Output Logs in Docker Compose

The short answer

In Docker Compose, to output the logs of all the containers related to all the services defined in your [.inline-code] compose.yaml[.inline-code]  file at once, you can use the [.inline-code] docker compose logs[.inline-code]  command without arguments:

 $ docker compose logs

For example, considering the following [.inline-code] compose.yaml[.inline-code] file:

 version: '3'

services:
  website:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
  api:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"

This command will output all the logs of both the [.inline-code] website[.inline-code]  and [.inline-code] api[.inline-code] services:

 $ docker compose logs
website-1 | [INFO] Starting website server …
api-1 | [INFO] Starting api server …
website-1 | [INFO] New client login attempt 
api-1 | [ERROR] Credentials not found

[#view-the-logs-of-specific-services] Viewing the logs of a specific service [#view-the-logs-of-specific-services]

To output the logs of one or more specific services, you can use the [.inline-code]docker compose logs[.inline-code] command as follows:

 $ docker compose logs <service_name …>

Where [.inline-code] service_name …[.inline-code]  is a list of service names separated by a space character.

For example, this command will only output the logs of the containers related to the [.inline-code] api[.inline-code]  service:

 $ docker compose logs api
api-1 | [INFO] Starting api server …
api-1 | [ERROR] Credentials not found

You can learn more about container logs by reading our article on how to monitor the logs of single containers in Docker.

[#customize-the-logs-output] Customizing the logs output [#customize-the-logs-output]

To output the logs of containers without including the name of their related services, which helps making the output cleaner and easier to parse, you can use the [.inline-code] --no-log-prefix[.inline-code]  flag:

 $ docker compose logs --no-log-prefix [<service_name> …]

For example, this command will only output the logs generated by the containers without the names of the related services:

 $ docker compose logs --no-log-prefix
[INFO] Starting website server …
[INFO] Starting api server …
[INFO] New client login attempt 
[ERROR] Credentials not found

[#include-the-logs-timestamps] Including the logs timestamp in the output [#include-the-logs-timestamps]

To output the logs of containers including the timestamp at which they were generated, you can use the [.inline-code] -t[.inline-code]  flag (short for [.inline-code] --timestamps[.inline-code] ):

 $ docker compose logs -t [<service_name> …]

For example, this command will include the timestamp of every single log line:

 $ docker compose logs -t
website-1 | 2024-02-23T13:40:41.928346630Z  [INFO] Starting website server …
api-1 | 2024-02-23T13:41:32.628446430Z [INFO] Starting api server …
website-1 | 2024-02-23T14:12:20.928346630Z [INFO] New client login attempt 
api-1 | 2024-02-23T14:13:30.928346630Z [ERROR] Credentials not found

[#view-the-logs-real-time] Displaying service logs in real-time [#view-the-logs-real-time]

To monitor the logs of the containers related to one or more services in real-time, you can use the [.inline-code] docker compose logs[.inline-code]  command with the [.inline-code] -f[.inline-code]  flag (short for [.inline-code] --follow)[.inline-code] :

 $ docker compose logs -f [<service_name …>]

Note that this command will not only output the new logs generated by the containers in real-time, but also the previous ones. You can learn more about filtering these logs in the following sections.

[#easily-recall-syntax-with-ai] Easily retrieve this command using Warp’s AI Command Suggestions [#easily-recall-syntax-with-ai]

If you’re using Warp as your terminal, you can easily retrieve this command using the Warp AI Command Suggestions feature:

For example, entering [.inline-code] docker compose logs real-time[.inline-code]  in the AI Command Suggestions will prompt a [.inline-code] docker[.inline-code]  command that can then quickly be inserted into your shell by doing [.inline-code] CMD+ENTER[.inline-code] .

[#filter-logs] Filtering container logs [#filter-logs]

In Docker Compose, container logs can be filtered in several ways.

[#output-the-last-n-lines] Outputting the last N logs [#output-the-last-n-lines]

To show the latest log entries, you can use the [.inline-code] -n[.inline-code]  flag (short for [.inline-code] --tail[.inline-code] ) followed by the number of logs to display:

 $ docker compose logs -n <number> [<service_name …>]

For example, the following command shows the latest 80 logs of the containers related to the [.inline-code] api[.inline-code] service:

 $ docker compose logs -n 80 api

[#filter-logs-by-date-and-time] Filtering logs by date and time [#filter-logs-by-date-and-time]

To filter container logs based on timeframes, you can either use the [.inline-code] --since[.inline-code]  flag to fetch the logs that occurred after a specific time:

 $ docker compose logs --since <time> [<service_name …>]

Or you can use the [.inline-code] --until[.inline-code]  flag to fetch the logs that occurred before a specific time:

 $ docker compose logs --until <time> [<service_name …>]

Where [.inline-code] time[.inline-code]  is either:

• A timestamp expressed in the following format: [.inline-code] YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.NNNNNNZ[.inline-code] .
• A relative duration expressed in the following format: [.inline-code] <number>[h|m|s][.inline-code]  where [.inline-code] h[.inline-code] , [.inline-code] m[.inline-code] , [.inline-code] s[.inline-code]  stand for hours, minutes, and seconds.

For example, this command will output all the logs generated in the last hour:

 $ docker compose logs --since="1h"

And this command will output all the logs generated until January 2nd, 2024:

 $ docker compose logs --until="2024-01-02"

[#filter-logs-with-patterns] Filtering logs based on patterns using the [.inline-code] grep[.inline-code] command [#filter-logs-with-patterns]

To filter container logs based on specific keywords or patterns, you can pipe the output of the [.inline-code] docker compose logs[.inline-code]  command into the [.inline-code] grep[.inline-code]  command as follows:

 $ docker compose logs [<service_name …>] | grep '<pattern>'

For instance, this command will output all the logs of the containers related to the [.inline-code] api[.inline-code]  service containing the [.inline-code] ERROR[.inline-code] keyword:

 $ docker compose logs api | grep 'ERROR'
api-1 | [ERROR] Credentials not found

You can learn more filtering methods by reading our article on how to filter the output of commands with grep and awk.