Logging Configuration

SilentCast provides comprehensive logging functionality to track application behavior and troubleshoot issues.

Log File Locations

By default, if no log file path is specified in the configuration, SilentCast will create a log file in the same directory as your configuration files:

Windows

• Config Directory: %APPDATA%\SilentCast\
• Default Log File: %APPDATA%\SilentCast\silentcast.log

Example:

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\SilentCast\silentcast.log

macOS

• Config Directory: ~/Library/Application Support/SilentCast/
• Default Log File: ~/Library/Application Support/SilentCast/silentcast.log

Linux

• Config Directory: ~/.config/SilentCast/
• Default Log File: ~/.config/SilentCast/silentcast.log

Console Output

If no log file is configured and the default cannot be created, logs will be output to the console (stderr) only.

Configuration Options

You can customize logging behavior in your spellbook.yml:

logger:
  # Log level: debug, info, warn, error
  level: info
  
  # Log file path (uses default if empty)
  file: ""
  
  # Maximum log file size in MB
  max_size: 10
  
  # Number of old log files to keep
  max_backups: 3
  
  # Maximum age of log files in days
  max_age: 7
  
  # Compress old log files
  compress: true

Custom Log File Path

To save logs to a specific location, use the file setting:

logger:
  file: "C:\\Logs\\silentcast.log"  # Windows
  # file: "/var/log/silentcast.log"  # Linux/macOS

Log Levels

• debug: Records all information (development/debugging)
• info: Records normal operation information (default)
• warn: Records only warning messages
• error: Records only error messages

Viewing Log Files

Windows PowerShell

# View last 20 lines
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\SilentCast\silentcast.log" -Tail 20

# Monitor logs in real-time
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\SilentCast\silentcast.log" -Wait -Tail 10

Windows Command Prompt

# View log file
type "%APPDATA%\SilentCast\silentcast.log"

# Open in Notepad
notepad "%APPDATA%\SilentCast\silentcast.log"

macOS/Linux

# View last 20 lines
tail -n 20 ~/Library/Application\ Support/SilentCast/silentcast.log  # macOS
tail -n 20 ~/.config/SilentCast/silentcast.log                       # Linux

# Monitor logs in real-time
tail -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/SilentCast/silentcast.log     # macOS
tail -f ~/.config/SilentCast/silentcast.log                          # Linux

Troubleshooting

Log File Not Found

1. Verify the application is running

2. Check if the config directory exists:

   # Windows
   dir "%APPDATA%\SilentCast"
   
   # macOS
   ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/SilentCast/
   
   # Linux
   ls ~/.config/SilentCast/

3. Check if a custom path is specified in your configuration

No Log Output

1. Verify log level is appropriate (setting to error will hide detailed information)
2. Check file write permissions
3. Verify available disk space

Log Rotation

SilentCast automatically rotates log files:

• New file created when size reaches max_size
• Old files are numbered (.1, .2, etc.)
• Files exceeding max_backups are deleted
• With compress: true, old files are compressed as .gz

Example:

silentcast.log        # Current log
silentcast.log.1.gz   # Previous log (compressed)
silentcast.log.2.gz   # Older log (compressed)