Scaling and Deployment Strategies

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

FormatFlagDescription
Full--log-format=fullDefault. Verbose output with all fields, timestamps, and span context. Best for development and debugging.
Compact--log-format=compactAbbreviated output. Omits redundant span context for more concise logs.
Pretty--log-format=prettyHuman-readable output with color highlighting. Best for local development.
Json--log-format=jsonStructured JSON output. Best for log aggregation systems (i.e. Datadog, Splunk, ELK).

Configuration

The log format is set as a CLI flag in the container’s command. It is not configured via TOML. --log-format is a top-level option, so it must appear before the serve subcommand — appending it after serve causes the container to exit with error: unexpected argument '--log-format' found.

Docker Compose

services:
  api:
    image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-api:release-260319
    command: -v --log-format=json serve /api.toml
    # ...
  engine:
    image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-engine:release-260319
    command: -v --log-format=json serve /engine.toml
    # ...
  license-proxy:
    image: quay.io/deepgram/self-hosted-license-proxy:release-260319
    command: -v --log-format=json serve /license-proxy.toml
    # ...

Kubernetes (Helm)

In a Helm values override, set logFormat for each component:

api:
  logFormat: json
engine:
  logFormat: json
licenseProxy:
  logFormat: json
billing:
  logFormat: json

logFormat accepts full, compact, pretty, or json. Leave it unset to use the container’s default (full). The chart validates the value and renders the flag in the correct position in each container’s arguments; an unrecognized value fails at template time rather than crash-looping the pod. Requires chart version 0.45.0 or later — earlier versions ignore logFormat silently, with no error and no change to log output.

The API container also accepts a legacy --json flag and JSON environment variable that force JSON output. Do not combine either with --log-format set to a format other than json — the container exits with an error at startup. The Helm chart rejects this combination at template time.

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

{"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.123456Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::server","message":"Starting API server","host":"0.0.0.0","port":8080}
{"timestamp":"2026-03-19T14:30:00.234567Z","level":"INFO","target":"deepgram::license","message":"License validated successfully","expires":"2027-09-19T00:00:00Z"}
{"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