Title: Runtime Logs 
Author: WordPress VIP Documentation
Published: February 17, 2023
Last modified: March 12, 2026

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 1. [Logs](https://docs.wpvip.com/logs/)
 2. Runtime Logs 

#  Runtime Logs 

Runtime Logs provides an aggregated, near real-time view into recent application
logs generated by WordPress and Node.js environments. These logs provide insights
into the current health of an environment and can be helpful for debugging issues.

Runtime Logs for an environment can be accessed:

 * In the [the VIP Dashboard](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-dashboard/health-logs/).
 * In the [command line using VIP-CLI](https://docs.wpvip.com/logs/runtime-logs/cli/).

Timestamps in Runtime Logs are formatted in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

**Note**

A more complete aggregation of application logs and batch logs can be automatically
shipped to a cloud storage bucket by [configuring and enabling Log Shipping](https://docs.wpvip.com/logs/log-shipping/)
for an environment.

## Limitations

 * Runtime Logs are aggregated from across multiple containers, then grouped by 
   container and ordered by timestamp. This may cause multiline log entries to be
   returned in an unexpected order.
 * Runtime Logs fetches raw logs from containers. An environment’s containers—and
   its logs—are replaced with _new_ containers when a deployment is made. Only the
   logs on a current set of containers are retrievable.
 * Runtime Logs are not guaranteed to persist for any length of time and will be
   cleared as needed. Applications that generate high volumes of logs will be cleared
   more often.
 * Combined requests for Runtime Logs via VIP-CLI and the VIP Dashboard are rate-
   limited to:
    - 20 fetch attempts per environment every 2 minutes
 *  - 20 fetch attempts per user and per environment every 60 seconds

## Log types

Two types of logs can be retrieved:

 * **Application logs** from web containers (i.e. log entries generated by HTTP 
   requests). The default log type for both WordPress and Node.js environments.
 * **Batch logs** from batch containers (i.e. log entries generated by cron tasks).
   WordPress environments only.

**For WordPress applications**, Runtime Logs reports PHP errors including fatals,
warnings, and notices (depending on [the `error_reporting` level defined for an application](https://docs.wpvip.com/wordpress-on-vip/php/error-reporting/))
as well as any logs that are output using the `[error_log()](https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.error-log.php)`
function.

**For Node.js applications**, Runtime Logs retrieves output that is sent to `stdout`
or `stderr`, which is most commonly handled by the [`console` class](https://nodejs.org/api/console.html#class-console).

Last updated: March 12, 2026