Investigate Logs

Automatically investigate PhotoClove logs to diagnose issues and errors.

When This Skill is Invoked

Claude automatically uses this skill when:

• •User reports an error or bug
• •Functionality isn't working as expected
• •Need to trace what happened during an operation
• •Debugging why something failed
• •User says "check the logs" or similar

Log Locations

Frontend Logs

Location: LogViewer component (accessible via Ctrl+Shift+L)

• •Stored in memory via LoggerService.js
• •Structured format: [LEVEL] Component:event_name - Message | data: {...}
• •Can be filtered by level, component, and searched

Daily Log Files (UTC dates):

~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-frontend-YYYY-MM-DD.log

Example: photoclove-frontend-2025-12-23.log (December 23, 2025 UTC)

Backend Logs

Location: Daily log files in the logs directory (UTC dates)

~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-YYYY-MM-DD.log

Example: photoclove-2025-12-23.log (December 23, 2025 UTC)

Format: Rust log:: macros with structured key=value pairs

[TIMESTAMP] [LEVEL] target: "component", "event; key1=value1; key2=value2"

Important: Log file names use UTC dates, not local timezone dates.

Investigation Process

1. •

   Identify the issue:

   • •What operation failed?
   • •What was the user doing?
   • •When did it happen?
2. •

   Check most recent logs (log files use UTC dates):

   bash

   # Frontend logs (today UTC)
   tail -100 ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-frontend-$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d).log
   
   # Backend logs (today UTC)
   tail -100 ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d).log
   
   # Or simply check the latest files
   tail -100 ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-frontend-*.log | tail -100
   tail -100 ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-*.log | grep -v frontend | tail -100
   

3. •

   Search for errors:

   bash

   # Find errors in frontend logs
   grep -i "error" ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-frontend-*.log | tail -20
   
   # Find errors in backend logs
   grep -i "error" ~/.local/share/photoclove/logs/photoclove-2*.log | tail -20
   

4. •

   Trace operation flow:

   • •Look for correlation_id in logs to trace a request through frontend and backend
   • •Follow the sequence of events leading to the error
   • •Check what data was passed at each step
5. •

   Identify root cause:

   • •What was the first error in the chain?
   • •What state was the application in?
   • •What data caused the issue?

Common Error Patterns

Frontend Errors

• •ReferenceError: Undefined variable or function
• •TypeError: Wrong type or null/undefined access
• •State errors: Incorrect state updates or missing state

Backend Errors

• •Database errors: SQL errors, table not found, constraint violations
• •File system errors: Permission denied, file not found
• •Tauri command errors: Command not found, invalid parameters

Integration Errors

• •500 Internal Server Error: Backend error, check backend logs
• •No response: Command timeout or backend crash
• •Data mismatch: Frontend and backend data format mismatch

Log Analysis Tips

1. •Start from the error and work backwards
2. •Look for correlation_id to trace requests
3. •Check timestamps to understand timing
4. •Pay attention to data values in structured logs
5. •Compare with successful operations

Reporting Findings

After investigation, provide:

• •Root cause: What actually caused the error
• •Error location: File and line number if available
• •Data context: What data triggered the issue
• •Suggested fix: How to resolve the problem
• •Related logs: Key log entries showing the issue

Integration with PhotoClove

• •Frontend logs use LoggerService.js for structured logging
• •Backend logs use Rust log:: macros
• •All operations should have correlation IDs for tracing
• •LogViewer provides UI for browsing logs interactively