Log Management for Laravel: From Chaos to Clarity

Logs Tell the Story

When things go wrong, logs are your primary debugging tool. Good logging practices make the difference between quick diagnosis and hours of frustration.

Structured Logging

// Don't
Log::info('User logged in: ' . $user->email);

// Do
Log::info('User logged in', [
    'user_id' => $user->id,
    'email' => $user->email,
    'ip' => request()->ip(),
    'user_agent' => request()->userAgent(),
]);

Log Levels

Log::emergency($message); // System is unusable
Log::alert($message);     // Immediate action required
Log::critical($message);  // Critical conditions
Log::error($message);     // Error conditions
Log::warning($message);   // Warning conditions
Log::notice($message);    // Normal but significant
Log::info($message);      // Informational
Log::debug($message);     // Debug information

Channel Configuration

// config/logging.php
'channels' => [
    'stack' => [
        'driver' => 'stack',
        'channels' => ['daily', 'slack'],
    ],

    'daily' => [
        'driver' => 'daily',
        'path' => storage_path('logs/laravel.log'),
        'level' => 'debug',
        'days' => 14,
    ],

    'slack' => [
        'driver' => 'slack',
        'url' => env('LOG_SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL'),
        'level' => 'error',
    ],
],

Contextual Logging

// Add context to all logs in a request
Log::withContext([
    'request_id' => Str::uuid(),
    'user_id' => auth()->id(),
]);

// Now all logs include this context
Log::info('Processing order', ['order_id' => $order->id]);

Centralized Log Management

Ship logs to a centralized system for searching and analysis:

• ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
• Datadog
• Papertrail
• Logtail

Log Rotation

# /etc/logrotate.d/laravel
/var/www/app/storage/logs/*.log {
    daily
    missingok
    rotate 14
    compress
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    create 0640 www-data www-data
}

Conclusion

Effective logging uses structure, appropriate levels, and centralization. Log what you'll need for debugging, ship to searchable storage, and rotate to manage disk space.