|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Mode and Interesting Fields in OpenObserve |
| 3 | +description: Learn how Quick Mode and Interesting Fields speed up log searches in OpenObserve by scanning only selected fields. |
| 4 | +--- |
| 5 | +This guide explains how to use Quick Mode with Interesting Fields in OpenObserve to optimize log searches and improve query performance. |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +## Overview |
| 8 | +Quick Mode is a performance optimization in OpenObserve that speeds up log searches by limiting the query to a small set of fields called Interesting Fields. Instead of scanning all fields in a stream, Quick Mode selects only the fields you mark as interesting, reducing query time, especially in streams with a large number of fields. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +## Enable Quick Mode and select Interesting Fields |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +1. Go to the **Logs** page. |
| 14 | +2. Select the desired stream from the left panel. |
| 15 | +3. In the top toolbar, turn on **Quick Mode**. |
| 16 | +4. The **Interesting Fields** button appears at the bottom left along with the **All Fields** button. If the selected stream has **User Defined Schema (UDS)** fields, the UDS button also appears. By default, `_timestamp` is included in the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 17 | +5. Use the **All Fields** or UDS fields toggles to navigate to the field you want to add to the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 18 | +6. Click the **i** icon beside a field name to mark it as an **Interesting Field**. The icon fills to indicate the field is now in the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 19 | +7. Click **Run Query** to view logs for all current Interesting Fields. |
| 20 | +8. Optional. Turn on **SQL mode** to view and edit the prebuilt query that lists only your **Interesting Field**s. If you add a new field to the SQL query while **Quick Mode** is on, that field is automatically added to the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +## How Quick Mode and Interesting Fields work together |
| 23 | +- **Quick Mode** uses the **Interesting Fields** list to limit the query to those columns only. |
| 24 | +- Changing the **Interesting Fields** list changes which columns are returned in Quick Mode. |
| 25 | +- If you turn Quick Mode off, results follow schema rules: with UDS on you see only UDS fields and with UDS off you see all fields. |
| 26 | +- When UDS fields are defined, adding `_all` as an Interesting Field returns a combined text field containing values from all non-UDS fields, which you can parse as needed. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +## Environment variables controlling Quick Mode defaults |
| 30 | +- `ZO_QUICK_MODE_ENABLED=true`: Enables **Quick Mode** by default. |
| 31 | +- `ZO_FEATURE_QUICK_MODE_FIELDS="kubernetes_namespace_name,kubernetes_container_name"`: Sets the default **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +## Auto-add behavior in Quick Mode |
| 34 | +When **Quick Mode** is enabled, running a query that references a field which is not already marked as an **Interesting Field** causes that field to be added to the **Interesting Fields** list automatically. |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +## When to Use Quick Mode |
| 38 | +- When working with streams that have hundreds or thousands of fields. |
| 39 | +- When you need to quickly search for patterns or values in a small subset of fields. |
| 40 | +- When troubleshooting or validating logs using specific key fields. |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +## Best practices |
| 43 | +Keep the number of **Interesting Fields** small to maximize performance gains, because scanning fewer fields reduces query execution time. |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +## Troubleshooting |
| 46 | +**Issue**: Some fields are missing when **Quick Mode** is turned on. <br> |
| 47 | +**Cause**: If you notice that some fields are missing when **Quick Mode** is enabled, this is expected behavior. **Quick Mode** limits results to the fields marked as **Interesting Fields**.<br> |
| 48 | +**Solution**: To view all available fields, click the **All Fields** button at the bottom-right corner. |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +- By default, only `_timestamp` is included in the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 51 | +- Any other fields must be added manually by marking them as **Interesting Fields**. |
| 52 | +- You can also turn on SQL mode to edit the query. Adding a field to the SQL query while **Quick Mode** is on automatically adds that field to the **Interesting Fields** list. |
| 53 | + |
0 commit comments