---
title:
  page: OCSF JSON Export
  nav: OCSF JSON Export
description: How to enable full OCSF JSON logging for SIEM integration, compliance, and structured analysis.
topics:
- Generative AI
- Cybersecurity
tags:
- OCSF
- JSON
- SIEM
- Compliance
- Observability
content:
  type: how_to
  difficulty: technical_intermediate
  audience:
  - engineer
---

<!--
  SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
  SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-->

# OCSF JSON Export

The [shorthand log format](logging.md) is optimized for humans and agents reading logs in real time. For machine consumption, compliance archival, or SIEM integration, you can enable full OCSF JSON export. This writes every OCSF event as a complete JSON record in JSONL format (one JSON object per line).

## Enable JSON Export

Use the `ocsf_json_enabled` setting to toggle JSON export. The setting can be applied globally (all sandboxes) or per-sandbox.

Global:

```console
$ openshell settings set --global --key ocsf_json_enabled --value true
```

Per-sandbox:

```console
$ openshell settings set my-sandbox --key ocsf_json_enabled --value true
```

The setting takes effect on the next poll cycle (default: 10 seconds). No sandbox restart is required.

To disable:

```console
$ openshell settings set --global --key ocsf_json_enabled --value false
```

## Output Location

When enabled, OCSF JSON records are written to `/var/log/openshell-ocsf.YYYY-MM-DD.log` inside the sandbox. The file rotates daily and retains the 3 most recent files, matching the main log file rotation.

## JSON Record Structure

Each line is a complete OCSF v1.7.0 JSON object. Here is an example of a network connection event:

```json
{
  "class_uid": 4001,
  "class_name": "Network Activity",
  "category_uid": 4,
  "category_name": "Network Activity",
  "activity_id": 1,
  "activity_name": "Open",
  "severity_id": 1,
  "severity": "Informational",
  "status_id": 1,
  "status": "Success",
  "time": 1775014138811,
  "message": "CONNECT allowed api.github.com:443",
  "metadata": {
    "product": {
      "name": "OpenShell Sandbox Supervisor",
      "vendor_name": "NVIDIA",
      "version": "0.3.0"
    },
    "version": "1.7.0"
  },
  "action_id": 1,
  "action": "Allowed",
  "disposition_id": 1,
  "disposition": "Allowed",
  "dst_endpoint": {
    "domain": "api.github.com",
    "port": 443
  },
  "src_endpoint": {
    "ip": "10.42.0.31",
    "port": 37494
  },
  "actor": {
    "process": {
      "name": "/usr/bin/curl",
      "pid": 57
    }
  },
  "firewall_rule": {
    "name": "github_api",
    "type": "opa"
  }
}
```

And a denied connection:

```json
{
  "class_uid": 4001,
  "class_name": "Network Activity",
  "activity_id": 1,
  "activity_name": "Open",
  "severity_id": 3,
  "severity": "Medium",
  "status_id": 2,
  "status": "Failure",
  "action_id": 2,
  "action": "Denied",
  "disposition_id": 2,
  "disposition": "Blocked",
  "message": "CONNECT denied httpbin.org:443",
  "dst_endpoint": {
    "domain": "httpbin.org",
    "port": 443
  },
  "actor": {
    "process": {
      "name": "/usr/bin/curl",
      "pid": 63
    }
  },
  "firewall_rule": {
    "name": "-",
    "type": "opa"
  }
}
```

:::{note}
The JSON examples above are formatted for readability. The actual JSONL file contains one JSON object per line with no whitespace formatting.
:::

## OCSF Event Classes in JSON

The `class_uid` field identifies the event type:

| `class_uid` | Class | Shorthand prefix |
|---|---|---|
| 4001 | Network Activity | `NET:` |
| 4002 | HTTP Activity | `HTTP:` |
| 4007 | SSH Activity | `SSH:` |
| 1007 | Process Activity | `PROC:` |
| 2004 | Detection Finding | `FINDING:` |
| 5019 | Device Config State Change | `CONFIG:` |
| 6002 | Application Lifecycle | `LIFECYCLE:` |

## Integration with External Tools

The JSONL file can be shipped to any tool that accepts OCSF-formatted data:

- **Splunk**: Use the [Splunk OCSF Add-on](https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/6943) to ingest OCSF JSONL files.
- **Amazon Security Lake**: OCSF is the native schema for Security Lake.
- **Elastic**: Use Filebeat to ship JSONL files with the OCSF field mappings.
- **Custom pipelines**: Parse the JSONL file with `jq`, Python, or any JSON-capable tool.

Example with `jq` to extract all denied connections:

```console
$ cat /var/log/openshell-ocsf.2026-04-01.log | \
    jq -c 'select(.action == "Denied")'
```

## Relationship to Shorthand Logs

The shorthand format in `openshell.YYYY-MM-DD.log` and the JSON format in `openshell-ocsf.YYYY-MM-DD.log` are derived from the same OCSF events. The shorthand is a human-readable projection; the JSON is the complete record. Both are generated at the same time from the same event data.

The shorthand log is always active. The JSON export is opt-in via `ocsf_json_enabled`.

## Next Steps

- Learn how to [read the shorthand format](logging.md) for real-time monitoring.
- See the [OCSF specification](https://schema.ocsf.io/) for the full schema reference.