loglayer
v4.8.0
Published
Standardizes logging across multiple logging libraries, providing a consistent way to specify context, metadata, and errors.
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loglayer
loglayer
standardizes log entry definitions, contextual data, metadata, and error reporting, streamlining your logging process using your logging library of choice like pino
/ winston
/ bunyan
/ etc.
- Zero dependency library.
- Fluent API for creating log entries with Typescript support.
- Not sure what logging package to use? Start with
console
as the underlying logger (or another logging library) and swap later to another logging library without needing to overhaul your entire codebase.- Supports
bunyan
,winston
,pino
,roarr
,log4js-node
,electron-log
,signale
,consola
,@datadog/browser-logs
, and more with installation examples for each.
- Supports
- Has ready-to-use mocks for your unit tests.
- Unit tested against multiple logging libraries to ensure compatibility.
Before loglayer
Defining a log entry can vary significantly between different libraries:
// Using `winston`:
winston.info('my message', { some: 'data' })
// Using `bunyan`:
bunyan.info({ some: 'data' }, 'my message')
Handling errors can also be inconsistent:
// Using `roarr` with a direct error object:
roarr.error({ err: new Error('test') })
// With serialized error data:
roarr.error({ err: serialize(new Error('test')) })
Simplicity with loglayer
Focus on creating logs with clear, consistent syntax:
logLayer
.withMetadata({ some: 'data'})
.withError(new Error('test'))
.info('my message')
Table of Contents
- Installation
- Example installations
- Example integration
- API
- Mocking for tests
- Running tests
Installation
$ npm i loglayer
Example installations
console
import { LoggerType, LogLayer } from 'loglayer'
const log = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: console,
type: LoggerType.CONSOLE,
},
})
pino
import pino, { P } from 'pino'
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
const p = pino({
level: 'trace'
})
const log = new LogLayer<P.Logger>({
logger: {
instance: p,
type: LoggerType.PINO,
},
})
bunyan
bunyan
requires an error serializer to be defined to handle errors.
import bunyan from 'bunyan'
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
const b = bunyan.createLogger({
name: 'test-logger',
// Show all log levels
level: 'trace',
// We've defined that bunyan will transform Error types
// under the `err` field
serializers: { err: bunyan.stdSerializers.err },
})
const log = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: b,
type: LoggerType.BUNYAN,
},
error: {
// Make sure that loglayer is sending errors under the err field to bunyan
fieldName: 'err'
}
})
winston
import winston from 'winston'
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
import { serializeError } from 'serialize-error'
const w = winston.createLogger({})
const log = new LogLayer<winston.Logger>({
logger: {
instance: w as unknown as LoggerLibrary,
type: LoggerType.WINSTON,
},
error: {
serializer: serializeError,
},
})
roarr
roarr
requires an error serializer as it does not serialize errors on its own.- By default,
roarr
logging is disabled, and must be enabled via theseroarr
instructions.
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
import { Roarr as r, Logger } from 'roarr'
import { serializeError } from 'serialize-error'
const log = new LogLayer<Logger>({
logger: {
instance: r.Roarr,
type: LoggerType.ROARR,
},
error: {
serializer: serializeError,
},
})
electron-log
You can use electron-log
with LogLayer
in your electron app for logging.
// Main process logger
import log from 'electron-log/src/main';
// or Renderer process logger
// import log from 'electron-log/src/renderer';
const logger = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: log,
type: LoggerType.ELECTRON_LOG,
},
});
log4js-node
log4js-node
only works innode.js
and not the browser- By default,
log4js-node
logging is disabled and must be configured vialevel
or advanced configuration - You may want to use a custom layout as
log4js-node
prints only string output by default - Use winston as an alternative to
log4js-node
if the configuration forlog4js-node
is too complex
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
import log4js from 'log4js'
const log4jsInstance = log4js.getLogger()
// Enable logging output
// note: You'll most likely want to use appenders and a custom layout
// instead to write your logs in log4js-node
log4jsInstance.level = "trace";
const log = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: log4jsInstance,
type: LoggerType.LOG4JS_NODE,
},
})
signale
signale
only works innode.js
and not the browser- It is generally used for CLI-based applications as it offers log levels and methods
that would be valuable for CLI output
loglayer
does not have integration for the other cli-specific levels (eg:signale.success()
)- Use
LogLayer#getLoggerInstance()
to get thesignale
instance to call those levels
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
import { Signale } from 'signale'
const log = new LogLayer<Signale>({
logger: {
instance: new Signale(),
type: LoggerType.SIGNALE,
},
})
// if you need to use a signale-specific method
const s = log.getLoggerInstance()
s.success('Operation successful');
consola
- The default log level is
3
which excludesdebug
andtrace
. Set to5
for both.
