After a complaint is filed, what appears in the docket?

Typically: the complaint itself, a summons issued for each defendant, and then proof of service once a defendant has been served. The rules set a period after service within which a defendant must respond.

Each of those steps shows up as a separate docket entry with its own date — which is why the docket, not the case name, is where the timeline lives.

We record the entries we collect and, where a document is available, do not reproduce its text.