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Collect logs from your Java applications using Logback.

1. Dependencies

Add Better Stack Logback appender to your pom.xml or build.gradle file:

You will need a Logback logger with a data-binding package for Jackson.

Don't have Logback in your project yet?
Add these dependencies to your pom.xml or build.gradle file:

2. Setup

Set up log appenders in your logback.xml configuration:

3. Start logging 🎉

Import and use the logger:

You should see your logs in Better Stack → Live tail.

Find structured data under the message_json field.
Better Stack parses any JSON at the end of the log line.

Need help?

Please let us know at hello@betterstack.com.
We're happy to help! 🙏

Additional information

• New to logging in Java? Check out our Intro guide to logging in Java.
• Want to support more data types? Install an add-on module for Jackson and register it in the Logtail appender's <objectMapperModule> tag. For example, see adding JavaTimeModule on Github.
• Need to fine-tune logging? Configure more options inside <appender name="Logtail"> tag in logback.xml:
  • appName - Application name for Better Stack indexation.
  • sourceToken - Your Better Stack source token.
  • ingestUrl - The ingesting URL of your source. Default: https://in.logs.betterstack.com. Use the ingesting host listed in your source settings.
  • mdcFields - MDC fields that will be sent as metadata, separated by a comma.
  • mdcTypes - MDC fields types that will be sent as metadata, in the same order as mdcFields are set up, separated by a comma. Possible values are string, boolean, int, and long.
  • maxQueueSize - Maximum number of messages in the queue. Messages over the limit will be dropped. Default: 100000.
  • batchSize - Batch size for the number of messages to be sent via the API. Default: 1000.
  • batchInterval - Maximum wait time for a batch to be sent via the API, in milliseconds. Default: 3000.
  • setConnectTimeout - Connection timeout of the underlying HTTP client, in milliseconds. Default: 5000.
  • readTimeout - Read timeout of the underlying HTTP client, in milliseconds. Default: 10000.
  • maxRetries - Maximum number of retries for sending logs to Better Stack. After that, current batch of logs will be dropped. Default: 5.
  • retrySleepMilliseconds - Number of milliseconds to sleep before retrying to send logs to Better Stack. Default: 300.
  • objectMapperModule - Registers an add-on data type module for Jackson to serialize logged data, e.g. com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.jsr310.JavaTimeModule. Can be used multiple times.

Example project

Want to try a more detailed example with Maven or Gradle?
See our Java Logtail example projects on GitHub.