Using Mineshire
Read your server console and share a log when you need help
A server console is a firehose. Most of it is routine, and the one line that explains your problem is buried somewhere in the middle. Mineshire gives you a few ways to cut through that, plus a way to hand the whole thing to someone who can help.
Live console and Past logs
The Console tab has two views at the top. Live console follows the server as it runs. Past logs lists what the server wrote on earlier runs, newest first, along with crash reports.
The live view keeps a limited number of lines so it doesn’t eat your memory (you can change how many in Settings, under Console). Anything older lives in Past logs. Opening one is read-only, and it has the same search, filter, copy and share tools as the live view.
Old logs pile up. You can delete them one by one or all at once. The file for the current run stays put.
Cutting the noise
Three buttons sit above the log: All, Warnings and Errors, each with a count. Press Errors and the thousand normal lines vanish. Warnings is the middle step, and it’s where plugins like to complain before something actually breaks.
The search box (“Search the console”) highlights matches as you type. Type a plugin’s name and the lines that mention it light up.
Long lines can run off the edge. A toggle wraps them, or puts them back on one row. And if you want to start fresh, “Clear this view” empties what’s on screen without touching the saved log.
Colours that mean something
Mineshire draws each line in the colours the server itself chose. When a line has none, warnings come out amber and errors red. It sounds minor until you’re scrolling at speed and the red line is the only thing that catches your eye.
Copying and sharing
The copy button takes everything, or only the lines you’re currently showing when a filter is on. Its tooltip says which.
The share button gives you a link instead. That’s the better choice when you’re asking for help in a Discord or a forum, because nobody wants a wall of pasted text.
By default, pressing it sends the log straight away. If you’d rather be asked first, switch on “Ask before sharing” in Settings, under Log sharing. When it’s done you get a QR code, a Copy link button, an Open button, and a count of lines, errors and warnings.
What leaves your computer
Read this part before you paste a link somewhere public. Anyone who has the link can read the log. The service, minelog.org by default, hides IP addresses, email addresses and the names of folders on your computer. Player names are not hidden, because they’re part of what the log says.
The dialog shows when the link stops working. And if you share by mistake, there’s a “Delete this log” button, but it only stays for an hour after sharing. After that it’s gone from the window.
In Settings you can choose what goes up: everything, only the last 1000 lines, or only warnings and errors. You can also point Mineshire at a different log service, but with a custom one Mineshire can’t delete the log for you. That’s up to the service.
A quick routine for a crash
- Open Past logs and pick the newest crash report, or the newest log if the server just stopped without one.
- Filter by Errors and read the first one. Later errors are often fallout from the first.
- Share the log and paste the link with one sentence about what you changed last.
That last sentence helps more than it should. “I updated a plugin” narrows a hunt in minutes.