Observability
Loki
A horizontally scalable log aggregation system designed to work efficiently with labels and Grafana.
Problem it solves
Why it exists.
It centralizes logs for investigation without indexing every log line like a full-text search engine.
Optimized for
Where it shines.
Kubernetes and Grafana-based observability stacks with label-oriented log queries.
Use with care
Where not to use it.
Do not use it as a metrics or trace store, and design retention and cardinality deliberately.
Components
What it is made of.
- Promtail or agent
- Loki
- LogQL
- Labels
- Grafana
Process
How it works.
- Agents collect log streams
- Loki stores them by labels
- LogQL queries the streams
- Grafana visualizes and correlates them