Improve log viewing experience — scroll behavior, log completeness, and settings persistence
#5,104 opened on Jun 25, 2026
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Description
Description
Log viewing is a primary use case for at least some of our users, but the current experience has several pain points identified during a user interview. This issue captures the full context and suggests improvements.
Current problems
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Constant full-page refresh disrupts scroll position The log view refreshes frequently to fetch new logs. When a user is scrolling through older logs, the refresh jumps them back to the top. The workaround is to enable "Reverse logs", but that inverts the chronological order, which adds cognitive overhead.
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Not all logs are shown for the selected timeframe When a user selects a timeframe (e.g. 6 hours, 3 hours), the logs shown do not always match. The same logs are visible via
kubectl logsfrom the command line, so the data exists and this is where the user goes to see it completely. -
Log settings are not persisted across page refreshes The timeframe and "Show Timestamps" settings reset every time the log view refreshes. Since the view refreshes frequently to fetch new logs, users have to re-apply their preferences repeatedly within the same session.
Some possible workarounds
- On refresh, preserve scroll position or auto-scroll to the bottom if the user was already at the bottom (standard "tail" behavior). Only reload the log pane (if possible separate it from the controls), not the full page.
- Investigate why the selected timeframe is not always returning the expected log volume and align with what
kubectl logsreturns. - Persist log view settings (timeframe, show timestamps, reverse logs) so they survive page refreshes.
Future consideration
The user expressed openness to viewing logs in a terminal if that would provide a better experience. Once the web-based terminal feature is available, it may be worth exploring whether logs can be opened there as an alternative. For example, through a button next to the "view logs" one.
User context
Reported by a daily Kyma Dashboard user. Logs are the primary reason they use the dashboard. The issues have been present for a long time and are experienced across operating systems and machines.