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
import { type ConsolaInstance, createConsola } from "consola";
const log = new LogLayer<ConsolaInstance>({
logger: {
instance: createConsola({
level: 5
}),
type: LoggerType.CONSOLA,
},
})
@datadog/browser-logs
- Only works in the browser since this is a client-side library, not in
node.js
import { datadogLogs, type Logger } from '@datadog/browser-logs';
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
datadogLogs.init({
clientToken: '<client token>',
site: 'datadoghq.com',
forwardErrorsToLogs: true,
})
// Ex 1
const log = new LogLayer<Logger>({
logger: {
instance: datadogLogs.logger,
type: LoggerType.DATADOG_BROWSER_LOGS,
},
})
// Ex 2
const logger = datadogLogs.createLogger('my-logger')
const log2 = new LogLayer<Logger>({
logger: {
instance: logger,
type: LoggerType.DATADOG_BROWSER_LOGS,
},
})
Example integration
Using express
and pino
:
import express from 'express'
import pino from 'pino'
import { LogLayer, LoggerType } from 'loglayer'
// We only need to create the logging library instance once
const p = pino({
level: 'trace'
})
const app = express()
const port = 3000
// Define logging middleware
app.use((req, res, next) => {
req.log = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: p,
type: LoggerType.PINO
}
// Add a request id for each new request
}).withContext({
// generate a random id
reqId: Math.floor(Math.random() * 100000).toString(10),
// let's also add in some additional details about the server
env: 'prod'
})
next();
})
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
// Log the message
req.log.info('sending hello world response')
res.send('Hello World!')
})
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log(`Example app listening at http://localhost:${port}`)
})
API
Constructor
new LogLayer<LoggerInstanceType = LoggerLibrary, ErrorType = any>(config: LogLayerConfig)
Generics (all are optional):
LoggerInstanceType
: A definition that implements loginfo
/warn
/error
/trace
/debug
/fatal
methods.- Used for returning the proper type in the
getLoggerInstance()
method.
- Used for returning the proper type in the
ErrorType
: A type that represents theError
type. Used with the serializer and error methods. Defaults toany
.
Configuration options
interface LogLayerConfig {
/**
* Set to false to drop all log input and stop sending to the logging
* library.
*
* Can be re-enabled with `enableLogging()`.
*
* Default is `true`.
*/
enabled?: boolean
/**
* If set to true, will also output messages via console logging before
* sending to the logging library.
*
* Useful for troubleshooting a logging library / transports
* to ensure logs are still being created when the underlying
* does not print anything.
*/
consoleDebug?: boolean
/**
* The prefix to prepend to all log messages
*/
prefix?: string
/**
* If set to true, will not include context data in the log message.
*/
muteContext?: boolean
/**
* If set to true, will not include metadata data in the log message.
*/
muteMetadata?: boolean
logger: {
/**
* The instance of the logging library to send log data and messages to
*/
instance: ExternalLogger
/**
* The instance type of the logging library being used
*/
type: LoggerType
}
error?: {
/**
* A function that takes in an incoming Error type and transforms it into an object.
* Used in the event that the logging library does not natively support serialization of errors.
*/
serializer?: ErrorSerializerType
/**
* Logging libraries may require a specific field name for errors so it knows
* how to parse them.
*
* Default is 'err'.
