# Quick Start Guide
Get your first logs flowing into Trailonix in under 5 minutes! This guide will walk you through creating a tenant, setting up an API key, and sending your first log event.
## Step 1: Create a Tenant
A **tenant** represents your application or environment (e.g., "Production App", "Development", "Staging").
1. **Navigate to "Tenants"** in the Administration section of your dashboard
2. **Click the "+ Tenant" button** in the top right
3. **Enter a descriptive name** for your application (e.g., "Test Tenant", "Production API")
4. **Click "Save"** to create your tenant
> **💡 Tip:** Use clear names like "Production API", "Mobile App", or "Website Analytics" to easily identify different applications. You can see your active tenant count in the top bar.
## Step 2: Create an API Key
API keys authenticate your application when sending logs to Trailonix.
1. **Go to "API Keys"** in the Administration section
2. **Click "+ API Key"** to create a new key
3. **Fill in the details:**
- **Name**: Descriptive name (e.g., "New API Key", "Production Logger")
- **Tenant**: Select your tenant from the dropdown (e.g., "Test Tenant")
- **Expiration**: Set an expiration date or leave blank for no expiration
4. **Set Permissions:**
- **✅ Check "WRITE" under Logs** (required for sending logs)
- Leave "READ" unchecked unless you need to query logs via API
5. **Click "Save"**
After creating the key, you'll see a success message with your API key:
> **⚠️ Critical:** Copy and save the API key immediately! This is the only time you'll see the full key. Keys are encrypted and cannot be retrieved later, but you can always create a new one if needed.
## Important: Privacy & Data Protection
> **🔒 PII Protection:** Trailonix automatically protects your users' privacy by scrubbing common PII fields from metadata. If you include restricted fields, you'll see `[REDACTED]` in your logs.
**Never include these types of data in your logs:**
- Social Security Numbers (SSN)
- Credit card numbers or payment details
- Passwords or password hashes
- Driver's license numbers
- State or national ID numbers
- Tax identification numbers
- Voter registration IDs
- Full names, addresses, or phone numbers
**Safe alternatives:**
- Use **user IDs** instead of names: `"userId": "user_12345"`
- Use **masked values**: `"email": "john****@example.com"`
- Use **boolean flags**: `"has_payment_method": true`
- Use **categories**: `"user_type": "premium"`
## Step 3: Send Your First Log
Now you're ready to start logging! Send a POST request to the Trailonix API.
> **📖 Complete API Documentation:** For detailed information about request/response formats, error codes, and advanced options, see our [full API documentation](https://trailonix.com/assets/api-documentation.html#/paths/~1api~1v1~1log-events/post).
### API Endpoint
```
POST https://trailonix.com/api/v1/logevent
```
### Headers
```bash
Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json
```
### Request Body Structure
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|-------|------|----------|-------------|
| `eventType` | string | ✅ | Type of event (**free text, user-defined** - e.g., "user_login", "UserLogin") |
| `userId` | string | ❌ | ID of the user who performed the action |
| `resource` | string | ❌ | Resource affected by the action |
| `metadata` | object | ❌ | Additional context as JSON object |
| `ipAddress` | string | ❌ | Client IP address |
| `userAgent` | string | ❌ | User agent of the request |
| `createdDate` | string | ❌ | Event timestamp (defaults to "UTC NOW") |
### Example: User Login Event
```bash
curl -X POST https://trailonix.com/api/v1/logevent \
-H "Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"eventType": "user_login",
"userId": "user_12345",
"resource": "authentication",
"metadata": {
"login_method": "email",
"success": true,
"mfa_enabled": false,
"device": "desktop",
"session_id": "sess_abc123"
},
"ipAddress": "192.168.1.100",
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36"
}'
```
### Example: Error Event
```bash
curl -X POST https://trailonix.com/api/v1/logevent \
-H "Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"eventType": "payment_failed",
"userId": "user_67890",
"resource": "order_123",
"metadata": {
"error_code": "insufficient_funds",
"amount": 99.99,
"currency": "USD",
"payment_method_type": "credit_card",
"retry_attempt": 1
}
}'
```
### Example: System Event
```bash
curl -X POST https://trailonix.com/api/v1/logevent \
-H "Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"eventType": "server_restart",
"resource": "api_server_001",
"metadata": {
"reason": "scheduled_maintenance",
"downtime_seconds": 30,
"version": "2.1.4"
}
}'
```
## Verify Your Logs
1. **Go to the Logs section** in your Trailonix dashboard
2. **Select your tenant** from the dropdown
3. **You should see your log events** in the list (refresh the page to see new logs)
## Common Event Types
> **Remember:** These are just **examples**! You can create any event type that makes sense for your application. The key is being consistent with your naming.
Here are some popular patterns to get you started:
### Authentication
- `user_login`, `user_logout`, `password_reset`, `mfa_challenge`
### Errors & Exceptions
- `error_occurred`, `api_timeout`, `database_error`, `validation_failed`
### Business Events
- `order_created`, `payment_processed`, `user_registered`, `subscription_renewed`
### System Events
- `server_started`, `backup_completed`, `deployment_finished`, `cache_cleared`
## Best Practices
### Event Type Naming
> **📝 Important:** Event types are **completely free text** - you define them! Trailonix doesn't have predefined event types.
- **Be consistent!** This is crucial for alerts and filtering
- ✅ Good: Always use `user_login`
- ❌ Bad: Mix `user_login`, `userLogin`, `User_Login`
- **Choose a naming convention** and stick to it:
- `snake_case`: `user_login`, `payment_failed`
- `camelCase`: `userLogin`, `paymentFailed`
- `kebab-case`: `user-login`, `payment-failed`
- **Be specific but concise**: `user_login` not `user_action`
- **Group related events** with prefixes: `payment_started`, `payment_completed`, `payment_failed`
> **💡 Pro Tip:** Consistency in event types is essential for setting up effective alert rules. If you use different variations of the same event, your alerts may miss important occurrences!
### Metadata Structure
- Keep metadata **flat when possible**
- Use **consistent field names** across events
- Include **relevant context** for debugging
- **Avoid PII** - use IDs, categories, and boolean flags instead of personal details
### Security & Privacy
- **Never log PII (Personally Identifiable Information)** - Trailonix automatically scrubs common PII fields
- **Rotate API keys regularly** for production applications
- **Use separate tenants** for different environments
## What's Next?
Now that you're logging events, you can:
- **[Set up alerts](/guides/setting-up-alerts)** to get notified when specific event types occur (this is why consistency matters!)
- **[Explore the dashboard](/guides/dashboard)** to analyze your log data
- **[Learn about event type strategies](/guides/event-types)** for organizing your logs effectively
- **Integrate with your application** [javascript & Node.js](/examples/javascript) **[PHP](/examples/php)** **[Python](/examples/python)** **[C#/.NET](/examples/csharp)**
---
**🎉 Congratulations!** You're now logging with Trailonix. Check out our integration examples for your specific programming language or framework.