Activity Streams
Monitor gateway traffic in real-time with WebSocket-based Activity Streams.
Activity Streams provide real-time monitoring of your dedicated IPFS gateway traffic. Using WebSocket connections, you can observe requests to your gateway as they happen, enabling immediate visibility into how your content is being accessed.
What are Activity Streams?
Activity Streams deliver a live feed of HTTP requests hitting your dedicated gateway. Each request generates an event containing detailed information about the request, allowing you to:
Monitor content engagement in real-time
Troubleshoot access issues as they occur
Validate CDN and caching performance
Track geographic access patterns
Debug application integrations
How It Works
Activity Streams use WebSocket connections to push events to your browser in real-time:
Connect: Open the Activity Streams view for your gateway
Stream: Events flow to your browser as requests hit the gateway
Monitor: View request details in real-time
Analyze: Use the data to understand traffic patterns
Activity Streams show live data only. Events are not persisted or stored for historical analysis. If you need historical logs, consider implementing your own logging solution.
Available Data Fields
Each activity event includes the following information:
Timestamp
When the request occurred
2024-01-15T14:30:45.123Z
IP Address
Client IP address
203.0.113.42
HTTP Method
Request method
GET
Response Code
HTTP status code
200, 304, 404
Hostname
Gateway hostname
my-gateway.myfilebase.com
Path
Requested path
/ipfs/Qm.../image.png
Bytes
Response size in bytes
1048576
Accessing Activity Streams
Via Web Console
Navigate to Gateways in the Filebase dashboard.
Select the dedicated gateway you want to monitor.
Click on the Activity Streams tab or button.
The stream will connect automatically and begin showing live events.
Events appear in real-time as requests hit your gateway.
Stream Controls
While viewing Activity Streams:
Pause/Resume: Temporarily pause the stream to examine specific events
Clear: Clear the current event list to start fresh
Filter: Filter events by path, status code, or other criteria (if available)
Use Cases
Monitor Content Engagement
Track how users interact with your content:
See which files are most frequently accessed
Monitor peak traffic periods
Identify popular content paths
Troubleshoot Issues
Debug access problems in real-time:
Identify 404 errors for missing content
Spot 5xx errors indicating server issues
Verify CIDs are resolving correctly
Validate Performance
Ensure your gateway is performing well:
Check response codes for cache hits (304)
Monitor response sizes
Verify CDN is serving content (for Unlimited plan)
Security Monitoring
Watch for unusual patterns:
Detect unusual request volumes
Identify requests from unexpected locations
Spot potential abuse patterns
Best Practices
For Debugging
Open Activity Streams before testing
Make your test request
Find the corresponding event in the stream
Check the response code and any error indicators
For Monitoring
Keep a browser tab with Activity Streams open during launches
Watch for unexpected error rates
Note traffic patterns during announcements or promotions
For Performance Analysis
Monitor response sizes to ensure images are optimized
Check for 304 responses indicating effective caching
Track response codes to identify content issues
Limitations
Real-time only: Events are not stored; close the stream and they're gone
Browser-based: Requires an active browser session to view
Single gateway: Each stream monitors one gateway at a time
No aggregation: Raw events without built-in analytics
For production monitoring needs, consider implementing application-level logging or using third-party analytics tools in addition to Activity Streams.
Related Features
Activity Streams complement other gateway features:
Access Controls: Monitor who is accessing restricted content
Image Optimizations: Verify optimized images are being served
Custom Domains: See traffic across all domains pointing to your gateway
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