The old way to turn on debug was to edit compose and restart the container — destroying the exact state you restarted in order to look at. In goca the log level is configuration: a versioned LoggingPolicy document sets it for the fleet or one component, every process picks it up within 30 seconds, and nothing restarts. The change is attributable and lands in the audit log.
Three things to know before using it in anger. debug is a much shorter window, not just more lines — the console's log view reads a 2,000-entry in-memory ring per process, and debug fills it fast; use the per-role override for the component you are investigating. A container started with GOCA_LOG_LEVEL set pins itself and ignores the document — deliberate, so a level you set by hand is never taken back by a setting invisible from the shell; the Logs page says which processes are pinned. And turning the level down needs a second pair of eyes where approval is on — at error nothing records a failed login — while turning it up is always one save by one administrator.
Now I can raise a component to debug without destroying the evidence.