# Log Store

This guide shows how to configure Kitaru's preferred runtime log backend.

## What this controls

Kitaru has two separate observability channels:

* `kitaru.log(...)` writes **structured metadata** to executions/checkpoints.
* `kitaru log-store ...` configures the backend for **runtime logs**.

By default, runtime logs use `artifact-store`.

## Important: preference vs active stack

`kitaru log-store set` stores a Kitaru-side preference. Runtime log capture still follows the active stack's log-store component. If they differ, Kitaru now shows a warning in:

* `kitaru log-store show`
* `kitaru status`

Use those warnings as a signal that your saved preference and active runtime destination are different.

## Show current log-store backend

```bash
kitaru log-store show
```

This command shows the effective preferred backend and where it came from (`default`, `global user config`, or `environment`).

## Set a global backend override

```bash
kitaru log-store set datadog \
  --endpoint https://logs.datadoghq.com \
  --api-key "{{ DATADOG_KEY }}"
```

This stores a global user-level override and applies to all flows on that machine.

## Reset to default behavior

```bash
kitaru log-store reset
```

Reset removes the persisted global override and returns to default `artifact-store` behavior.

## Environment overrides

Environment variables take precedence over the persisted global setting:

* `KITARU_LOG_STORE_BACKEND`
* `KITARU_LOG_STORE_ENDPOINT`
* `KITARU_LOG_STORE_API_KEY`

Example:

```bash
export KITARU_LOG_STORE_BACKEND=datadog
export KITARU_LOG_STORE_ENDPOINT=https://logs.datadoghq.com
export KITARU_LOG_STORE_API_KEY="${DATADOG_API_KEY}"
kitaru log-store show
```

To force default behavior via environment, set:

```bash
export KITARU_LOG_STORE_BACKEND=artifact-store
unset KITARU_LOG_STORE_ENDPOINT
unset KITARU_LOG_STORE_API_KEY
kitaru log-store show
```

## Related reference pages

* [View execution runtime logs](/kitaru/guides/execution-logs.md)
* [CLI log-store commands](https://docs.zenml.io/sdk-reference)
* [Python logging reference](https://docs.zenml.io/sdk-reference)


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