Logs and Opening Servers

This page explains how to inspect server logs with lucli server log and how LuCLI opens running servers in your browser, including how host, port, and HTTPS settings affect the URL.

Viewing logs with lucli server log

The server log subcommand lets you view Tomcat and Lucee log files for a running server.

Basic usage from a project directory:

lucli server log

By default, this shows recent Tomcat logs (for the server associated with the current directory).

Log types

Use --type (or -t) to select which kind of logs to view:

  • tomcat – Tomcat logs under logs/ (default; includes catalina.YYYY-MM-DD.log, etc.)
  • server – Lucee server logs under lucee-server/context/logs/ (for example application.log, out.log)
  • web – Lucee web context logs under lucee-web/logs/

Examples:

# Tomcat (default)
lucli server log

# Lucee server logs
lucli server log --type server

# Web-application logs
lucli server log --type web

If the selected log file does not exist yet (for example, the web context has never been hit), LuCLI will explain why and suggest how to generate logs.

Following logs (--follow)

To follow a log stream in real time (like tail -f):

lucli server log --follow
lucli server log --type server --follow

LuCLI uses the underlying tail command, so Ctrl+C stops following and returns you to the shell.

Selecting log files and line counts

The log viewer supports selecting specific files and controlling how many lines are shown. The help text documents the options:

lucli server log --help

You can:

  • Use --log-name (or -l) to choose a specific log file under the selected log directory.
  • Use --lines (or -n) to control how many lines are printed (default: 50).

Examples:

# Show Lucee server application.log (default for server logs)
lucli server log --type server

# Show a specific Lucee server log file
lucli server log --type server --log-name out.log

# Show the last 100 lines of Tomcat logs
lucli server log --lines 100

# Show and follow server logs, starting with the last 200 lines
lucli server log --type server --follow --lines 200

If no server is currently running for the project, server log will fail with a clear message and suggest starting a server first.

Opening servers in your browser

LuCLI can open a browser for a running server in two ways:

  1. Automatically, right after lucli server start
  2. On demand, using lucli server open

Both behaviours are driven by the openBrowser, openBrowserURL, host, port, and https settings in lucee.json.

Automatic browser opening on start

By default, background starts attempt to open your browser when the server is ready:

lucli server start

Control this behaviour per run:

# Explicitly enable browser opening (even if disabled in lucee.json)
lucli server start --open-browser

# Disable browser auto-open just for this run
lucli server start --disable-open-browser

# Persistently disable auto-open for the project
lucli server start openBrowser=false

When auto-open is enabled, LuCLI computes the URL as follows:

  1. If openBrowserURL is a non-empty string in lucee.json, that value is used as-is.
  2. Otherwise, it constructs a URL from:
    • host (defaults to localhost when omitted)
    • The effective HTTP or HTTPS port
    • The enabled HTTPS configuration

Concretely:

  • If HTTPS is enabled, LuCLI opens:

    https://<host>:<httpsPort>/

  • If HTTPS is disabled, LuCLI opens:

    http://<host>:<httpPort>/

The HTTP port is the server’s main port. The HTTPS port is either https.port from lucee.json or the default (typically 8443) when not explicitly set.

lucli server open

Use server open to open an already running server in your browser:

# Open the server for the current directory
lucli server open

# Open a specific server by name
lucli server open --name my-app

Behaviour:

  • With no --name, LuCLI looks for a running server whose project directory matches the current directory.
  • With --name, LuCLI looks up the instance under ~/.lucli/servers/<name> and, if it is running, opens it.
  • If no matching running server is found, LuCLI exits with an error explaining what it could not find.

The URL that server open uses is computed using the same rules as automatic browser opening:

  • openBrowserURL takes precedence when set.
  • Otherwise, LuCLI chooses http:// or https:// based on whether HTTPS is enabled in lucee.json, using the effective HTTP/HTTPS ports and host value.

Note: both automatic opening and lucli server open respect the openBrowser flag from lucee.json. If openBrowser is false, LuCLI will not attempt to open a browser unless you override the setting (for example by starting the server with openBrowser=true).

HTTPS and redirects

When HTTPS is enabled in lucee.json (https.enabled: true):

  • Tomcat is configured with an HTTPS connector on the configured or default HTTPS port.
  • If https.redirect is enabled (default when HTTPS is on), HTTP requests to the HTTP port are redirected to HTTPS.
  • The browser URL opened by LuCLI points directly at the HTTPS endpoint.

This means that once HTTPS is enabled, both lucli server start (with auto-open) and lucli server open will take you to an https:// URL using the correct port and host.

For more detail on HTTPS configuration and redirect behaviour, see HTTPS and Routing.