Compose Logs

docker compose logs retrieves and displays log output from one or more of an application's services, providing a unified way to inspect what's happening across a multi-container application without needing to check each container's logs individually through separate commands.

Viewing Logs From Every Service

Without specifying a particular service, logs displays output from every service in the application together.

docker compose logs

api_1  | Server listening on port 8080
db_1   | database system is ready to accept connections

Each line is prefixed with the originating service's name, making the combined output still distinguishable by source.

Viewing Logs From a Specific Service

Naming a particular service limits output to just that one.

docker compose logs api

Following Logs Live

The -f flag streams new log output continuously, rather than simply displaying what's already been logged and then stopping.

docker compose logs -f api

This behaves similarly to tail -f, continuing to display new log lines as they're produced until interrupted.

Limiting Output to Recent Log History

The --tail flag limits output to a specific number of the most recent lines, useful for avoiding an overwhelming amount of historical output for a service that's been running and logging for a long time.

docker compose logs --tail=50 api

Including Timestamps in Log Output

The -t flag adds a timestamp to each log line, useful for correlating log entries with when they actually occurred.

docker compose logs -t api

Why Compose Logs Matters

This unified log viewing command is essential for understanding and troubleshooting a multi-container application's behavior, providing convenient access to exactly the log output needed without requiring separate, manually issued commands against each individual container.