Log Formats

Configure structured log output for self-hosted containers.

Deepgram self-hosted containers support four log output formats. Use the --log-format CLI flag to select the format that best fits your logging infrastructure.

This flag applies to all self-hosted container images: API, Engine, License Proxy, and Billing.

Available Formats

Format	Flag	Description
Full	`--log-format=full`	Default. Verbose output with all fields, timestamps, and span context. Best for development and debugging.
Compact	`--log-format=compact`	Abbreviated output. Omits redundant span context for more concise logs.
Pretty	`--log-format=pretty`	Human-readable output with color highlighting. Best for local development.
Json	`--log-format=json`	Structured JSON output. Best for log aggregation systems (i.e. Datadog, Splunk, ELK).

Configuration

The log format is set as a CLI flag appended to the container’s command. It is not configured via TOML.

Docker Compose

1 services:
2   api:
3     image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-api:release-260319
4     command: -v serve /api.toml --log-format=json
5     # ...
6 
7   engine:
8     image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-engine:release-260319
9     command: -v serve /engine.toml --log-format=json
10     # ...
11 
12   license-proxy:
13     image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-license-proxy:release-260319
14     command: -v serve /license-proxy.toml --log-format=json
15     # ...

Kubernetes (Helm)

In a Helm values override, set the command args for each container:

1 api:
2   additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
3 
4 engine:
5   additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
6 
7 licenseProxy:
8   additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
9 
10 billing:
11   additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]

The API container also accepts a legacy --json flag for JSON output. If both --json and --log-format are specified, --log-format takes precedence.

Example Output

Full (default)

2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z  INFO serve: deepgram::server: Starting API server host=0.0.0.0 port=8080
2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z  INFO serve: deepgram::license: License validated successfully expires=2027-09-19T00:00:00Z
2026-03-19T14:30:01.345678Z  INFO serve: deepgram::engine: Engine connection established endpoint=engine:9991

Compact

2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z  INFO serve: Starting API server host=0.0.0.0 port=8080
2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z  INFO serve: License validated expires=2027-09-19T00:00:00Z
2026-03-19T14:30:01.345678Z  INFO serve: Engine connected endpoint=engine:9991

Pretty

  2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z  INFO serve: Starting API server
    host: 0.0.0.0
    port: 8080
  2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z  INFO serve: License validated successfully
    expires: 2027-09-19T00:00:00Z

Json

1 {"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::server","message":"Starting API server","host":"0.0.0.0","port":8080}
2 {"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::license","message":"License validated successfully","expires":"2027-09-19T00:00:00Z"}
3 {"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:01.345678Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::engine","message":"Engine connection established","endpoint":"engine:9991"}

Availability

The --log-format flag is available in release 260319 and later on all self-hosted container images.

What’s Next

Metrics Guide - Monitor your deployment with Prometheus metrics
Status Endpoint - Check node health and readiness

1	services:
2	api:
3	image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-api:release-260319
4	command: -v serve /api.toml --log-format=json
5	# ...
6
7	engine:
8	image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-engine:release-260319
9	command: -v serve /engine.toml --log-format=json
10	# ...
11
12	license-proxy:
13	image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-license-proxy:release-260319
14	command: -v serve /license-proxy.toml --log-format=json
15	# ...

1	api:
2	additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
3
4	engine:
5	additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
6
7	licenseProxy:
8	additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]
9
10	billing:
11	additionalArgs: ["--log-format=json"]

1	{"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::server","message":"Starting API server","host":"0.0.0.0","port":8080}
2	{"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::license","message":"License validated successfully","expires":"2027-09-19T00:00:00Z"}
3	{"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:01.345678Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::engine","message":"Engine connection established","endpoint":"engine:9991"}