> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.obsidianlog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# obsidianlog serve

> Run the Vector-compatible HTTP ingest server.

This starts the HTTP ingest server using the encryption key and backend
configuration `obsidianlog init` created. It blocks until shutdown.

## Flags

| Flag            | Description                                                                        |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--bind <ADDR>` | Address to bind the HTTP ingest endpoint to. Overrides the value in `config.toml`. |

Plus the global [`--config <FILE>`](/cli/overview#global-flags).

## Endpoints

| Route     | Method | Purpose                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| --------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/ingest` | `POST` | Accepts a JSON array of log events. Write-then-ack: returns `200` only after a durable, encrypted, hash-chained write, and `5xx` on failure, so an upstream shipper's retry logic just works. |
| `/health` | `GET`  | Liveness check.                                                                                                                                                                               |

`/ingest` has no request authentication. It's designed to sit behind a
trusted network boundary (e.g. bound to `127.0.0.1`, or reached only by
Vector on the same host/private network). See
[Security Model](/architecture-and-security/security-model).

## Example

```sh theme={null}
obsidianlog serve
obsidianlog serve --bind 0.0.0.0:7080 --config /etc/obsidianlog/config.toml
```

Send it a batch:

```sh theme={null}
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:7080/ingest \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '[{"timestamp":"2026-07-06T10:00:00Z","service":"api","level":"info","msg":"hello"}]'
```

See [Sending Logs with Vector](/deployment/sending-logs-with-vector) to ship
real logs instead of a one-off `curl`.