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summary: "Logging surfaces, file logs, WS log styles, and console formatting"
read_when:
- Changing logging output or formats
- Debugging CLI or gateway output
title: "Logging"
---
# Logging
For a user-facing overview (CLI + Control UI + config), see [/logging](/logging).
OpenClaw has two log “surfaces”:
- **Console output** (what you see in the terminal / Debug UI).
- **File logs** (JSON lines) written by the gateway logger.
## File-based logger
- Default rolling log file is under `/tmp/openclaw/` (one file per day): `openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log`
- Date uses the gateway host's local timezone.
- The log file path and level can be configured via `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`:
- `logging.file`
- `logging.level`
The file format is one JSON object per line.
The Control UI Logs tab tails this file via the gateway (`logs.tail`).
CLI can do the same:
```bash
openclaw logs --follow
```
**Verbose vs. log levels**
- **File logs** are controlled exclusively by `logging.level`.
- `--verbose` only affects **console verbosity** (and WS log style); it does **not**
raise the file log level.
- To capture verbose-only details in file logs, set `logging.level` to `debug` or
`trace`.
## Console capture
The CLI captures `console.log/info/warn/error/debug/trace` and writes them to file logs,
while still printing to stdout/stderr.
You can tune console verbosity independently via:
- `logging.consoleLevel` (default `info`)
- `logging.consoleStyle` (`pretty` | `compact` | `json`)
## Tool summary redaction
Verbose tool summaries (e.g. `🛠️ Exec: ...`) can mask sensitive tokens before they hit the
console stream. This is **tools-only** and does not alter file logs.
- `logging.redactSensitive`: `off` | `tools` (default: `tools`)
- `logging.redactPatterns`: array of regex strings (overrides defaults)
- Use raw regex strings (auto `gi`), or `/pattern/flags` if you need custom flags.
- Matches are masked by keeping the first 6 + last 4 chars (length >= 18), otherwise `***`.
- Defaults cover common key assignments, CLI flags, JSON fields, bearer headers, PEM blocks, and popular token prefixes.
## Gateway WebSocket logs
The gateway prints WebSocket protocol logs in two modes:
- **Normal mode (no `--verbose`)**: only “interesting” RPC results are printed:
- errors (`ok=false`)
- slow calls (default threshold: `>= 50ms`)
- parse errors
- **Verbose mode (`--verbose`)**: prints all WS request/response traffic.
### WS log style
`openclaw gateway` supports a per-gateway style switch:
- `--ws-log auto` (default): normal mode is optimized; verbose mode uses compact output
- `--ws-log compact`: compact output (paired request/response) when verbose
- `--ws-log full`: full per-frame output when verbose
- `--compact`: alias for `--ws-log compact`
Examples:
```bash
# optimized (only errors/slow)
openclaw gateway
# show all WS traffic (paired)
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log compact
# show all WS traffic (full meta)
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log full
```
## Console formatting (subsystem logging)
The console formatter is **TTY-aware** and prints consistent, prefixed lines.
Subsystem loggers keep output grouped and scannable.
Behavior:
- **Subsystem prefixes** on every line (e.g. `[gateway]`, `[canvas]`, `[tailscale]`)
- **Subsystem colors** (stable per subsystem) plus level coloring
- **Color when output is a TTY or the environment looks like a rich terminal** (`TERM`/`COLORTERM`/`TERM_PROGRAM`), respects `NO_COLOR`
- **Shortened subsystem prefixes**: drops leading `gateway/` + `channels/`, keeps last 2 segments (e.g. `whatsapp/outbound`)
- **Sub-loggers by subsystem** (auto prefix + structured field `{ subsystem }`)
- **`logRaw()`** for QR/UX output (no prefix, no formatting)
- **Console styles** (e.g. `pretty | compact | json`)
- **Console log level** separate from file log level (file keeps full detail when `logging.level` is set to `debug`/`trace`)
- **WhatsApp message bodies** are logged at `debug` (use `--verbose` to see them)
This keeps existing file logs stable while making interactive output scannable.
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