*/
fieldName?: string
/**
* If true, always copy error.message if available as a log message along
* with providing the error data to the logging library.
*
* Can be overridden individually by setting `copyMsg: false` in the `onlyError()`
* call.
*
* Default is false.
*/
copyMsgOnOnlyError?: boolean
}
context?: {
/**
* If specified, will set the context object to a specific field
* instead of flattening the data alongside the error and message.
*
* Default is context data will be flattened.
*/
fieldName?: string
}
metadata?: {
/**
* If specified, will set the metadata data to a specific field
* instead of flattening the data alongside the error and message.
*
* Default is metadata will be flattened.
*/
fieldName?: string
}
/**
* An array of plugins to be executed in the order they are defined.
*/
plugins?: Array<LogLayerPlugin>
}
Supported log library types
Config option: logger.type
Use the other
value for log libraries not supported here. loglayer
may or may not
work with it.
export enum LoggerType {
BUNYAN = "bunyan",
CONSOLA = "consola",
CONSOLE = "console",
ELECTRON_LOG = "electronLog",
LOG4JS_NODE = "log4js-node",
PINO = "pino",
ROARR = "roarr",
SIGNALE = "signale",
WINSTON = "winston",
OTHER = "other",
}
Serializing errors
Config option: error.serializer
By default, loglayer
will pass error objects directly to the logging library as-is.
Some logging libraries do not have support for serializing errors, and as a result, the error may not be displayed in a log.
If you use such a library, you can define a function that transforms an error, which is in the format of:
type ErrorSerializerType = (err) => Record<string, any> | string
For example:
import { LoggerType, LogLayer } from 'loglayer'
const log = new LogLayer({
logger: {
instance: console,
type: LoggerType.CONSOLE,
},
error: {
serializer: (err) => {
// Can be an object or string
return JSON.stringify(err)
}
}
})
Data output options
By default, loglayer
will flatten context and metadata into a single object
before sending it to the logging library.
For example:
log.withContext({
reqId: '1234'
})
log.withMetadata({
hasRole: true,
hasPermission: false
}).info('checking permissions')
Will result in a log entry in most logging libraries:
{
"level": 30,
"time": 1638138422796,
"hostname": "local",
"msg": "checking permissions",
"hasRole": true,
"hasPermission": false,
"reqId": 1234
}
Some developers prefer a separation of their context and metadata into dedicated fields.
You can do this via the config options, context.fieldName
and metadata.fieldName
:
const log = new LogLayer({
...,
metadata: {
// we'll put our metadata into a field called metadata
fieldName: 'metadata'
},
context: {
// we'll put our context into a field called context
fieldName: 'context'
}
})
The same log commands would now be formatted as:
{
"level": 30,
"time": 1638138422796,
"hostname": "local",
"msg": "checking permissions",
"metadata": {
"hasRole": true,
"hasPermission": false
},
"context": {
"reqId": 1234
}
}
Child logger
LogLayer#child(): LogLayer
You can create a child logger, which will copy the configuration you used for creating the parent, along with the existing context data and plugins.
The copied context data is a shallow copy.
const parentLog = new LogLayer(<config>).withContext({ some: 'data' })
// Creates a new LogLayer with <config> copied over and the context
const childLog = parentLog.child()
Disable / enable logging
LogLayer#enableLogging(): LogLayer
LogLayer#disableLogging(): LogLayer
Logging messages
LogLayer#info(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
LogLayer#warn(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
LogLayer#error(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
LogLayer#debug(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
LogLayer#trace(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
LogLayer#fatal(...messages: MessageDataType[]): void
type MessageDataType = string | number | null | undefined
Some logging libraries do not support a trace
or fatal
level. loglayer
will re-map
to the following levels in that situation:
trace
->debug
fatal
->error
Your logging library may or may not support passing multiple parameters. See your logging library's documentation for more details.
// Can be a single message
log.info('this is a message')
// Or passed through multiple parameters to be interepreted by your logging library.
// For example, in roarr, the subsequent parameters after the first are for sprintf interpretation only.
