diff --git a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LazyLogViewer.tsx b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LazyLogViewer.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index fb765bbbc4..0000000000
--- a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LazyLogViewer.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2021 The Backstage Authors
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-import React, { lazy, Suspense } from 'react';
-import { useApp } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';
-import { LogViewerProps } from './LogViewer';
-
-const LogViewer = lazy(() =>
-  import('./LogViewer').then(m => ({ default: m.LogViewer })),
-);
-
-export function LazyLogViewer(props: LogViewerProps) {
-  const { Progress } = useApp().getComponents();
-  return (
-    <Suspense fallback={<Progress />}>
-      <LogViewer {...props} />
-    </Suspense>
-  );
-}
diff --git a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.stories.tsx b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.stories.tsx
index b7a56e1a7b..255e1d03b8 100644
--- a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.stories.tsx
+++ b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.stories.tsx
@@ -14,12 +14,14 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import React from 'react';
+import React, { ComponentType } from 'react';
+import { wrapInTestApp } from '@backstage/test-utils';
 import { LogViewer } from './LogViewer';
 
 export default {
   title: 'Data Display/LogViewer',
   component: LogViewer,
+  decorators: [(Story: ComponentType<{}>) => wrapInTestApp(<Story />)],
 };
 
 const exampleLog = `Starting up task with 3 steps
diff --git a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.tsx b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.tsx
index 36d25153cd..a85603b465 100644
--- a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.tsx
+++ b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/LogViewer.tsx
@@ -14,113 +14,45 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import React, { useEffect, useMemo, useRef } from 'react';
-import IconButton from '@material-ui/core/IconButton';
-import CopyIcon from '@material-ui/icons/FileCopy';
-import AutoSizer from 'react-virtualized-auto-sizer';
-import { FixedSizeList } from 'react-window';
-import { AnsiProcessor } from './AnsiProcessor';
-import { HEADER_SIZE, useStyles } from './styles';
-import clsx from 'clsx';
-import { LogLine } from './LogLine';
-import { LogViewerControls } from './LogViewerControls';
-import { useLogViewerSearch } from './useLogViewerSearch';
-import { useLogViewerSelection } from './useLogViewerSelection';
+import React, { lazy, Suspense } from 'react';
+import { useApp } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';
 
+const RealLogViewer = lazy(() =>
+  import('./RealLogViewer').then(m => ({ default: m.RealLogViewer })),
+);
+
+/**
+ * The properties for the LogViewer component.
+ */
 export interface LogViewerProps {
+  /**
+   * The text of the logs to display.
+   *
+   * The LogViewer component is optimized for appending content at the end of the text.
+   */
   text: string;
+  /**
+   * The className to apply to the root LogViewer element inside the auto sizer.
+   */
   className?: string;
 }
 
