Since searching files isn’t sustainable, what is? First, let’s consider a tool like Retrace. We need a way to mine our logs for information as well as stay on top of issues and metrics. However, logging into a server in order to grep or tail a file lacks any real-world usability. Think beyond log filesīy default, we typically log into environment-specific log files in our Rails app. In contrast, in the first example the application concatenates the string before inspecting whether the log level applies. However, since in the second example we’re technically logging a block of code (indicated by the curly braces), the string concatenation and any other processing required for the log message aren’t completed unless the log level is set to debug. In your environment.rb, add the following: Rails.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)Ĭonfig.logger = ActiveSupport::Logger.new('log/# When setting up our Rails logger, we have several options to consider.

Let’s look at the basic setup of the Rails logger and how to customize it for our needs. auto-formatting log messages with relevant information.To handle logs in a running application, the Rails logger provides additional functionality. When building an application, using a Rails logger or similar gem puts you on the path to proper application logging. However, that’s where puts’ usefulness usually stops. And it is an easy way to get information out quickly. When first learning Ruby, many of us rely on the puts command to log information while debugging code locally. We will look at the Rails logger and some logging best practices. So what should we know to get the most out of our logging? But we often leave logging to poorly implemented afterthoughts. Logging provides critical value to applications with insight to usage, stats, and metrics, and saves us when debugging a problem.

Ruby logger formatter