Structured logging

Public Surface stores logs as structured events rather than raw text. Sending JSON instead of plain strings makes every field individually queryable.

Why structure logs

A structured log line lets you filter on fields like status code or user id directly, instead of writing fragile text search queries.

{
  "level": "error",
  "message": "payment declined",
  "service": "checkout-api",
  "user_id": "usr_881",
  "trace_id": "9f2c1e"
}

{
  "level": "error",
  "message": "payment declined",
  "service": "checkout-api",
  "user_id": "usr_881",
  "trace_id": "9f2c1e"
}

{
  "level": "error",
  "message": "payment declined",
  "service": "checkout-api",
  "user_id": "usr_881",
  "trace_id": "9f2c1e"
}

Reserved fields

A small set of field names are reserved and power built-in filters across the dashboard: timestamp, level, service, and trace_id.

Once logs are structured, configure how long they are kept in Log retention & storage classes.