Console - iii

The iii Console is a standalone application that gives you full operational visibility into a running iii engine. It provides a web UI to inspect functions, triggers, state, streams, traces, and logs — all in real time.

Quick Start

The console comes preinstalled with iii, start it with:

iii console

Then open your browser to http://127.0.0.1:3113.

The console connects to a running iii engine instance. Make sure your engine is started before launching the console. By default it expects the engine at 127.0.0.1:3111.

The root URL redirects to the Workers page. The sidebar includes Workers, Functions, Triggers, States, Streams, Queues, Traces, Logs, and Config. The optional Flow page appears when flow visualization is enabled.

Workers

The Workers page lists every worker process currently connected to the engine, with live metrics (memory, CPU, event-loop lag), connection time, active invocations, and registered functions.

Column	Description
Name	Worker name or short ID if unnamed
Runtime	Language runtime badge (`node`, `python`, `rust`) with SDK version
Isolation	Isolation context badge (`libkrun`, `docker`, `k8s`, …) when reported
IP	Worker’s remote address
PID	Worker process ID
Functions	Number of functions the worker has registered
Active	Number of currently in-flight invocations
Connected	Time since the worker connected

The worker detail panel shows full metadata, telemetry (language, project, framework), live metrics, and the list of functions the worker has registered.

Workers launched via iii worker add ./path or iii worker add <image> run inside libkrun microVMs. The libkrun launcher builds the VM boot environment and injects III_ISOLATION=libkrun at VM boot time, so you’ll see a purple LIBKRUN badge next to the runtime badge. The badge is descriptive (what the worker reports about its environment), not an attestation — a direct SDK connection can self-set III_ISOLATION=docker (or anything else) before starting. Workers that don’t set the variable show no isolation badge.

Functions

The Functions page lists every function registered with the iii engine and lets you invoke any of them directly with custom JSON input.

All registered functions are displayed with their metadata:

Column	Description
Function ID	The fully qualified path (e.g. `users::getProfile`)
Triggers	Number and types of triggers attached to the function
Workers	Worker processes that can execute the function
Status	Current function status

Use the search bar at the top to filter functions by name.

Invoking Functions

The detail panel includes a JSON editor for invoking functions directly. Enter a payload, click Invoke, and view the result inline. The console sends requests via POST /_console/invoke.

See Use the Console for step-by-step instructions.

Only functions that are currently registered and connected via an active worker will appear in the list. If a function is missing, check that its worker process is running.

Triggers

The Triggers page shows every trigger registered with the engine and provides interactive tools to test each trigger type. Triggers are grouped by kind (http, cron, event, state) with a total count badge and per-type filter tabs.

Column	Description
Type	The trigger type: `http`, `cron`, `event`, `state`, etc.
Function	The function this trigger invokes
Path / Config	HTTP path, cron schedule, or event name
Status	Active, Error, or Inactive

Testing Triggers

The console provides interactive testing tools for each trigger type:

Trigger Type	Testing Tool
HTTP	Request builder with method selection, query params, and JSON body
Cron	Schedule viewer with Trigger Now button for immediate execution
Event	Event emitter with pre-filled event name and JSON payload input
State	Update/delete entries in States to fire `state:updated` / `state:deleted` triggers

See Use the Console for step-by-step instructions on testing each trigger type.

The available trigger types depend on which workers are loaded in your engine configuration. See Trigger Types and Workers for the full list.

States

The States page provides a browser for the engine’s key-value state store. You can view, create, edit, and delete state entries organized by scope. The layout is divided into three panels: a group list on the left, an items table in the center, and a detail sidebar on the right.

The state browser displays a two-level hierarchy:

Groups (Scopes) — top-level namespaces that organize state
Items — individual key-value pairs within each group

Select a group from the left panel to see all its key-value items. Each item shows a Key and Value (rendered as formatted JSON). Complex values are displayed in a collapsible JSON viewer.

Managing State

The console supports full CRUD operations on state entries:

Operation	Behavior
Add	Persisted via `state::set`
Edit	Fires `state:updated` triggers if registered
Delete	Fires `state:deleted` triggers if registered

See Use the Console for step-by-step instructions.

State persistence depends on your engine’s State worker configuration. With in_memory storage, state is lost on engine restart. With file_based or RedisAdapter, state persists across restarts. See State Worker for configuration details.

