Fetch a Jenkins build's console log via REST, including progressive polling of a running build
domain: www.jenkins.io · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
GET https://JENKINS_URL/job/<job-name>/<build-number>/consoleText - returns the complete raw console output in one response. Example: curl -u user:apiToken "https://JENKINS_URL/job/JOBNAME/BUILD_NUMBER/consoleText" -o build.log
For a build that is still running, poll progressively instead: GET https://JENKINS_URL/job/<job-name>/<build-number>/logText/progressiveText?start=0 - this returns only the log content from the given start offset (backed by Jenkins' LargeText/AnnotatedLargeText progressive-output mechanism).
Repeat the progressiveText call with start= advanced by the amount of data received in the previous response, fetching only newly appended log content each time.
Use the build's /api/json?tree=building value as the stop condition for polling: keep re-requesting progressiveText with the advancing start= until building is false, then make one final call to pick up trailing output.
/consoleText returns the whole log in a single response, so for long or verbose builds it can be slow and memory-heavy - prefer logText/progressiveText?start=<offset> for tailing.
Progressive-fetch state is carried in HTTP response headers (commonly reported as X-Text-Size for the next offset and X-More-Data while the build is running), but these header names are not spelled out in current jenkins.io docs - verify them against your own instance rather than hard-coding.
progressiveText has no documented log-finished flag - pair it with the job's building field to know when to stop polling.
Secured instances need Basic auth with username + API token sent from the first request, or they return 403 immediately.
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