// Other libraries do nothing with additional parameters.
log.info('request id: %s', id)
Including a prefix with each log message
Via configuration
const log = new LogLayer({ prefix: '[testing]' })
Create a child logger with the prefix
LogLayer#withPrefix(prefix: string): LogLayer
This calls LogLayer#child()
with prefix
set as part of the configuration.
const parentLog = new LogLayer(<config>)
const childLog = parentLog.withPrefix('[testing]')
// The message will be "[testing] this is a request"
childLog.info('this is a request')
Including context with each log message
LogLayer#withContext(data: Record<string, any>): LogLayer
- This adds or replaces context data to be included with each log entry.
- Can be chained with other methods.
log.withContext({
requestId: 1234
})
// Your logging library will now include the context data
// as part of its logging output
log.info('this is a request')
Output from pino
:
{
"level": 30,
"time": 1638146872750,
"pid": 38300,
"hostname": "local",
"requestId": 1234,
"msg": "this is a request"
}
Getting context
log.withContext({
requestId: 1234
})
// Should return { requestId: 1234 }
const context = log.getContext()
Logging metadata
With a message
LogLayer#withMetadata(data: Record<string, any>): ILogBuilder
Use this if you want to log data that is specific to the message only.
- This method must be chained with a log message method.
- This method can be chained with
withError()
to include an error with the metadata.
log.withMetadata({ some: 'data' }).info('this is a message that includes metadata')
Standalone
LogLayer#metadataOnly(data: Record<string, any>, logLevel: LogLevel = 'info'): void
Use this if you want to only log metadata without including a message.
// Default log level is 'info'
log.metadataOnly({ some: 'data' })
// Adjust log level
log.metadataOnly({ some: 'data' }, LogLevel.warn)
Muting context / metadata
Sometimes you may want to disable context or metadata from being included in the log message.
Useful for local development or troubleshooting where you may not want to see the context or metadata due to verbosity.
Setting the mute flag is persistent until the unmute method is called.
Via configuration
muteContext
: Disables context from being included in the log message.muteMetadata
: Disables metadata from being included in the log message.
const log = new LogLayer({ muteContext: true, muteMetadata: true })
Via method
LogLayer#muteContext(): LogLayer
LogLayer#muteMetadata(): LogLayer
LogLayer#unmuteContext(): LogLayer
LogLayer#unmuteMetadata(): LogLayer
Logging errors
- If the
error.serializer
config is not used, then it will be the job of the logging library to handle serialization.- If you are not seeing errors logged:
- Make sure the logging library's log level is configured to print an
error
log level. - The logging library may not serialize errors out of the box and must be configured, or a serializer must
be defined with
loglayer
so that it can serialize it before sending it to the logging library.
- Make sure the logging library's log level is configured to print an
- If you are not seeing errors logged:
- The
error.fieldName
config is used to determine the field name to attach the error to when sending to the logging library.- The default field name used is
err
.
- The default field name used is
With a message
LogLayer#withError(error: Error): ILogBuilder
Use this to include an error object with your message.
- This method must be chained with a log message method.
- This method can be chained with
withMetadata()
to include metadata alongside the error.
// You can use any log level you want
log.withError(new Error('error')).error('this is a message that includes an error')
Standalone
LogLayer#errorOnly(error: Error, opts?: OnlyErrorOpts): void
Options:
interface OnlyErrorOpts {
/**
* Sets the log level of the error
*/
logLevel?: LogLevel
/**
* If `true`, copies the `error.message` if available to the logger library's
* message property.
*
* If the config option `error.copyMsgOnOnlyError` is enabled, this property
* can be set to `false` to disable the behavior for this specific log entry.
*/
copyMsg?: boolean
}
Use this if you want to only log metadata without including a message.