Use the search bar to filter items by key name. For groups with many items, the browser supports pagination.

Streams

The Streams page is a live WebSocket monitor that captures messages flowing through the engine’s stream connections. It shows message counters (total, inbound, outbound, and buffer size), subscription management, and direction filter tabs.

Column	Description
Name	The stream identifier
Group	The consumer group the stream belongs to
Type	Whether the stream is user-defined or system-internal

Use the filter toggle to show or hide system streams. Streams update in real time via WebSocket.

Streams are provided by the Stream worker. Make sure iii-stream is included in your engine configuration. See Stream Worker for details.

Queues

The Queues page lists durable queue topics, subscriber counts, queued message counts, in-flight work, retry counts, and dead-letter activity.

Column	Description
Topic	Queue topic name
Subscribers	Functions subscribed to the topic
Messages	Messages waiting to be processed
In Flight	Messages currently being processed
Retries	Messages scheduled for retry
Dead Letters	Messages that exhausted retry handling

The topic detail panel has two tabs:

Tab	Content
Overview	Live topic stats and a JSON publisher for sending test messages
Dead Letters	Failed messages with retry and delete options

See Use the Console for step-by-step instructions on testing queues and managing dead letters.

Traces

The Traces page provides full OpenTelemetry trace visualization with multiple view modes, advanced filtering, and detailed span inspection.

Trace collection requires the Observability worker with exporter set to memory or both. See Observability Worker for configuration.

Trace List

Column	Description
Trace ID	Unique identifier (click to expand)
Service	The service that produced the trace
Root Span	The top-level operation name
Duration	Total trace duration
Status	OK, Error, or Pending
Spans	Number of spans in the trace
Timestamp	When the trace started

View Modes

The trace detail view provides five visualization modes:

Mode	Description
Waterfall Chart	Timeline view with spans laid out by start time and duration. Default view for sequential/parallel flow analysis.
Flame Graph	Stack-based view where each span is stacked on its parent. Wider bars indicate longer duration.
Service Breakdown	Aggregate statistics grouped by service: total spans, average duration, error rate.
Trace Map	Topology graph showing service communication via parent-child span relationships.
Flow	Node-based execution flow showing parent-child span relationships.

iii Console Traces page showing the flame graph view for a selected trace

iii Console Traces page showing a service trace map with connected services for a selected trace

iii Console Traces page showing the flow graph view for a selected trace

Span Details

The span detail panel includes the following tabs:

Tab	Content
Info	Span name, service, duration, status, trace/span IDs
Tags	All span attributes as key-value pairs
Logs	Events and log entries attached to the span
Errors	Error messages, stack traces, and exception details
Baggage	Trace context baggage key-value pairs

Trace Filtering

Filter	Description
Trace ID	Search by exact trace ID
Service Name	Filter by service name (substring match)
Span Name	Filter by span/operation name (substring match)
Status	Filter by status: OK, Error, or Pending
Duration	Min and max duration range in milliseconds
Time Range	Start and end time window
Attributes	Filter by span attributes as key-value pairs (AND logic)

Multiple filters are combined with AND logic. Pagination controls at the bottom allow browsing large result sets.

See Use the Console for step-by-step instructions on inspecting traces and spans.

Logs

The Logs page provides a viewer for structured OpenTelemetry logs collected by the engine. Logs are displayed in reverse chronological order. Each entry shows a timestamp, severity level, service name, trace/span context, and message. A severity filter toggle, full-text search, and time-range controls let you zero in on specific log entries. The source breakdown at the bottom shows which services are contributing the most log volume.

Log collection requires the Observability worker with logs_enabled: true. See Observability Worker for configuration.

The iii Console (this web UI) is separate from the engine’s logs_console_output setting. The logs_console_output option controls whether OTLP logs are also printed to the engine process’s stdout — it does not affect the Logs page here.

Log Viewer

Column	Description
Timestamp	When the log entry was produced
Severity	Log level: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, TRACE
Service	The service that produced the log
Message	The log body/message content

Expanding a log entry reveals the full JSON payload, including attributes, trace/span IDs, and resource metadata.

