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.
Open Audit Log
- In the Layers dashboard, go to Lab → Audit Log.
- Review the table of logged search decisions.
- Use the search box to find a query, such as “waterproof hiking boots”.
- Use the Action or Source filters to narrow the table.
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.
- Attribute promotion - Layers promoted a catalog attribute into keyword search so the query matches products natively.
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.
Auto-applied actions
Some audit rows carry an Auto badge next to the action type. These are changes that Layers applied automatically through its self-improving search pipeline, without manual intervention. Auto-applied actions are triggered when Layers detects zero-result queries and finds a recovery path, such as transferring a proven intent modifier from a related query or promoting an attribute into keyword search. Every auto-applied change is judge-gated: Layers re-runs the affected query with the proposed fix, scores the results, and only keeps the change when the score passes a quality threshold. Changes that do not improve results are rolled back. You can filter the Audit Log to show only auto-applied rows, or hover the Auto badge to see the recovery method (for example, “Cluster transfer” or “Self-improving search”).View full details
- In Audit Log, find the decision you want to inspect.
- Open the row’s actions menu and select View details.
- Read the plain-language summary at the top of the dialog. It explains what Layers did for this query and why.
- Review the Visitor, Change, Before, and After fields to see who was affected and what changed.
- Check Source signals to see which signals contributed to the decision.
- Expand Raw before value, Raw after value, or Metadata if you need the full payload.
Replay a decision
- In Audit Log, find the row you want to replay.
- Open the row’s actions menu and select Replay search. The option only appears when a replay is available.
- Review the replayed query in Test Text Search.
- Use Query Understanding and score breakdowns to inspect the search result behavior.
Troubleshooting
You do not see a recent search
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.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.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.Next steps
- Lab Search quality (Beta) - Review the optimizations Layers is testing for your store.
- Insights - Review trends, anomalies, and opportunities Layers detected.
- Test text search - Inspect ranking and Query Understanding.
- Config History - Review changes to merchandising rules, ranking rules, search rules, and sort orders.