// Default log level is 'error'
log.errorOnly(new Error('test'))
// Adjust log level
log.errorOnly(new Error('test'), { level: LogLevel.warn })
// Include the error message as part of the logging library's message field
// This may be redundant as the error message value will still be included
// as part of the message itself
log.errorOnly(new Error('test'), { copyMsg: true })
// If the loglayer instance has `error.copyMsgOnOnlyError = true` and you
// want to disable copying the message for a single line, explicitly
// define copyMessage with false
log.errorOnly(new Error('test'), { copyMsg: false })
Get the attached logger library instance
LogLayer#getLoggerInstance()
Returns back the backing logger used in the event you need to call methods specific to that logging library.
Plugins
Plugin definition
A plugin is a plain object that defines callbacks to be executed at specific points in the log lifecycle.
In advanced use-cases, you may want to create a class that implements the plugin interface.
export interface LogLayerPlugin {
/**
* Unique identifier for the plugin. Used for selectively disabling / enabling
* and removing the plugin.
*/
id?: string;
/**
* If true, the plugin will skip execution
*/
disabled?: boolean;
onBeforeDataOut?(params: PluginBeforeDataOutParams): Record<string, any> | null | undefined;
onBeforeMessageOut?(params: PluginBeforeMessageOutParams): MessageDataType[];
shouldSendToLogger?(params: PluginShouldSendToLoggerParams): boolean;
onMetadataCalled?(metadata: Record<string, any>): Record<string, any> | null | undefined;
}
Lifecycle
Plugins are executed in the order they are defined.
The event lifecycle is as follows:
onBeforeDataOut
is called to modify the data object before it is sent to the logging library.onBeforeMessageOut
is called to modify the message data before it is sent to the logging library.shouldSendToLogger
is called to determine if the log entry should be sent to the logging library.
Management
Add plugins outside of configuration
LogLayer#addPlugins(plugins: Array<LogLayerPlugin>)
This adds new plugins to the existing configuration.
Disable / enable a plugin
The id
must be defined in the plugin to disable / enable it.
LogLayer#disablePlugin(id: string): LogLayer
LogLayer#enablePlugin(id: string): LogLayer
Remove a plugin
The id
must be defined in the plugin to remove it.
LogLayer#removePlugin(id: string): LogLayer
Callbacks
Modify / create object data before being sent to the logging library
export interface PluginBeforeDataOutParams {
/**
* Log level of the data
*/
logLevel: LogLevel;
/**
* The object containing metadata / context / error data. This
* is `undefined` if there is no object with data.
*/
data?: Record<string, any>;
}
onBeforeDataOut(params: PluginBeforeDataOutParams) => Record<string, any> | null | undefined
The callback onBeforeDataOut
can be used to modify the data object that contains the context / metadata / error data or create a custom object before it is sent out to the logging library.
Return null
or undefined
to not modify the data object.
Subsequent plugins will have the data
property updated from the results of the previous plugin if a result was returned from it.
import {
LoggerType,
LogLayer,
PluginBeforeDataOutFn,
PluginBeforeDataOutParams,
} from 'loglayer'
const onBeforeDataOut: PluginBeforeDataOutFn = (params: PluginBeforeDataOutParams) => {
if (params.data) {
params.data.modified = true
}
return params.data
}
const log = new LogLayer({
...
plugins: [{
onBeforeDataOut,
}]
})
log.withContext({ test: 'data' }).info('this is a test message')
{
"test": "data",
"modified": true,
"msg": "this is a test message"
}
Modify / create message data before being sent to the logging library
export interface PluginBeforeMessageOutParams {
/**
* Log level of the message
*/
logLevel: LogLevel;
/**
* Message data that is copied from the original.
*/
messages: any[];
}
onBeforeMessageOut(params: PluginOnBeforeMessageOutParams) => any[]
Called after onBeforeDataOut
and before shouldSendToLogger
.
This allows you to modify the message data before it is sent to the destination logging library.
