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# View instance history

**Add-on product**: Lifecycle Manager extends Itential Platform with stateful orchestration capabilities. It requires Itential Platform as a prerequisite. [View platform overview](/itential-platform/overview)

Track how instance properties change over time with execution history and diff views.

## What is instance data history?

Starting with Platform 6, Lifecycle Manager shows which properties changed with each action executed against an instance. Use this feature to:

* Troubleshoot issues by understanding when properties changed
* Audit infrastructure changes with complete transparency
* Track how endpoints evolved through their lifecycle

## View instance history

To access instance history:

#### Select an instance

Open any resource and select an instance from the Instances tab

#### Open the History tab

Click **History** in the instance side panel

The History tab displays:

* User who ran the action
* Action name
* Instance group (if applicable)
* Execution start time
* Execution status

Entries appear in reverse chronological order (newest first).

## View execution details

To see what changed during an action:

#### Click an action

Select any action from the History tab

#### Review the execution details page

Edit details on the left and execution data on the right

### Execution metadata

The left panel shows:

* Execution status and timing
* User information
* Action configuration
* Execution steps (Pre-JST, Workflow, Post-JST)

### Execution data diff

The right panel displays a side-by-side comparison:

* **Initial State** (left): Instance properties when the action started
* **Output State** (right): Instance properties when the action completed

The diff view highlights:

* **Deletions**: Lines removed (red background)
* **Additions**: Lines added (green background)
* **Modifications**: Lines changed (yellow background with character-level highlights)

Lines more than three lines away from changes are collapsed by default. Click **Expand # lines** to show hidden sections.

## Understand execution states

Actions can have these states:

| State     | Description                   | Diff available |
| --------- | ----------------------------- | -------------- |
| RUNNING   | Action is currently executing | No             |
| COMPLETE  | Action finished successfully  | Yes            |
| ERROR     | Action encountered an error   | No             |
| CANCELLED | Action was cancelled by user  | No             |

The page automatically updates when a running action completes.

## View history by action type

### Create actions

Create actions show:

* **Initial State**: Empty object (instance didn't exist yet)
* **Output State**: All properties assigned during creation

### Update actions

Update actions show:

* **Initial State**: Properties before the action
* **Output State**: Properties after the action

### Delete actions

Delete actions show:

* **Initial State**: Properties before deletion
* **Output State**: Final state defined by the action

Deleted instances retain their action history.

## View instance group history

Instance group executions display differently:

#### Open group execution details

Select an action from an instance group's History tab

#### View the execution table

See a table of executed actions for each instance in the group

#### Navigate to individual instances

Click links in the table to view specific instance execution details

## Understand diff behavior

### Key ordering

The diff compares stringified JSON. If an action reorders keys, they appear as:

* Deletion at the original position
* Addition at the new position

This occurs even when values are unchanged.

### Whitespace changes

Structural changes (such as nesting data in new objects) are detected as modifications due to indentation differences.

### Large strings

Strings containing newlines are treated as single lines. Changes to large strings highlight the entire string rather than individual lines within it.

## Performance considerations

Diff calculation time depends on:

* **State size**: Larger JSON objects take longer to process
* **Number of changes**: More differences require more rendering

**Optimize performance by**:

* Minimizing unnecessary key reordering
* Avoiding excessively large string properties
* Splitting large objects into smaller properties when possible

States with both large size and many changes may take several seconds to calculate and render.

## Known limitations

Current limitations include:

* Metadata (instance group, end date) only displays when it exists
* Display names and references are frozen at execution time. Renaming or deleting assets afterward doesn't affect historical records
* No copy function for individual states
* No way to ignore whitespace or reorder keys in the diff

## Next steps

#### [Create resources](/itential-platform/lifecycle-manager/manage-resources)

Build resource models and instances

#### [Platform overview](/itential-platform/overview)

Return to platform documentation