---
title: Deploy Progress
description: Stream live output from stack deploy, install, update, restart, and stop operations in a structured log view.
---

When you trigger a stack action that runs through `docker compose` (Deploy, Update, Install from the App Store, Apply with deploy from a Git Source), a progress modal opens and streams the output in real time. Each line is parsed into a timestamped row with a stage badge so you can track the deployment lifecycle as it runs. The modal can be minimized to a small pill that follows you across navigation, so you can leave the App Store mid-install and still see the status from any screen. If an operation goes quiet or fails, Sencho keeps the state observable: the modal warns when output has stopped, and the stack page surfaces recovery actions you can take without leaving Sencho.

## Showing, hiding, and styling deploy progress

Deploy progress is **on by default**. To run operations without it, open **Settings > Infrastructure > Stacks** and turn off **Deploy progress**. While it is on, **Progress style** chooses how it appears:

- **Modal** (the default): a centered overlay that opens automatically and streams the full structured log.
- **Inline**: a quiet status band on the stack detail itself, with the full log a click away under **View output**.

The choices are saved to the current browser only and synced across tabs in the same browser without a reload.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/setting-toggle.png" alt="Settings Stacks panel with the deploy progress toggle." />
</Frame>

## Using the modal

The modal opens automatically when you trigger an action. It floats centered in the viewport and does not block access to the rest of the UI.

### What the modal shows

- **Header**: the action verb (Deploying, Updating, Installing, Restarting, Stopping), the stack name in monospace truncated at 200 px, and an elapsed-time chip that appears once the connection moves past the initial **Connecting...** state.
- **Status indicator** in the upper right: one of `Connecting...` while the stream attaches, a live `<n> lines` counter while output is flowing, `Succeeded · closes in <n>s` after a clean finish, or the failure message itself when the run errors out. If the live stream cannot attach or drops, the indicator switches to `Live progress unavailable` and the operation keeps running in the background.
- **Structured log body**: one row per output line. Each row carries a timestamp, a fixed-width stage badge, and the log message. Error rows have a destructive left border and tinted background so they stand out without scanning.
- **Footer**: a `Raw output` / `Hide raw` toggle on the left, with **Minimize** and **Close** buttons on the right.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/modal-streaming.png" alt="Deploy progress modal mid-flight, showing the elapsed timer, a live line count in the header, and a populated body of timestamped LOG rows from a docker compose pull" />
</Frame>

### Stage badges

Each log row is classified by content. Most lines render as **LOG** because the badges are gated on Docker Compose's `[+] Pulling` / `[+] Creating` / `[+] Starting` progress prefixes, which only appear when Compose is run in TTY mode. The full set of badges Sencho can render:

| Badge | Meaning |
|-------|---------|
| PULL | Image layer being fetched (`[+] Pulling` or `Pulling from`) |
| BUILD | Image build step (`[+] Building`) |
| CREATE | Container being created (`[+] Creating`) |
| START | Container starting (`[+] Starting`) |
| STOP | Container stopping (`[+] Stopping` / `[+] Stopped`) |
| DOWN | Container or network being removed (`[+] Removing` / `[+] Removed`) |
| WARN | Daemon warning line (prefix `WARN[`) |
| ERR | Error line (`Error response from daemon` or text starting with `error`) |
| LOG | Default for any line that does not match the patterns above |

**ERR** rows pick up the destructive left border and the tinted background. **WARN** rows use a softer warning tint without the border.

### Raw output toggle

Click **Raw output** in the footer to expand a 200 px raw terminal panel beneath the structured rows. The raw view shows the unprocessed compose stream, including the progress bars and ANSI-formatted output that the structured parser does not render. Clicking the toggle a second time (now labelled **Hide raw**) collapses the panel.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/modal-raw-output.png" alt="Deploy progress modal with the Raw output panel expanded, showing structured rows above and the green-on-black raw terminal stream below" />
</Frame>

### Auto-close on success

When an action completes successfully, the status indicator switches to `Succeeded · closes in <n>s` and a 4-second countdown begins. Hover anywhere over the modal to pause the countdown; moving the cursor away restarts a fresh 4 seconds. Clicking **Close** dismisses the modal immediately.

