Log drains

In-app runtime logs are retained for 7 days. When you need longer retention, centralized search, or alerting, add a log drain to forward a service’s logs to an external logging provider.

Supported destinations

A drain can forward logs to:

• Papertrail
• Better Stack
• Datadog
• Generic syslog (over TCP or TCP+TLS)
• Fluentd / Vector

Configure a drain

On the service’s Logs drain tab, add a drain with your provider’s details — host, port, token, TLS setting, and an optional tag to label the source. The token is stored encrypted and never shown back to you. Changes apply on the next redeploy of the service.

Both viewers keep working

Adding a drain does not take away the in-app logs. Helicarrier uses dual logging, so your container’s output still appears in the Logs tab and is forwarded to your drain. You get live in-dashboard viewing plus long-term retention wherever you send it.

When to use a drain

• Retention beyond 7 days — keep logs as long as your provider allows.
• Central search across services — aggregate many services in one place.
• Alerting — trigger on error patterns in a tool built for it.

Next

• Review the live viewer in Runtime logs.
• Watch deploys land in Deploys & rollback.