Reindex after changing settings
Log Lens indexes each log file once and then only reads new bytes appended to it. That keeps syncs fast, but it means some setting changes only take effect for logs ingested after the change. Reindexing re-parses your existing sources from the start so the change applies retroactively.
When you need to reindex
| You changed | Why reindex |
|---|---|
| Which severities are indexed | Past events at newly-included levels were never stored, and events at newly-excluded levels are still present. |
| A source's module assignment | Existing events keep their old module until the source is re-parsed. |
You do not need to reindex after adding new log content - incremental ingestion picks that up on the next sync.
How Log Lens decides
Every source records an import signature built from the current parser version and your selected severities. When you save a different severity set (see Choose which severities to index), that signature changes. On the next import of each file, Log Lens sees the mismatch, clears that source's indexed events, and re-parses it from byte 0 - so a normal sync already reprocesses every still-present source after a settings change.
A file whose size, timestamp, parser version, type, module, and stream all match is skipped, which is why unchanged sources without a settings change cost nothing.
Force a full reindex
To rebuild everything explicitly, run a reindex. It:
- Resets the stored offset and parser version for all sources.
- Re-parses every source file that is still present on disk, from the beginning.
- Recomputes issue aggregates and reapplies your tag rules once at the end.
Sources on disk to cleared to re-parsed from offset 0 to aggregates + tag rules refreshed
Only files still on disk are rebuilt. If an original log was archived into processed/ and later pruned, its events cannot be recovered by reindexing - you would need the file back first.
For the exact reindex endpoint and CLI command, see the ingestion and maintenance API and CLI and Artisan commands.