When the [health gate](/features/health-gated-updates) is observing the stack after a deploy or update, the modal withholds the success verdict: the status indicator shows **Verifying health** instead of **Succeeded**, and the auto-close waits for the gate. A passed gate shows the success state and resumes the countdown; a failed or unknown verdict becomes the headline result and keeps the modal open with the reason. Closing the modal never stops the observation.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/modal-succeeded.png" alt="Deploy progress modal in the succeeded state with a green checkmark, the text 'Succeeded' and 'closes in 2s' in the header, and the full structured log body visible beneath" />
</Frame>

### Stalled-output warning

A long pull or recreate can go quiet for a stretch. When an operation is still running but has produced no new output for a while, the modal shows a warning strip with the elapsed quiet time and the last line received (or a note that no output has arrived yet). The operation keeps running; the strip only makes the quiet visible so you are not left guessing whether anything is happening. If a step is genuinely hung, Sencho stops it after a longer idle window and shows a failure with recovery actions (see [Recovery actions](#recovery-actions)).

### On failure

If the action fails, the modal stays open. The status indicator switches to a destructive icon and shows the error message itself, truncated to 200 px in the header with the full text available on hover. Error rows in the body pick up the destructive left border so they are easy to find when scrolling. The modal stays open until you click **Close**. Close it to reveal the recovery panel on the stack page.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/modal-failed.png" alt="Deploy progress modal in the failed state, with the truncated error message visible in the header and several ERR rows highlighted with a destructive border in the body" />
</Frame>

### Minimize to pill

Click **Minimize** to collapse the modal to a small status pill anchored at the bottom center of the viewport. The pill shows the action verb, the stack name in monospace, and a status dot that animates while the run is in flight (brand color, pulsing) and goes solid green or red at completion. Click the pill to expand the modal back.

The pill is mounted as a portal, so it persists across navigation: leave the App Store mid-install and the pill follows you to the dashboard, the editor, or any other view.

Minimizing, closing, or navigating away never cancels the operation. The progress view only displays output; the deploy, update, or stop runs to completion on its own. If you dismiss the view while live output is flowing, the run still finishes in the background, and its success or failure lands in your notifications.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/deploy-progress/pill.png" alt="Minimized deploy progress pill anchored at the bottom center of a stack editor view, showing the brand-colored pulsing dot and the text 'Updating docs-demo'" />
</Frame>

## Inline style

With **Progress style** set to **Inline**, the modal does not open on its own. Instead, the stack detail shows a compact status band for the running operation, between the action buttons and the container list (a status card on a phone). The band shows:

- the operation and its elapsed time,
- the current phase while images pull and containers recreate,
- the latest output line,
- the post-update [health gate](/features/health-gated-updates) result once the operation succeeds.

A **View output** button opens the full log modal on demand, and a dismiss control clears the band. When the operation finishes cleanly, the elapsed time freezes at its final duration and the band clears itself a few seconds later. Closing the opened log modal in this style only hides it again; the band stays until the operation is done or you dismiss it. If the live stream cannot attach or drops, the band shows the same **Live progress unavailable** state and the operation keeps running in the background.

## Recovery actions

When a deploy or update fails, times out, or its outcome is ambiguous, the stack page offers safe next steps so you can fix the stack in place. On desktop a small **Update failed** chip appears in the stack card; click it to open a menu of recovery actions. On a phone the same actions show as an inline card on the stack detail. Either way it shows the failed action, the error, and how long the operation ran, and it works whether or not the progress modal is enabled.

The available actions are:

- **Retry** the failed operation.
- **Restart** the stack.
- **Roll back** to the previous version, shown only when a backup exists for the stack.
- **Refresh** to re-read the live container status after the failure.
- **Copy details** to put the stack name, node, action, error, elapsed time, and last output line on your clipboard for a bug report.

