---
title: "Send logs to Grafana Loki | Grafana Labs"
description: "Learn how to Configure Grafana Alloy to send system logs to Grafana Loki"
---

# Send logs to Grafana Loki

The `config.alloy` file defines the pipeline for how Alloy should receive telemetry data, process or transform it, and export it to Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, or other platforms and databases. Watch video ->

The default configuration file location for Alloy is:

- Linux: `/etc/alloy/config.alloy`
- macOS: `$(brew --prefix)/etc/alloy/config.alloy`
- Windows: `%ProgramFiles%\GrafanaLabs\Alloy\config.alloy`

You can open the configuration file using `vim` or `nano`. For this example, [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/) is used with the [Alloy plugin](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Grafana.grafana-alloy) installed, as it comes with the advantage of syntax support.

Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```bash
code $(brew --prefix)/etc/alloy/config.alloy
```

When you open the configuration file automatically generated by the setup guide in Grafana Cloud, a working pipeline is already set up by default that:

1. Collects and exposes internal metrics about Alloy itself
2. Adds useful labels to the metrics that will be scraped
3. Starts a Prometheus scraping job that will scrape the internal metrics with a 60-second interval
4. Filters the metrics to keep the useful ones
5. Forwards them to Grafana Cloud Prometheus
6. Forwards logs to Grafana Cloud Logs (Loki), but it’s not wired up yet.

With the configuration file still open, add the following components:

1. To configure Alloy to search for log files to source, copy and paste the following component configuration before the [`loki.write`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki/loki.write/) component.
   
   While not required, the recommended order of components provides for better organization and readability.
   
   Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```alloy
   local.file_match "local_files" {
       path_targets = [{"__path__" = "/var/log/*.log"}]
       sync_period = "5s"
   }
   ```
   
   This configuration creates a [`local.file_match`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/local/local.file_match/) component named `local_files` which does the following:
   
   - It tells Alloy which files to source.
   - It checks for new files every 5 seconds.
2. To configure Alloy to read log entries from files and forward them to other `loki.*` components, copy and paste the following component configuration after the `local.file_match` component.
   
   Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```alloy
     loki.source.file "log_scrape" {
       targets    = local.file_match.local_files.targets
       forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]
     }
   ```
   
   This configuration creates a [`loki.source.file`](/docs/alloy/latest/reference/components/loki/loki.source.file/) component named `log_scrape` which does the following:
   
   - It connects to the `local_files` component as its source or target.
   - It forwards the logs it scrapes to the `loki.write` component called `grafana_cloud_loki`.
3. Run the following command to call the `/-/reload` endpoint to tell Alloy to reload the configuration file without a system service restart.
   
   Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```bash
   curl -X POST http://localhost:12345/-/reload
   ```
   
   You should see the message `config reloaded` printed on your terminal.
   
   > **Note:** Run the reload command whenever you make changes to the configuration.

In the next milestone, you’re going to inspect your configuration file in the Alloy UI.