Java logs installation

Install OpenTelemetry packages

Required

Add the following dependencies to your pom.xml:

XML
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.opentelemetry</groupId>
    <artifactId>opentelemetry-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.32.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.opentelemetry</groupId>
    <artifactId>opentelemetry-sdk</artifactId>
    <version>1.32.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.opentelemetry</groupId>
    <artifactId>opentelemetry-exporter-otlp</artifactId>
    <version>1.32.0</version>
</dependency>

2
Get your project token
Required
You'll need your PostHog project token to authenticate log requests. This is the same key you use for capturing events and exceptions with the PostHog SDK.
Important: Use your project token which starts with phc_. Do not use a personal API key (which starts with phx_).
You can find your project token in Project Settings.

Configure the SDK

Required

Set up the OpenTelemetry SDK to send logs to PostHog.

Java
import io.opentelemetry.api.logs.GlobalLoggerProvider;
import io.opentelemetry.sdk.logs.SdkLoggerProvider;
import io.opentelemetry.sdk.logs.export.BatchLogRecordProcessor;
import io.opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.logs.OtlpHttpLogRecordExporter;

SdkLoggerProvider loggerProvider = SdkLoggerProvider.builder()
    .addLogRecordProcessor(
        BatchLogRecordProcessor.builder(
            OtlpHttpLogRecordExporter.builder()
                .setEndpoint("https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v1/logs")
                .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer <ph_project_token>")
                .build()
        ).build()
    )
    .build();

GlobalLoggerProvider.set(loggerProvider);

Alternatively, you can pass the API key as a query parameter:

Java
OtlpHttpLogRecordExporter.builder()
    .setEndpoint("https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v1/logs?token=<ph_project_token>")
    .build()

Use OpenTelemetry logging

Required

Now you can start logging with OpenTelemetry:

Java
import io.opentelemetry.api.logs.Logger;

Logger logger = GlobalLoggerProvider.get().get("my-app");

logger.logRecordBuilder()
    .setBody("User action")
    .setAttributes(Attributes.of(
        AttributeKey.stringKey("userId"), "123",
        AttributeKey.stringKey("action"), "login"
    ))
    .emit();

5
Test your setup
Recommended
Once everything is configured, test that logs are flowing into PostHog:
1. Send a test log from your application
2. Check the PostHog logs interface for your log entries
3. Verify the logs appear in your project
View your logs in PostHog

Next steps

Checkpoint

What you can do with your logs

Action	Description
Search logs	Use the search interface to find specific log entries
Filter by level	Filter by `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`, etc.
Link session replay	Connect logs to users and session replays by passing `posthogDistinctId` and `sessionId`
Logging best practices	Learn what to log, how to structure logs, and patterns that make logs useful in production

Troubleshoot common issues

Java logs installation

Install OpenTelemetry packages

Get your project token

Configure the SDK

Use OpenTelemetry logging

Test your setup

Next steps

Community questions

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