Log Filtering

Filter	Description
Severity	Filter by one or more log levels
Time Range	Start and end time window
Text Search	Full-text search across log messages
Trace ID	Show only logs from a specific trace

Log Entry Details

Each expanded log entry includes:

Field	Type	Description
`timestamp_unix_nano`	number	Timestamp of the log entry
`severity_text`	string	Severity level: `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`, `DEBUG`, or `TRACE`
`body`	string	The log message content
`attributes`	object	Structured attributes attached to the log entry
`trace_id`	string	Distributed trace ID for correlating with traces
`span_id`	string	Span ID within the trace
`service_name`	string	Name of the service that produced the entry

If a log entry has a trace_id, you can click it to jump directly to the corresponding trace in the Traces section above.

Flow

The Flow page renders an interactive graph of your system’s architecture, showing how triggers, functions, state stores, and queues connect.

The Flow page is an opt-in feature. Enable it by starting the console with the --enable-flow flag or setting the III_ENABLE_FLOW environment variable.

iii-console --enable-flow

The flow diagram uses an auto-layout algorithm (Dagre) to arrange nodes and edges:

Node Type	Description	Visual
HTTP Trigger	HTTP endpoint triggers	Colored by method
Cron Trigger	Scheduled triggers	Clock icon
Event Trigger	Event-driven triggers	Lightning icon
Function	Registered functions	Code icon
State	Key-value state stores	Database icon
Queue	Queue nodes	List icon

Edges show the data flow direction between components — from triggers to the functions they invoke, and from functions to the state or queues they interact with. The graph uses auto-layout (Dagre) and supports pan, zoom, and node inspection. Layout configuration is saved to the engine’s state store and restored on next visit.

See Use the Console for navigation instructions.

Configuration

The iii Console is configured via CLI flags and environment variables. All settings have sensible defaults for local development.

iii Console Config page showing engine endpoints, trigger types, active workers, trigger handlers, and worker pools

CLI Flags

iii-console [OPTIONS]

Flag	Default	Description
`--port, -p`	`3113`	Port for the console web UI
`--host`	`127.0.0.1`	Host address to bind the console to
`--engine-host`	`127.0.0.1`	Host address of the iii engine
`--engine-port`	`3111`	Port of the engine’s HTTP API
`--ws-port`	`3112`	Port of the engine’s WebSocket server
`--bridge-port`	`49134`	Port of the engine’s SDK bridge WebSocket
`--no-otel`	`false`	Disable OpenTelemetry export
`--otel-service-name`	`iii-console`	Service name for console’s own OTEL traces
`--enable-flow`	`false`	Enable the Flow visualization page

Environment Variables

Variable	Equivalent Flag	Description
`OTEL_DISABLED`	`--no-otel`	Disable OTEL export
`OTEL_SERVICE_NAME`	`--otel-service-name`	OTEL service name
`III_ENABLE_FLOW`	`--enable-flow`	Enable Flow visualization
`III_ISOLATION`	—	Reported by the SDK as the worker’s isolation context in the Workers page. For libkrun workers, the libkrun launcher injects `III_ISOLATION=libkrun` into the VM boot environment. Set manually (`III_ISOLATION=docker`) for container/k8s deployments.

Default Ports

Service	Port	Description
iii Engine HTTP API	`3111`	Engine HTTP API
iii Engine WebSocket	`3112`	Engine real-time updates
iii Console UI	`3113`	Console web interface
iii SDK Bridge	`49134`	SDK bridge WebSocket connection

Examples

iii-console

iii-console --engine-host 192.168.1.50 --engine-port 3111 --ws-port 3112

iii-console --port 8080

iii-console --enable-flow --otel-service-name my-console

The console includes a Config page (accessible from the sidebar) that displays the current runtime configuration: engine connectivity, port information, OpenTelemetry settings, and service version.

​Quick Start

​Workers

​Functions

​Invoking Functions

​Triggers

​Testing Triggers

​States

​Managing State

​Streams

​Queues

​Traces

​Trace List

​View Modes

​Span Details

​Trace Filtering

​Logs

​Log Viewer

​Log Filtering

​Log Entry Details

​Flow

​Configuration

​CLI Flags

​Environment Variables

​Default Ports

​Examples

Quick Start

Workers

Functions

Invoking Functions

Triggers

Testing Triggers

States

Managing State

Streams

Queues

Traces

Trace List

View Modes

Span Details

Trace Filtering

Logs

Log Viewer

Log Filtering

Log Entry Details

Flow

Configuration

CLI Flags

Environment Variables

Default Ports

Examples