A pod is crash-looping or returning errors and you need to see what it printed, across every replica, without setting up kubectl access first. The Logs page streams live logs from any workload in the cluster through the Ankra agent.
What you can do
Stream real-time logs from any workload in your clusterView logs from multiple pods simultaneouslyFilter and search within log outputSwitch between containers in multi-container podsCustomize display with font size, line wrapping, and colour highlighting
Accessing Logs There are two ways to access logs in Ankra:
Cluster Logs Navigate to Logs in the cluster sidebar to access the cluster-wide log viewer. This allows you to:
Select any workload (Deployment, StatefulSet, or DaemonSet)
View logs from all pods belonging to that workload
Switch between pods without leaving the page
Pod Logs Navigate to Kubernetes → Pods , click on a pod, and select the Logs tab to view logs for that specific pod.
Historical log search When a Log Source (Loki, Elasticsearch or OpenSearch) is connected under Settings → Integrations , the cluster Logs page gains a Search tab for time-ranged queries across your log store. See Log Sources for setup and credential guidance.
With no log store of your own, turn on Ankra hosted logs for the cluster: Ankra keeps its container logs for 7 days, and each application’s log History in the new portal searches them.
Log Viewer Features Workload Selection In the Cluster Logs view, use the workload selector to choose which application’s logs to view:
Pod Selection When viewing a workload with multiple pods, you can:
View a single pod - select one pod from the dropdownView all pods - select multiple pods to see combined logsIdentify log sources - each log line shows which pod it came from
Container Selection For pods with multiple containers:
Use the container dropdown to switch between containers
Select multiple containers to view combined logs
Init containers and sidecar containers are also available
Streaming Controls Play/Pause The log viewer automatically scrolls to show new logs as they arrive. When you scroll up to view older logs:
Auto-scroll disables immediately and your scroll position is preserved
New logs continue to arrive in the background without disturbing your view
A Scroll to bottom button appears at the bottom of the viewer
Click the button to jump to the latest logs and resume auto-scrolling
Auto-scroll only re-engages when you explicitly click the button or resume streaming
Load Older Logs Scroll to the top of the log viewer to automatically load older logs. The viewer will:
Fetch the previous time window of logs
Prepend them to the current view
Maintain your scroll position
Filtering & Search Text Search Use the search box to filter logs:
Type any text to filter log lines in real-time
Only matching lines are displayed - both existing and newly arriving logs are filtered
Match count is displayed
Clearing the search restores all log lines
Regex Search Click the .* button to enable regex mode:
Use regular expressions for advanced filtering
Syntax errors are shown inline
Common patterns: error|warn, \d{3}, "status":\s*\d+
Log Level Filtering Use the level filter buttons to show/hide logs by severity:
Display Settings Click the Settings (gear icon) to customize the log viewer:
Tail Lines Choose how many recent log lines to fetch when connecting:
100 lines (default)
500 lines
1000 lines
5000 lines
All available logs
Font Size Adjust the log text size:
10px to 20px
Use the slider or +/- buttons
Line Wrapping Toggle line wrapping on/off:
On - long lines wrap to multiple linesOff - long lines scroll horizontally
Color Levels Toggle syntax highlighting for log levels:
On - Log levels are colour-codedOff - plain text display
Timestamps Toggle timestamp display:
On - show Kubernetes timestamps at the start of each lineOff - hide timestamps for cleaner output
Fullscreen Mode Click the Fullscreen button (expand icon) to enter fullscreen mode:
Log viewer fills the entire screen
All controls remain accessible
Press Escape or click the button again to exit
Downloading Logs Click the Download button to save logs to a file:
Logs are saved as a .txt file
Filename includes pod name and timestamp
All currently loaded logs are included
Offline Clusters & Cached Data Log streaming requires an active connection to your cluster through the Ankra agent.
When the Cluster is Online
Logs stream in real-time from the Kubernetes API
New log lines appear as they are written
You can load older logs by scrolling up
When the Cluster Goes Offline
Existing logs remain visible - logs already loaded in the viewer stay accessibleNew logs cannot be fetched - the stream pauses until connection is restoredA warning banner appears - it says the cluster is offline and data may be stale
Reconnection When the cluster comes back online:
The log stream automatically reconnects
New logs resume streaming
You may need to refresh to clear cached state
If you navigate away from the Logs page while the cluster is offline, you will not be able to view logs again until the connection is restored.
Ask the AI about a failing pod Open the AI Assistant with ⌘ J / Ctrl J while you are on the pod or its logs and ask what is wrong. It can read the pod’s logs, events and status itself. See AI Assistant .
For busy workloads:
Reduce Initial Load
Use smaller tail lines - start with 100-500 lines instead of “All” for busy workloadsSelect specific containers - avoid streaming all containers if you only need one
Filter Aggressively
Apply log level filters - hide DEBUG/INFO logs when investigating errorsUse search early - filters apply in real-time to both existing and incoming logs, reducing visual noise immediatelyEnable regex for precision - narrow results with patterns like error|exception|failed
Manage the Stream
Scroll up freely - your position is preserved even during high-throughput streams; new logs accumulate in the backgroundPause when needed - pause streaming to stop new data from arriving entirelyDownload for analysis - export logs to a file for grep, analysis tools, or sharingClear when needed - clear accumulated logs and start fresh if the buffer grows very large
Multi-Pod Considerations When viewing logs from multiple pods:
Start with one pod, then add more as needed
High-traffic pods can overwhelm the combined view
Consider using log level filters to reduce cross-pod noise
Common Tasks Debugging a Crashing Pod
Navigate to Logs in the sidebar
Select the workload containing the failing pod
Look for ERROR or FATAL messages
Scroll up to see logs from before the crash
Check previous container logs if the pod restarted
Monitoring Multiple Replicas
Open Logs for your workload
Select all pods in the pod dropdown
Each log line shows which pod it came from
Use search to filter across all pods
Finding Specific Errors
Enter your search term in the filter box
Enable regex mode for complex patterns
Use log level filters to show only errors
The match count helps you assess frequency
Tips
Use the Command Palette: Press ⌘+K and type “logs” to quickly jump to the Logs page.
Pause for Investigation: When debugging, pause the stream to prevent new logs from pushing important lines out of view.
Regex for JSON Logs: Use patterns like "error":\s*true or "status":\s*[45]\d\d to find specific JSON log entries.
Download for Sharing: Download logs before sharing with team members or attaching to issue reports.
Keyboard Shortcuts Next step To search logs older than the live stream, turn on Ankra hosted logs or connect a log source . For a shell inside the container, see Pod Terminal . 
