# Observe and debug requests

> Follow route traffic, use the live dashboard, and inspect captured exchanges.

Once a route is active, routeup can show every completed local and public request
that reaches your agent. Metadata logging is automatic; retaining headers or
bodies is always opt-in.

## Follow requests in the terminal

Use a second terminal while `routeup serve` or bare `routeup` owns the route:

```bash
routeup logs example-app --follow
```

```txt frame="terminal" title="terminal"
TIME      ROUTE             SOURCE  STATUS  ID                    METHOD   DURATION  PATH
14:02:01  example-app       local   200     req_9f2LmX7qKd3sAw8P  GET      3ms       /
14:02:04  example-app       public  204     req_Jz6nR2wL8cP4sD9h  POST     18ms      /api/webhooks/stripe
```

Filter by source, method, status, time, or result count. See
[`routeup logs`](/docs/cli-reference/logs) for the complete flag reference.

## Open the live dashboard

```bash
routeup dashboard
```

The dashboard keeps route health, public exposure state, and live requests in
one read-only view. Select a captured request and press Enter to inspect it
without leaving the dashboard.

## Enable capture when you need bodies

Add capture settings before starting or restarting the route owner:

```json title="routeup.json"
{
  "name": "example-app",
  "port": 8080,
  "capture": {
    "request": true,
    "response": true,
    "redact_headers": [
      "authorization",
      "cookie",
      "x-webhook-signature"
    ]
  }
}
```

Capture is bounded and stored only in the agent's in-memory request ring. Add
every sensitive signature or credential header used by your app to
`redact_headers`.

## Inspect one exchange

Copy a request ID from the log or dashboard:

```bash
routeup inspect req_Jz6nR2wL8cP4sD9h
```

The default view safely escapes retained values and pretty-prints valid JSON.
Use [`routeup inspect`](/docs/cli-reference/inspect) for raw, machine-readable,
or curl output. Curl export includes every retained header and targets the local
route.

## What is not recorded

- Bodies and headers are not retained unless capture is enabled.
- Requests rejected by the public server before reaching a live tunnel are not
  present in the local agent log.
- Captured data disappears when the agent restarts or its bounded ring evicts
  the request.