# AdGuard DNS query log format

The query log is written in the [JSONL][jsonl] (JSON Lines) format. The log entries are designed to be concise and easily compressable. An example of the log output:

```jsonl
{"u":"ABCD","b":"prof1234","i":"dev1234","c":"RU","d":"US","n":"example.com.","l":"cdef5678","m":"||example.com^","t":1628590394000,"a":1234,"e":5,"q":1,"rn":1234,"f":2,"s":0,"p":8,"r":0}
{"u":"DEFG","b":"prof1234","i":"dev1234","c":"RU","d":"JP","n":"example.org.","l":"hijk9012","m":"||example.org^","t":1628590394100,"a":6789,"e":6,"q":1,"rn":56789,"f":2,"s":0,"p":8,"r":0}
```

AdGuard DNS opens and closes the log file on each write to prevent issues with external log rotation.

[jsonl]: https://jsonlines.org/

## <a href="#properties" id="properties" name="properties">Properties</a>

Property names have been chosen to be single-letter but still have mnemonic rules to remember, which property means what. The properties are:

- <a href="#properties-u" id="properties-u" name="properties-u">`u`</a>: The unique ID of the request. The short name `u` stands for “unique”.

    > [!NOTE]
    > This field is deprecated and may be removed in the future.

    **Example:** `"ABCD1234"`

- <a href="#properties-b" id="properties-b" name="properties-b">`b`</a>: The detected profile ID (also known as DNS ID and DNS Server ID), if any. The short name `b` stands for “buyer”.

    **Example:** `"prof1234"`

- <a href="#properties-i" id="properties-i" name="properties-i">`i`</a>: The detected device ID, if any. The short name `i` stands for “ID”.

    **Example:** `"dev1234"`

- <a href="#properties-c" id="properties-c" name="properties-c">`c`</a>: The detected country of the client's IP address as an [ISO 3166-1 alpha-2][wiki-iso] country code, if any. If none could be detected, this property is absent. The short name `c` stands for “client country”.

    > [!NOTE]
    > AdGuard DNS uses the common user-assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code `XK` for the partially-recognized state of the Republic of Kosovo.

    **Example:** `"AU"`

- <a href="#properties-d" id="properties-d" name="properties-d">`d`</a>: The detected country of the first IP address in the response sent to the client, as an [ISO 3166-1 alpha-2][wiki-iso] country code, if any. If none could be detected, this property is absent. The short name `d` stands for “destination”.

    > [!NOTE]
    > Just like in the `c` field, `XK` is used for the partially-recognized state of the Republic of Kosovo. In addition to that, the code `QN`, “Not Applicable”, is used when the resource-record type of the response does not contain any IP-address information (for example, responses to `TXT` requests).

    **Example:** `"US"`

- <a href="#properties-n" id="properties-n" name="properties-n">`n`</a>: The requested resource name. The short name `n` stands for “name”.

    **Example:** `"example.com."`

- <a href="#properties-l" id="properties-l" name="properties-l">`l`</a>: The ID of the first filter the rules of which matched this query. If no rules matched, this property is omitted. The short name `l` stands for “list of filter rules”.

    **Example:** `"adguard_dns_filter"`

    The special reserved values are:

    - `adult_blocking`: the request was filtered by the adult content blocking filter.

    - `blocked_service`: the request was blocked by the service blocker. The property `m` contains the ID of that blocked service.

    - `custom`: the request was filtered by a custom profile rule.

    - `general_safe_search`: the request was modified by the general safe search filter.

    - `newly_registered_domains`: the request was filtered by the newly-registered domains filter.

    - `safe_browsing`: the request was filtered by the safe browsing filter.

    - `youtube_safe_search`: the request was modified by the YouTube safe search filter.

- <a href="#properties-m" id="properties-m" name="properties-m">`m`</a>: The text of the first rule that matched this query or the ID of the blocked service, if the ID of the filtering rule list is `blocked_service`. If no rules matched, this property is omitted. The short name `m` stands for “match”.

    **Object examples:**

    ```json
    {
      "l": "adguard_dns_filter",
      "m": "||example.com^",
      "...": "..."
    }
    ```

    ```json
    {
      "l": "blocked_service",
      "m": "example",
      "...": "..."
    }
    ```

- <a href="#properties-t" id="properties-t" name="properties-t">`t`</a>: The [Unix time][wiki-unix] at which the request was received, in milliseconds. The short name `t` stands for “time”.

    **Example:** `1629974298000`

- <a href="#properties-a" id="properties-a" name="properties-a">`a`</a>: The detected [autonomous system][wiki-asn] number (aka ASN) of the client's IP address, if any. If none could be detected, this property is absent. The short name `a` stands for “ASN”.

    **Example:** `1234`

- <a href="#properties-e" id="properties-e" name="properties-e">`e`</a>: The time passed since the beginning of the request processing, in milliseconds. The short name `e` stands for “elapsed”.

    **Example:** `3`

- <a href="#properties-q" id="properties-q" name="properties-q">`q`</a>: The type of the resource record of the query. The short name `q` stands for “question”.

    **Example:** `1`

    See [this Wikipedia list][wiki-dnsrr] for numeric values and their meanings.

- <a href="#properties-rn" id="properties-rn" name="properties-rn">`rn`</a>: A random 16-bit unsigned integer added to an entry for easier deduplication when `"u"` is not used for that.

    **Example:** `12345`

- <a href="#properties-f" id="properties-f" name="properties-f">`f`</a>: The action taken with this request. The short name `f` stands for “filtering”. The possible values are:

    - `0`: invalid or unknown action (typically, this value is not used)
    - `1`: no filtering
    - `2`: the request (question) is blocked
    - `3`: the response (answer) is blocked
    - `4`: the request (question) is allowed by an allowlist rule
    - `5`: the response (answer) is allowed by an allowlist rule
    - `6`: the request (question) or response (answer) was modified or rewritten by a safety filter or a DNS rewrite rule

    **Example:** `2`

- <a href="#properties-s" id="properties-s" name="properties-s">`s`</a>: The status of whether the response was validated with DNSSEC. `0` means no, `1` means yes. The short name `s` stands for “secure”.

    **Example:** `1`

- <a href="#properties-p" id="properties-p" name="properties-p">`p`</a>: The DNS protocol used to process this request. The short name `p` stands for “protocol”. The possible values are:

    - `0`: invalid or unknown protocol (typically, this value is not used)
    - `3`: DNS-over-HTTPS
    - `4`: DNS-over-QUIC
    - `5`: DNS-over-TLS
    - `8`: Plain DNS
    - `9`: DNSCrypt

    **Example:** `3`

- <a href="#properties-r" id="properties-r" name="properties-r">`r`</a>: The response code (aka `RCODE`) sent to the client. The short name `r` stands for “response”.

    **Example:** `0`

    See [this IANA list][iana-rcode] for numeric values and their meanings.

- <a href="#properties-ip" id="properties-ip" name="properties-ip">`ip`</a>: The IP address of the client. This field is omitted in case the IP logging is turned off for the corresponding profile. The short name `ip` stands for “IP”.

    **Example:** `1.2.3.4`

See also [file `internal/querylog/entry.go`][file-entry.go] for an explanation of the properties, their names, and mnemonics.

[file-entry.go]: ../internal/querylog/entry.go
[iana-rcode]:    https://www.iana.org/assignments/dns-parameters/dns-parameters.xhtml#dns-parameters-6
[wiki-asn]:      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_system_(Internet)
[wiki-dnsrr]:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DNS_record_types
[wiki-iso]:      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
[wiki-unix]:     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time