Retry, Restart, and Roll back require deploy permission on the stack. After a failed or stalled operation, Sencho refreshes the container state automatically so the page reflects reality, and it never leaves the action stuck in an endless spinner.

## Supported entry points

The modal opens for the following actions:

- **Deploy**, **Update**, **Restart**, **Stop** from the stack editor's action bar.
- **Install** from the App Store.
- **Apply** from a Git Source panel when the apply request includes a deploy.

Of those, **Deploy**, **Update**, **Install**, and Git **Apply** route through `docker compose up` and produce a populated structured-log body. **Restart** and **Stop** call the Docker Engine directly to act on existing containers; they bypass compose, so the modal opens, registers `0 lines`, and finishes. Useful as a confirmation surface for those actions, but with no log content.

The HTTP API also exposes a `down` action (compose-level teardown) that streams its output the same way Deploy and Update do, but no UI control currently triggers it; the `down` endpoint is reachable from automation and from Sencho's own internal cleanup paths.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The modal shows 'Live progress unavailable' or stays on 'Connecting...'">
    The modal opens a WebSocket to the same host and port as the rest of the API to receive compose output. If that connection cannot upgrade, the modal switches to **Live progress unavailable** and the operation continues without live output, finishing in the background with its result in your notifications. To restore live streaming, check that an upstream proxy or firewall is not blocking WebSocket upgrades. For nginx, ensure `proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;` and `proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";` are configured. See the [configuration guide](/getting-started/configuration#reverse-proxy-setup) for a full nginx example.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="The modal said 'Live progress unavailable' but my stack still deployed">
    That is expected. The deploy, update, or stop is driven by the action you triggered, not by the progress stream. The stream is a live view layered on top, so if it cannot connect or drops partway, the operation still runs to completion. Reopen the stack or check your notifications to confirm the final result.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="Restart or Stop opens the modal but shows 0 lines">
    Restart and Stop hit the Docker Engine directly to act on the existing containers; they do not invoke `docker compose`, so there is no compose stream to render. The modal still opens to confirm the action and to surface a failure if one occurs. For a fully populated structured log, use **Deploy** or **Update** instead.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="The structured rows are all LOG and I don't see PULL or CREATE badges">
    The badges are matched on Docker Compose's `[+] Pulling`, `[+] Creating`, and `[+] Starting` progress prefixes, which Compose only emits when it detects an interactive TTY. Sencho spawns `docker compose` without a TTY, so most output falls back to the **LOG** badge. The structured row, the timestamp, the message, and the destructive styling for **ERR** rows all still apply; only the colored stage chip is missing.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="The structured rows are empty but raw output shows content">
    Some compose wrappers and Docker plugins emit non-standard output. The parser falls back to a **LOG** row for any line it cannot classify, but if a line is consumed entirely by ANSI control sequences it can drop out of the structured view. Toggle **Raw output** to see the full stream.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="An update stalled or appears stuck">
    If a pull or recreate produces no output for a while, the modal shows a stalled-output warning so you know the operation has gone quiet. The operation keeps running. If a step is genuinely hung, Sencho stops it after a longer idle window (10 minutes by default) and the stack page offers recovery actions where you can retry, restart, roll back when a backup exists, refresh the container state, or copy troubleshooting details. To change how long Sencho waits before treating a silent step as stalled, set `SENCHO_COMPOSE_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS`; raise it on slow links or for heavy local image builds.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="I changed the deploy progress setting but it did not take effect">
    The settings live in `localStorage`: the on/off toggle under `sencho.deploy-feedback.enabled` and the Modal/Inline choice under `sencho.deploy-feedback.style`. Both apply to the current tab without a reload, and other tabs in the same browser pick up the change through a `storage` event. Deploy progress defaults to on in Modal style, so only an explicit choice changes it. If a tab still does not honour the setting, refresh that tab. The settings do not sync across browsers or devices; each one carries its own choice.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>
