metrics and logs, see [Observability](/docs/compute/observability.md).


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