logging-guide

Logging Guide

Language: English | 繁體中文

Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2025-12-30 Applicability: Claude Code Skills

Core Standard: This skill implements Logging Standards. For comprehensive methodology documentation, refer to the core standard.

Purpose

This skill helps implement consistent, structured, and actionable application logs across all environments.

Quick Reference

Log Levels

Level Selection Decision Tree

Is it debugging only?        → DEBUG (off in prod)
Normal operation completed?  → INFO
Something unexpected but OK? → WARN
Operation failed?            → ERROR
App cannot continue?         → FATAL

When to Use Each Level

Structured Logging

Required Fields

{
  "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00.123Z",
  "level": "INFO",
  "message": "User login successful",
  "service": "auth-service",
  "environment": "production"
}

Recommended Fields

{
  "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00.123Z",
  "level": "INFO",
  "message": "User login successful",
  "service": "auth-service",
  "environment": "production",
  "trace_id": "abc123",
  "span_id": "def456",
  "user_id": "usr_12345",
  "request_id": "req_67890",
  "duration_ms": 150,
  "http_method": "POST",
  "http_path": "/api/v1/login",
  "http_status": 200
}

Field Naming Conventions

Use snake_case and prefix with domain:

Detailed Guidelines

For complete standards, see:

• Logging Standards

AI-Optimized Format (Token-Efficient)

For AI assistants, use the YAML format files for reduced token usage:

• Base standard: ai/standards/logging.ai.yaml

Sensitive Data Handling

Never Log

• Passwords or secrets
• API keys or tokens
• Credit card numbers
• Social security numbers
• Full authentication tokens

Mask or Redact

// Bad
logger.info('Login attempt', { password: userPassword });

// Good
logger.info('Login attempt', { password: '***REDACTED***' });

// Good - mask partial
logger.info('Card processed', { last_four: '4242' });

PII Handling

• Log user IDs, not email addresses when possible
• Use hashed identifiers for sensitive lookups
• Configure data retention policies

Error Logging

Required Error Fields

{
  "level": "ERROR",
  "message": "Database connection failed",
  "error_type": "ConnectionError",
  "error_message": "Connection refused",
  "error_code": "ECONNREFUSED",
  "stack": "Error: Connection refused\n    at connect (/app/db.js:45:11)..."
}

Error Context

Always include:

• What operation was attempted
• Relevant identifiers (user_id, request_id)
• Input parameters (sanitized)
• Retry count if applicable

logger.error('Failed to process order', {
  error_type: err.name,
  error_message: err.message,
  order_id: orderId,
  user_id: userId,
  retry_count: 2,
  stack: err.stack
});

Log Format

JSON Format (Production)

{"timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:30:00.123Z","level":"INFO","message":"Request completed","request_id":"req_123","duration_ms":45}

Human-Readable (Development)

2025-01-15T10:30:00.123Z [INFO] Request completed request_id=req_123 duration_ms=45

Performance Considerations

Log Volume by Environment

High-Volume Endpoints

• Use sampling (log 1 in 100)
• Aggregate metrics instead of individual logs
• Use separate log streams

Checklist

Required Fields

• timestamp (ISO 8601)
• level
• message
• service name
• request_id or trace_id

Security

• No passwords or secrets
• No full tokens
• PII masked or hashed
• Credit cards never logged
• Retention policies configured

Configuration Detection

This skill supports project-specific configuration.

Detection Order

1. Check for existing logging library configuration
2. Check CONTRIBUTING.md for logging guidelines
3. If not found, default to structured JSON logging

First-Time Setup

If no logging standard found:

1. Suggest: "This project hasn't configured logging standards. Would you like to set up structured logging?"
2. Suggest documenting in CONTRIBUTING.md:

## Logging Standards

### Log Levels
- DEBUG: Development only, detailed diagnostic info
- INFO: Normal operations (startup, user actions, tasks)
- WARN: Unexpected but recoverable situations
- ERROR: Failures that need investigation

### Required Fields
All logs must include: timestamp, level, message, service, request_id

### Sensitive Data
Never log: passwords, tokens, credit cards, SSN

Related Standards

• Logging Standards
• Error Code Standards

Version History

License

This skill is released under CC BY 4.0.

Source: universal-dev-standards