Availability and privacy

Logging is off by default and is available only when your account has a logging allowance and the site has enabled the feature. Your logging allowance is separate from settings storage and connection limits.

When enabled, MUD output and sent commands are saved on the PlayMUD.online server. This can include private tells, conversations, and sensitive information. Commands are captured after alias expansion, including commands sent by Lua. Commands sent while the MUD signals password mode are omitted, but a MUD that echoes a secret can still send it back into the log. Pause recording before exchanging sensitive information. Browser-only Lua echoes are not recorded.

The saved text removes terminal colors and control sequences and preserves visible text, line breaks, and repeated messages. A repeated line is still part of your history. Structured BatClient prompts are saved only once after a submitted command; repeated idle prompt updates are not saved. Pressing Enter on an empty command also allows the next readable prompt to be saved. Older logs may still contain repeated prompts. Logging is separate from the temporary browser Activity panel and from settings backups.

Turn recording on or pause it

1. Open Logs or Log Viewer and recording settings in the client. You can also open Log Viewer directly and log in with your approved profile.
2. Open Recording settings, read the notice and select the saved servers you want recorded.
3. Choose your account timezone and how long to keep history, then select Save recording settings.

Each saved server entry has its own opt-in, even when entries share a settings scope. Adding a new server does not turn recording on. Historical server entries remain available in the viewer when their saved connection entry changes or disappears.

Pause all recording stops new capture across your selected servers after you save. Clearing an individual server and saving stops capture for that entry. Both keep existing history.

Logging does not connect to a MUD or extend its connection lifetime. Closing the browser or logging out can leave an existing MUD session connected and recording. Use Disconnect in the client, or save a pause in Log Viewer, to stop new capture.

Understand the status

When recording is enabled, desktop and mobile ask you to acknowledge the notice once. Select Yes, I understand to hide logging notices and status strips across all clients for your account. Other open clients pick up your answer on their next refresh. Acknowledging does not change recording; if saving fails, you can try again. The Logs link stays available for recording settings and detailed status, including storage limits and interruptions.

• Recording MUD output: the selected MUD connection is being recorded.
• Logging enabled · disconnected: recording is selected but the MUD is not connected.
• Logging paused: recording is paused.
• Logging off: the selected server is not opted in.
• Log storage full: new capture has stopped. Export and delete unwanted history to free space.
• Logging unavailable: capture cannot currently be confirmed. Check the viewer and try again later.

Other selected MUD sessions can be recording while the server currently shown in the client is disconnected or has logging off. The viewer lists each saved server's status. Recent output can take a short time to become searchable. An interruption can create a visible gap; do not assume missing output was captured.

Browse daily history

The guide at the top explains the basic flow: choose your server and period, find text, then read the results. Choose a Server and Selected day under When. The day selector sits beside these search controls and starts on the latest recorded day, including older history. Choose Open day under Browse, or select one of the recorded dates below. Open Find older days to list dates in another range. Use Previous lines and Next lines to move through a long day.

Days follow your account timezone. Hover or focus a line number to see its time, or select it to read surrounding lines. Saved text cannot insert buttons, scripts, or active markup into the viewer.

Find words or a phrase

Choose your server, choose When, type the words you want to find, and select Find text. Ordinary searches ignore capital letters. Search the selected day, the seven or thirty days ending on that day, all saved history for that server, or your own dates. The day and custom dates sit in the same search controls as the server and period. Custom dates follow your account timezone; optional times use UTC. Smaller periods finish searching sooner.

The first result opens automatically with up to 15 surrounding lines on each side and the matching text highlighted and brought into view. Use Previous occurrence and Next occurrence to move between results. The viewer prepares a few nearby results while you read, so a prepared result opens immediately. This preparation never changes your selected result. Starting another search, refreshing, changing servers, deleting history, or logging out cancels preparation and clears the temporary browser copy.

Results appear while searching, and the count says results found so far until the search completes. A cancelled or failed search has partial results. Use Cancel search to stop it. Search uses the saved output present when it starts; newly received output is included in a later search.

Open Advanced search when you need more control:

• Words or a phrase finds every occurrence, including overlapping occurrences: ana occurs twice in banana.
• Whole line compares the complete original MUD line, without added timestamps.
• Advanced pattern uses Go regular expressions (RE2), such as dragon.*arrives. Lookaround and backreferences are not supported, and pattern matches do not overlap.
• Match capital letters distinguishes uppercase and lowercase text.
• Across several lines permits line breaks in a query. Searches stay within one connection and never cross an output gap. Multiline patterns are limited to 32 MiB, so choose a shorter period when needed.

Downloads and storage limits

Open Download logs to save the selected day as a text file, or a ZIP containing daily files for a search period or all your logs. ZIP is selected automatically for a period or all history. The server and dates are shown before you prepare the download and on the finished download link. Select Prepare download and wait for that link. Keep the viewer open while a search or download is being prepared; leaving cancels unfinished work. Optional times and connection labels change only the downloaded file.

Your quota measures compressed log storage. The default retention choice keeps history until the quota is reached and then stops recording. It does not silently discard older history to make room. You can instead choose automatic retention of 30, 90, or 365 days. That choice allows older history to be deleted, so download anything you want to keep first.

If logging access is removed, new recording stops. The viewer shows the deadline for a seven-day grace period to browse and download history before its deletion. Access restored during that period cancels the pending expiry.

Delete or restore history

In Delete history, choose the open day, the search date range for the selected server, or all your logs from every server. Type DELETE and select Delete selected history. Selected history disappears immediately and affected jobs stop. Storage usage may remain until background cleanup finishes; awaiting file cleanup explains that delay. Deletion does not change your recording preferences.

Downloaded copies and external backups are handled separately. If your account is deleted with archival, its log history is frozen with the archive. Full account deletion also removes earlier application archives for the same normalized profile name. Ask the site operator about backup retention.

If verified archived history is offered to your current account, the viewer shows an Accept history restoration button. Accept only your own history. Your account needs logging access and enough available quota. Restoration transfers log history only; it does not enable recording or replace your settings, password, or login sessions. Creating a profile with an old name does not automatically restore someone else's history.