Parameters
messages
: The parameters sent viainfo()
,warn()
,error()
,debug()
, etc. Most will usemessages[0]
. This data is copied from the original.logLevel
: The log level of the message.
import {
LoggerType,
LogLayer,
PluginBeforeMessageOutParams,
PluginBeforeMessageOutFn,
} from 'loglayer'
const onBeforeMessageOut: PluginBeforeMessageOutFn = (params: PluginBeforeMessageOutParams) => {
return [params.messages[0], 'modified message']
}
const log = new LogLayer({
...
plugins: [{
onBeforeMessageOut,
}]
})
// Assuming your logging library supports multiple parameters and will interpret the %s
log.info('this is a test message: %s')
{
"msg": "this is a test message: modified message"
}
Conditionally send or not send an entry to the logging library
export interface PluginShouldSendToLoggerParams {
/**
* Message data that is copied from the original.
*/
messages: any[];
/**
* Log level of the message
*/
logLevel: LogLevel;
/**
* The object containing metadata / context / error data. This
* is `undefined` if there is no object with data.
*/
data?: Record<string, any>;
}
shouldSendToLogger(params: PluginShouldSendToLoggerParams) => boolean
The callback shouldSendToLogger
is called before the data is sent to the logger.
Return false to omit sending to the logger. Useful for isolating specific log
messages for debugging / troubleshooting. If multiple plugins are defined, all must return true for the log entry to be sent.
Parameters
messages
: The parameters sent viainfo()
,warn()
,error()
,debug()
, etc. Most will usemessages[0]
. This data is copied from the original.[data]
: The data object that contains the context / metadata / error data. This isnull
if there is no data.- If
onBeforeDataOut
was used, this will be the result of the data processed from all plugins that defined it.
- If
import {
LoggerType,
LogLayer,
PluginShouldSendToLoggerFn,
PluginShouldSendToLoggerParams
} from 'loglayer'
const shouldSendToLogger: PluginShouldSendToLoggerFn = ({ messages }: PluginShouldSendToLoggerParams) => {
// Define custom logic here (ex: regex) to determine if the log should be sent out or not
// Read the first parameter of info() / warn() / error() / debug() / etc
if (messages[0] === 'do not send out') {
return false;
}
return true;
}
const log = new LogLayer({
...
plugins: [{
shouldSendToLogger,
}]
})
// Will not send the log entry to the logger
log.info('do not send out')
Intercept metadata calls
onMetadataCalled(metadata: Record<string, any>) => Record<string, any> | null | undefined
The callback onMetadataCalled
is called when withMetadata()
or metadataOnly()
is called with the input being a shallow clone of the metadata from withMetadata()
/ metadataOnly()
.
One use-case would be for situations where you may want to redact sensitive information from the metadata before it is sent to the logging library and defining the onBeforeDataOut
plugin callback is too much of a hassle.
- Return the (un)modified metadata object to be sent to the logging library.
- Return
null
orundefined
to prevent the metadata from being sent to the logging library. - In multiple plugins, the metadata object will be updated with the results of the previous plugin if a result was returned from it.
- If in the sequence, one of the
onMetadataCalled
callbacks returnsnull
orundefined
, the metadata object will be omitted from the log entry.
- If in the sequence, one of the
import {
LoggerType,
LogLayer,
PluginOnMetadataCalledFn,
} from 'loglayer'
const onMetadataCalled: PluginOnMetadataCalledFn = (metadata: Record<string, any>) => {
// Modify the metadata object
metadata.modified = true
return metadata
}
const log = new LogLayer({
...
plugins: [{
onMetadataCalled,
}]
})
// Metadata will now include the modified field in the output
log.withMetadata({ some: 'data' }).info('modified metadata')
import {
LoggerType,
LogLayer,
PluginOnMetadataCalledFn,
} from 'loglayer'
const onMetadataCalled: PluginOnMetadataCalledFn = (metadata: Record<string, any>) => {
// Return null to prevent the metadata from being sent to the logging library
return null
}
const log = new LogLayer({
...
plugins: [{
onMetadataCalled,
}]
})
// Metadata will be completely omitted from the log print
log.withMetadata({ some: 'data' }).info('no metadata included')
Mocking for tests
Rather than having to define your own mocks for loglayer
, we have a mock class you can use for your tests:
import { MockLogLayer } from 'loglayer'
// You can use the MockLogLayer in place of LogLayer
// so nothing will log
Running tests
$ npm run test:ci