Live Tail vs Saved Searches: When to Use Each
Choose the right tool for real-time debugging vs. historical investigation.
Live Tail
Best for: watching what's happening right now.
- Logs stream in real time
- No historical data
- Level and service filters only
- Pause/resume controls
- Use during deployments, active debugging, and monitoring
Logs Page with Saved Searches
Best for: investigating past incidents and recurring patterns.
- Full search across all log fields
- Time range selection
- Advanced filters (user ID, trace ID, metadata, tags)
- Saved search presets for quick access
- Annotations for team collaboration
- AI insights bar
Decision Guide
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| "Is my deployment working?" | Live Tail |
| "What happened at 3am?" | Logs + time range |
| "Show me all errors for user X" | Logs + user ID filter |
| "Watch for payment errors right now" | Live Tail + level filter |
| "Find all timeouts this week" | Logs + saved search |
| "Debug a user's reported issue" | Sessions page |
Using Both Together
A common workflow: spot an error in Live Tail → click it → see the details → switch to the Logs page to search for related entries → open the session to see the full user journey.