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Documentation Index

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Use Audit Log when you need to understand why Layers changed a search query or search outcome. It shows individual engine decisions, the affected query, the anonymous visitor label, the change summary, and the source signals behind the action.

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Prerequisites

  • Your store must be connected to Layers.
  • Your catalog should be synced.
  • Search traffic or Lab test searches must have run after audit logging was enabled.

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Open Audit Log

  1. In the Layers dashboard, go to Lab → Audit Log.
  2. Review the table of logged search decisions.
  3. Use the search box to find a query, such as “waterproof hiking boots”.
  4. Use the Action or Source filters to narrow the table.

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Action types

Audit Log can show these search actions:
  • Expansion - Layers added related search terms to improve recall.
  • Correction - Layers corrected or rewrote the shopper’s query.
  • Redirect - A semantic redirect matched the query and returned a configured URL.
  • Intent modifier - Layers applied an intent-based boost or filter.

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Source types

The Source column explains what contributed to the decision:
  • Categorical Attribute - A product attribute helped identify query meaning.
  • Feature Attribute - A feature-style attribute contributed to the decision.
  • Semantic match - Semantic similarity helped match the query to a concept or redirect.
  • Query understanding - Query interpretation detected a correction, route, or intent.

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View full details

  1. In Audit Log, find the decision you want to inspect.
  2. Open the row’s actions menu and select View details.
  3. Read the plain-language summary at the top of the dialog. It explains what Layers did for this query and why.
  4. Review the Visitor, Change, Before, and After fields to see who was affected and what changed.
  5. Check Source signals to see which signals contributed to the decision.
  6. Expand Raw before value, Raw after value, or Metadata if you need the full payload.
The visitor label is anonymous. It is derived from session or customer identity when available and does not show personally identifiable information.

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Replay a decision

  1. In Audit Log, find the row you want to replay.
  2. Open the row’s actions menu and select Replay search. The option only appears when a replay is available.
  3. Review the replayed query in Test Text Search.
  4. Use Query Understanding and score breakdowns to inspect the search result behavior.

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Troubleshooting

Audit rows are created when Layers records a search decision such as an expansion, correction, redirect, or intent modifier. A plain search with no logged decision may not appear.

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A visitor appears as anonymous

This is expected when the original request did not include session or customer identity. Lab avoids exposing personal customer details.

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A filter returns no rows

Clear the Action, Source, and query filters, then try a broader date range. Some source types only appear when the relevant engine feature participated in the search.

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Next steps