Slicing and Dicing Instant Logs: Real-time Insights on the Command Line

Cole MacKenzie introduced Instant Logs, a new offering for Cloudflare's Enterprise customers. This tool enables real-time consumption and analysis of HTTP traffic logs. To get started with Instant Logs in the terminal, users need to install open-source tools like Websocat and Angle Grinder. Creating an Instant Logs session requires a POST request with necessary parameters such as zone tag/ID, authentication key or API token, fields, sample, filter, and kind. The response includes a unique WebSocket address for receiving messages directly from the network. Users can then connect to the WebSocket using Websocat and start receiving logs in line-delimited JSON format. Instant Logs allows users to specify fields, choose a sample rate, and define filters based on their requirements. Angle Grinder is a useful tool for slicing and dicing logs, enabling powerful insights into HTTP traffic.