tracebin

You were sent a tracebin link

Someone helping you with a support issue asked for diagnostic files from your machine — logs, configuration, command output. tracebin is the tool they use to collect those files without email attachments. This page explains exactly what the link does, what it will never do, and how to check for yourself before running anything.

What the link is

The link looks like this:

curl -sSL https://tracebin.dev/c/<token>/run | sh

It downloads a plain shell script and runs it. The script collects only the specific items your support contact listed — file paths, command output, optionally files from a named Docker container — then shows you everything it collected and asks for your approval before uploading anything.

If you open the link in a browser instead of a terminal, you get a page listing exactly what the script will collect, before you run anything.

What the script never does

  • It never uses sudo. It runs as you, with your permissions. Files it can't read are skipped and reported, not forced.
  • It never installs anything. It uses tools already on your machine (curl, tar) and stops with a clear message if one is missing.
  • It never persists. All work happens in a temporary directory that is removed when the script exits — including when you cancel with Ctrl+C. The one exception: if the link expires mid-upload, staged files are deliberately left in place and the script prints exactly where, so a fresh link can finish the job.
  • It collects only the listed items. It does not scan your disk. If the file inventory option is enabled, it additionally records the names, sizes, and modification times of files in the listed directories — never their contents — so your support contact can see what exists when an expected file is missing.
  • It needs no account. You never sign up or log in.

Every copy of the script states this in a comment block at the top, so you can verify it in the script text itself.

You approve before anything uploads

After collecting, the script lists every file with its size and where it came from, then asks:

Upload 3 files (2.9 MB)? [y/N/review]
  • y uploads.
  • review lets you exclude files by number before uploading.
  • Anything else — including just pressing enter — aborts: tracebin: aborted — no files uploaded.

Alongside the listed files, the run also uploads the output of the commands in the collection spec, the file inventory if it was enabled, and a manifest describing the run — all of which were disclosed on the link page before you ran anything.

The script refuses to upload without your confirmation. If it can't reach your terminal to ask (for example inside some containers or CI), it stops and tells you to download and run it directly instead.

Some links wrap a command your support contact asked you to run (for example, reproducing a problem). Those links describe the command and everything that will be collected, then ask up front:

Run this command and collect automatically on completion? [y/N]

Answering y is your one approval for that run — after the command exits, collection and upload proceed automatically without a second prompt. Answering anything else aborts and nothing runs.

Prefer to inspect first?

Don't want to pipe a URL into sh? Reasonable. Download the script and read it before running it:

curl -sSL -o collect.sh https://tracebin.dev/c/<token>/run
sh collect.sh

It is plain, readable shell — no binaries, no obfuscation.

Run it on the machine, not inside the container

If the collection involves a Docker container, still run the script on the host machine, in a normal terminal. The script reaches into the named container using your existing Docker access — it does not need to run inside the container, and running it there will usually fail (no terminal to ask for your approval, no Docker access).

What happens to your files

  • Files upload directly to storage over time-limited signed URLs — they do not pass through anyone's inbox.
  • They appear for your support contact organized under the support bin for your issue, together with a manifest: file names, sizes, SHA-256 checksums, and command exit codes, so both sides can verify what was sent.
  • The link itself expires. An expired link stops working entirely (tracebin: collection link expired) — ask your support contact for a fresh one.
  • At the end, the script prints a page address where you can add more files to the same run from your browser, if your support contact asks for something else.

Something went wrong?

See troubleshooting — it is organized by the exact error message the script prints.

Questions about tracebin itself: support@tracebin.dev