Using Notecard Trace Mode

All Notecards can be placed into trace mode. When enabled, a Notecard's trace mode generates a stream of messages that can help with debugging or understanding Notecard behavior.

You can utilize trace mode using:

1. In-Browser Terminal
2. Serial Terminal Apps
3. _log Environment Variable

In-Browser Terminal

Complete the following steps to use trace mode via the In-Browser Terminal.

1. Visit the In-Browser Terminal.

2. Connect your Notecard to the terminal.

3. Enable trace mode with the following request:

   COPY

   {"req":"card.trace","mode":"on"}

4. Perform actions that you want to debug. For example, to debug network connectivity issues you may wish to run a hub.sync request.

   COPY

   {"req":"hub.sync"}

5. Disable trace mode with the following request:

   COPY

   {"req":"card.trace","mode":"off"}

6. (Optional) Download the trace log using the Save History button (the download icon) in the top-right corner of the Terminal. This will download the contents of the Terminal history to a .log file.

Serial Terminal Apps

Complete the following steps to use trace mode via a serial terminal app.

1. Connect a Notecard to your serial terminal app using one of the following serial port configurations.

   Connection	Serial Configuration	Abbreviated
   USB	Any baud rate, 8 bit, no parity, 1 stop bit	8N1
   AUX RX/TX	Baud Rate: 115200, 8 bit, no parity, 1 stop bit	115200 8N1

   note

   Refer to our guides on using Tera Term and CoolTerm for more specific instructions on connecting to Notecard via those applications:

   • Configuring Tera Term to communicate with Notecard
   • Configuring CoolTerm to communicate with Notecard

2. Enable trace mode with the following request:

   COPY

   {"req":"card.trace","mode":"on"}

3. Perform actions that you want to debug. For example, to debug network connectivity issues you may wish to run a hub.sync request.

   COPY

   {"req":"hub.sync"}

4. Disable trace mode with the following request:

   COPY

   {"req":"card.trace","mode":"off"}

_log Environment Variable

You can remotely enable diagnostic logging at the device, fleet, or project level using the _log reserved environment variable. When enabled, this will save trace logs to the _log.qo Notefile on Notehub. Please note that the trace logs saved to Notehub using this method are far less verbose than the logs you can generate using the other methods outlined above.

1. Set the _log environment variable. To enable logging remotely, set it at the device, fleet, or project level in the Notehub UI or with the Notehub API. If you have local access to your Notecard, you can also set it with env.default.

2. When setting the variable, use one of the following values to specify the scope of the logging data to save:

   • gps (to save high-level GPS status information)
   • gpsmax (to save more verbose GPS logging)
   • power (to save power-usage snapshots from a connected Mojo)
   • modem (to save modem lifecycle and network state transitions)
   • accel (to save accelerometer/motion-detection activity)
   • on or 1 (shorthand for gps,modem,power)
   • all (to save broader diagnostic data)
   • 0 or an empty value (to disable logging)

   To capture more than one scope at a time, separate the values with a comma or semicolon (for example, gps,modem).

3. Note that _log.qo Notes never trigger a sync of their own, so that logging doesn't drain a battery-powered device. Notes are written when the event occurs but stay queued on-device until the next sync happens.

4. When finished gathering trace log data, be sure to delete these environment variables to silence logging and avoid unnecessary data usage.