Debugging

The Pipeline Debugger provides an interactive testing environment for validating pipeline processing logic before deployment. It enables you to execute pipelines with test data and observe how each processor transforms the data through the processing chain.

Accessing the Debugger

Navigate to Content Management > Pipelines, select a pipeline, then click Actions in the pipeline detail view and select Open pipeline debugger. The debugger opens in a new view with the pipeline visualization and testing controls.

Dataset Providers

Test data is selected in a two-step drawer: Select data set (choose a provider) and Select log lines (pick a specific log entry), after which Start debugger begins the session. The debugger supports four providers:

Provider	Description
Existing data sets	Select from the data sets already defined in the pipeline
Upload log file	Upload a log file containing test data
Enter logs manually	Enter log data directly in the input editor
Live logs	Capture live logs from a Director or Device in real time

Existing data sets

Use saved datasets for consistent, repeatable testing across pipeline iterations.

note

Datasets are organization-level resources that can be shared across team members.

Upload log file

Upload log files for one-time testing. After upload, select a specific log line from the file content to use as test input.

Enter logs manually

Enter log data directly in the input editor, then select a specific log line to use as test input. This method is useful for:

• Testing specific edge cases
• Debugging individual log entries
• Quick validation of processor behavior

Live logs

Capture live data from a selected Director or Device, then pick a captured log line as test input. The capture controls match the Live Data panel.

Once a dataset is selected, a Manage button in the debugger header reopens the selection drawer.

Environment Variables

The debugger allows configuration of environment variables that affect pipeline execution context:

Open the modal with the Manage environment variables toolbar button.

Control	Input Type	Description
Choose custom device type	Dropdown	Simulates the source device type (Windows, Linux, Syslog, HTTP, TCP, UDP, Kafka, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Blob Storage) — sets the devicetype variable
Definition ID	Dropdown	Sets the definitionid log definition identifier from available Windows and Linux log types
Request	Text	Configures request-level context variables
Enable System Fields	Toggle	When enabled, system-generated metadata fields are included in the debugging process

info

Configure these variables to match production conditions when testing pipelines that contain conditional logic based on device type or other context values. Leave Enable System Fields off to show only user data fields, reducing clutter when tracing data transformations.

Pipeline Visualization

The debugger displays the pipeline structure as an interactive node graph:

• Pipeline nodes: Represent the main pipeline and any referenced child pipelines
• Processor nodes: Show individual processors in the execution chain
• Connection lines: Indicate data flow between processors

Navigating Child Pipelines

When a pipeline references child pipelines, click on a pipeline node to navigate into its structure. A breadcrumb trail at the top of the view tracks your navigation path and allows you to return to parent pipelines. Two toolbar buttons perform the same navigation: Step into (enabled when a pipeline node is selected) and Step out (enabled when inside a child pipeline).

Execution and Results

Running the Pipeline

Click Run to execute the pipeline with the current input data. The debugger processes the data through all configured processors and displays results for each step. The Quit debugger toolbar button closes the debugger and returns to the pipeline detail view.

Node Status Indicators

After execution, each node displays a status indicator:

Status	Description
Completed	Processor executed successfully
Failed	Processor encountered an error
Skipped	Processor was skipped due to conditional logic
Continue	Processing continued to the next processor
Dropped	Event was dropped by the processor
Return	Processing returned early from the pipeline

Viewing Results

The debugger displays input and output in a side-by-side layout, enabling direct comparison of data before and after processing. This parallel view simplifies identification of changes at each pipeline stage. Click a processor node to view its specific output.

Click Switch to diff view to compare input and output in a unified diff that highlights changes; click Switch to split view to return to the two-panel layout. Click Show processor config to display the selected processor's YAML configuration in a read-only viewer, and Hide config to collapse it.

Workflow

1. Select or enter test data using one of the dataset providers
2. Configure environment variables if needed for conditional processing
3. Click Run to execute the pipeline
4. Review node status indicators to identify processing results
5. Click individual nodes to inspect their output
6. Use Switch to diff view to compare transformations
7. Iterate on pipeline configuration based on test results

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