How to read your server logs and find the real error

Most "my server is broken" tickets get solved the same way: someone reads the log, spots one line, and fixes it. You don't need to understand every line. You just need to know where to look and which line matters.

Start with the console

The Console on your server page shows what the server has printed recently. It's the quickest place to look, but it only keeps a limited amount of text, so a problem from yesterday may already have scrolled away.

When something fails, don't read from the bottom. The last lines are usually fallout from the first failure. Scroll up until you find the first line that says ERROR, FATAL, Exception or Traceback, and start there.

Reading a stack trace

Java servers (Minecraft, for example) print long stack traces that look intimidating. A few rules make them manageable:

  • The first line says what went wrong, such as java.lang.NullPointerException or OutOfMemoryError.
  • Lines starting with at are the path the code took. Look for a plugin or mod name in them. That's usually your culprit.
  • If you see Caused by:, keep going down. The last Caused by: is the root cause, and everything above it is a chain of consequences.

Python is the opposite. A Traceback reads top to bottom and the error message is the very last line.

Find the older logs

For a Minecraft server, the full history lives in files, not in the console:

  1. Open the file manager and go to the logs folder.
  2. latest.log is the current session. Older sessions are compressed as .log.gz files, named by date.
  3. After a hard crash, also check the crash-reports folder. Each report is a single file with the cause near the top.

Other games and bots usually print to the console only. If you want history, have your bot write its own log file, as described in Keep your bot online.

Share a log without leaking secrets

Support can help much faster when you send the actual log than when you describe it. Two things before you do:

  1. Paste Minecraft logs into mclo.gs and send the link. It's far easier to read than a screenshot and it highlights the problems for us.
  2. Skim the log first. Bot tokens, API keys and player IP addresses sometimes end up in logs. If you spot one, delete that line before sharing, and if it was a bot token, reset it.

A quick habit that saves hours

Before you change anything, copy the error. People often "fix" a server by trying five things and then can't remember which one broke it further. Save the error, change one thing, and test again.

If the log points at a crash on startup, My server crashes or won't start has a table matching common errors to fixes.

Still stuck? Open a ticket on Discord - run /ticket in any channel, pick a department, and include your Server ID or Invoice ID so we can jump straight in.