Request Tracing with Unique IDs: Debug Issues 10x Faster

"The checkout is broken for customer john@example.com." Every developer dreads this message. You dig through logs across 5 services, grep for IP addresses, try to correlate timestamps... and waste 2 hours. With G8KEPR Request IDs, you solve it in 30 seconds.

The Problem: Distributed Request Hell

Modern apps aren't monoliths. A single API request touches:

• • API Gateway (G8KEPR)
• • Load balancer
• • Application server
• • Database
• • Cache (Redis)
• • External APIs (Stripe, SendGrid, etc.)

When something breaks, you need to trace the request through all of these systems. Without request IDs, you're matching timestamps and IP addresses—error-prone and slow.

# Gateway logs
192.168.1.100 - [31/Oct/2025:10:23:45] "POST /api/checkout" 403

# App logs
[10:23:45] Checkout attempt from 192.168.1.100
[10:23:45] Payment processing for user_789
[10:23:46] Database query failed

# Which request is which? Same timestamp, same IP, unclear!

# Gateway logs
[req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] 192.168.1.100 - POST /api/checkout - BLOCKED (sql_injection)

# App logs
[req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] Checkout attempt from 192.168.1.100
[req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] Payment processing for user_789
[req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] Database query failed

# Search for req_a3f7d8e2b1c4 and see the ENTIRE flow!

How Request IDs Work

Every request through G8KEPR gets a unique ID: req_xxxxxxxxxxxx

Using Request IDs in Your App

Access the request ID in your application code:

app.post('/api/checkout', (req, res) => {
  const requestId = req.headers['x-g8kepr-request-id'];

  logger.info(`[${requestId}] Processing checkout`);

  try {
    processPayment(userId);
    logger.info(`[${requestId}] Payment successful`);
  } catch (error) {
    logger.error(`[${requestId}] Payment failed: ${error}`);
  }
});

@app.post("/api/checkout")
async def checkout(request: Request):
    request_id = request.state.request_id

    logger.info(f"[{request_id}] Processing checkout")

    try:
        await process_payment(user_id)
        logger.info(f"[{request_id}] Payment successful")
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"[{request_id}] Payment failed: {e}")

Real-World Debugging Scenarios

grep "req_a3f7d8e2b1c4" logs/*.log

gateway.log: [req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] BLOCKED sql_injection (HIGH)
gateway.log: [req_a3f7d8e2b1c4] Payload: email=test+user@example.com

# Found it! The + sign in email triggered false positive

grep "duration > 5000ms" logs/app.log

[req_b4e8c9d3a2f5] Checkout duration: 5234ms
[req_c5f9d0e4b3g6] Checkout duration: 5891ms

grep "req_b4e8c9d3a2f5" logs/*.log

app.log: [req_b4e8c9d3a2f5] Stripe API call started
app.log: [req_b4e8c9d3a2f5] Stripe API call finished (5100ms)

# Stripe is slow! Not our code.

Advanced: Distributed Tracing

Pass request IDs to downstream services for full distributed tracing:

// Forward request ID to microservices
const requestId = req.headers['x-g8kepr-request-id'];

const response = await fetch('https://payment-service/charge', {
  headers: {
    'X-Request-ID': requestId,  // Forward it!
    'Authorization': 'Bearer ...'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ amount: 99.99 })
});

// Now payment service logs also include req_a3f7d8e2b1c4

Related Features

• ← Monitor Mode - Test security rules without blocking traffic
• → Debug Headers - All X-G8KEPR-* headers explained