# Accessing step output in real time through API

**URL:** <https://discuss.circleci.com/t/accessing-step-output-in-real-time-through-api/34336>\
**Category:** API\
**Created:** [February 3, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/accessing-step-output-in-real-time-through-api/34336 "2020-02-03T00:16:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tonsky](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/tonsky/32/24112_2.png) [@tonsky](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/tonsky)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/accessing-step-output-in-real-time-through-api/34336/1 "2020-02-03T00:16:20Z")

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Hi!

I noticed that steps \> actions \> output\_url links (S3 file with build output) appear only after build is finished. Is there a way to access output _during_ the build, in real time, as it is happening? I notice that CircleCI UI can do that, but is it possible through API?

Thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ScottW](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/scottw/32/22363_2.png) [@ScottW](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/ScottW)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/accessing-step-output-in-real-time-through-api/34336/2 "2020-02-11T15:16:14Z")

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Hey @tonsky, welcome to CircleCI Discuss!

It’s not possible to stream the step output VIA the API. This would actually be a quite expensive API as some build output can exceed 40k lines of output in a matter of seconds. The best way to watch the build output is using the UI.