+/**
+ * A component that displays logs in a scrollable text area.
+ *
+ * The LogViewer has support for search and filtering, as well as displaying
+ * text content with ANSI color escape codes.
+ *
+ * Since the LogViewer uses windowing to avoid rendering all contents at once, the
+ * log is sized automatically to fill the available vertical space. This means
+ * it may often be needed to wrap the LogViewer in a container that provides it
+ * with a fixed amount of space.
+ */
 export function LogViewer(props: LogViewerProps) {
-  const classes = useStyles();
-  const listRef = useRef<FixedSizeList | null>(null);
-
-  // The processor keeps state that optimizes appending to the text
-  const processor = useMemo(() => new AnsiProcessor(), []);
-  const lines = processor.process(props.text);
-
-  const search = useLogViewerSearch(lines);
-  const selection = useLogViewerSelection(lines);
-
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (search.resultLine !== undefined && listRef.current) {
-      listRef.current.scrollToItem(search.resultLine - 1, 'center');
-    }
-  }, [search.resultLine]);
-
-  const handleSelectLine = (
-    line: number,
-    event: { shiftKey: boolean; preventDefault: () => void },
-  ) => {
-    event.preventDefault();
-    selection.setSelection(line, event.shiftKey);
-  };
-
+  const { Progress } = useApp().getComponents();
   return (
-    <AutoSizer>
-      {({ height, width }) => (
-        <div
-          style={{ width, height }}
-          className={clsx(classes.root, props.className)}
-        >
-          <div className={classes.header}>
-            <LogViewerControls {...search} />
-          </div>
-          <FixedSizeList
-            ref={listRef}
-            className={classes.log}
-            height={height - HEADER_SIZE}
-            width={width}
-            itemData={search.lines}
-            itemSize={20}
-            itemCount={search.lines.length}
-          >
-            {({ index, style, data }) => {
-              const line = data[index];
-              const { lineNumber } = line;
-              return (
-                <div
-                  style={{ ...style }}
-                  className={clsx(classes.line, {
-                    [classes.lineSelected]: selection.isSelected(lineNumber),
-                  })}
-                >
-                  {selection.shouldShowButton(lineNumber) && (
-                    <IconButton
-                      size="small"
-                      className={classes.lineCopyButton}
-                      onClick={() => selection.copySelection()}
-                    >
-                      <CopyIcon fontSize="inherit" />
-                    </IconButton>
-                  )}
-                  <a
-                    role="row"
-                    target="_self"
-                    href={`#line-${lineNumber}`}
-                    className={classes.lineNumber}
-                    onClick={event => handleSelectLine(lineNumber, event)}
-                    onKeyPress={event => handleSelectLine(lineNumber, event)}
-                  >
-                    {lineNumber}
-                  </a>
-                  <LogLine
-                    line={line}
-                    classes={classes}
-                    searchText={search.searchText}
-                    highlightResultIndex={
-                      search.resultLine === lineNumber
-                        ? search.resultLineIndex
-                        : undefined
-                    }
-                  />
-                </div>
-              );
-            }}
-          </FixedSizeList>
-        </div>
-      )}
-    </AutoSizer>
+    <Suspense fallback={<Progress />}>
+      <RealLogViewer {...props} />
+    </Suspense>
   );
 }
diff --git a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/RealLogViewer.tsx b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/RealLogViewer.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d41ce80672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/RealLogViewer.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import React, { useEffect, useMemo, useRef } from 'react';
+import IconButton from '@material-ui/core/IconButton';
+import CopyIcon from '@material-ui/icons/FileCopy';
+import AutoSizer from 'react-virtualized-auto-sizer';
+import { FixedSizeList } from 'react-window';
+import { AnsiProcessor } from './AnsiProcessor';
+import { HEADER_SIZE, useStyles } from './styles';
+import clsx from 'clsx';
+import { LogLine } from './LogLine';
+import { LogViewerControls } from './LogViewerControls';
+import { useLogViewerSearch } from './useLogViewerSearch';
+import { useLogViewerSelection } from './useLogViewerSelection';
+
+export interface RealLogViewerProps {
+  text: string;
+  className?: string;
+}
+
+export function RealLogViewer(props: RealLogViewerProps) {
+  const classes = useStyles();
+  const listRef = useRef<FixedSizeList | null>(null);
+
+  // The processor keeps state that optimizes appending to the text
+  const processor = useMemo(() => new AnsiProcessor(), []);
+  const lines = processor.process(props.text);
+
+  const search = useLogViewerSearch(lines);
+  const selection = useLogViewerSelection(lines);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (search.resultLine !== undefined && listRef.current) {
+      listRef.current.scrollToItem(search.resultLine - 1, 'center');
+    }
+  }, [search.resultLine]);
+
+  const handleSelectLine = (
+    line: number,
+    event: { shiftKey: boolean; preventDefault: () => void },
+  ) => {
+    event.preventDefault();
+    selection.setSelection(line, event.shiftKey);
+  };
+
+  return (
+    <AutoSizer>
+      {({ height, width }) => (
+        <div
+          style={{ width, height }}
+          className={clsx(classes.root, props.className)}
+        >
+          <div className={classes.header}>
+            <LogViewerControls {...search} />
+          </div>
+          <FixedSizeList
+            ref={listRef}
+            className={classes.log}
+            height={height - HEADER_SIZE}
+            width={width}
+            itemData={search.lines}
+            itemSize={20}
+            itemCount={search.lines.length}
+          >
+            {({ index, style, data }) => {
+              const line = data[index];
+              const { lineNumber } = line;
+              return (
+                <div
+                  style={{ ...style }}
+                  className={clsx(classes.line, {
+                    [classes.lineSelected]: selection.isSelected(lineNumber),
+                  })}
+                >
+                  {selection.shouldShowButton(lineNumber) && (
+                    <IconButton
+                      size="small"
+                      className={classes.lineCopyButton}
+                      onClick={() => selection.copySelection()}
+                    >
+                      <CopyIcon fontSize="inherit" />
+                    </IconButton>
+                  )}
+                  <a
+                    role="row"
+                    target="_self"
+                    href={`#line-${lineNumber}`}
+                    className={classes.lineNumber}
+                    onClick={event => handleSelectLine(lineNumber, event)}
+                    onKeyPress={event => handleSelectLine(lineNumber, event)}
+                  >
+                    {lineNumber}
+                  </a>
+                  <LogLine
+                    line={line}
+                    classes={classes}
+                    searchText={search.searchText}
+                    highlightResultIndex={
+                      search.resultLine === lineNumber
+                        ? search.resultLineIndex
+                        : undefined
+                    }
+                  />
+                </div>
+              );
+            }}
+          </FixedSizeList>
+        </div>
+      )}
+    </AutoSizer>
+  );
+}
diff --git a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/index.ts b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/index.ts
index aba2e8ea16..839f34f81e 100644
--- a/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core-components/src/components/LogViewer/index.ts
@@ -14,5 +14,5 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-export { LazyLogViewer as LogViewer } from './LazyLogViewer';
+export { LogViewer } from './LogViewer';
 export type { LogViewerProps } from './LogViewer';