Getting Started

Get up and running with Hamsterlog in just a few minutes. This guide will walk you through creating an account, getting your API key, and sending your first logs.

1. Create Your Account

Start by creating a free account:

1. Visit the Sign Up Page
2. Sign up with your email address
3. You'll automatically be logged into your dashboard

2. Get Your API Key

Once you're logged into your dashboard:

1. Go to Settings (the gear icon in the bottom left corner) > Sources
2. Copy the API key to use in your application
3. Keep this key secure - treat it like a password

3. Choose Your Language or Runtime

Download the hamster-file (some would would call it a 'library' or 'SDK', but it's really just one tiny file 🐹) and follow the instructions for your preferred language or runtime:

• Node.js
• Bun
• Deno
• HTTP API

4. Basic Concepts

Sources & API Keys

A 'source' could be an app, a website, a microservice, Docker-container, anything you want really. Your account can have multiple sources in your account. Each source has its own API key. Manage them in Dashboard > Settings > Sources.

Tags

Tags are labels you can attach to logs to categorize and filter them. Tags are optional, and can be any string you want. Examples:

• ["error", "payment"] for payment-related errors
• ["info", "user-signup"] for user registration events
• ["debug", "database"] for database debugging

Log Levels

Hamsterlog by default supports three main log levels:

• Log: General information and debugging
• Warn: Warning messages (automatically tagged with "warning")
• Error: Error messages (automatically tagged with "error")

5. Your First Log

Here's a quick example of what your code will look like (using Node.js):

import { Hamster } from "./hamster-node.js";

// Initialize
const hamster = new Hamster({
    apiKey: "your-api-key-here",
    defaultTags: ["my-app"],
});

// Send your first log!
hamster.log("Hello, Hamsterlog!", ["greeting"]);

6. View Your Logs

Once you've sent your first logs:

1. Go back to your Hamsterlog Dashboard
2. You should see your logs appearing in real-time
3. Use the filters to search by tags, date ranges, or text content