inconshreveable/log15

Structured, composable logging for Go

Go

1,104

172 commits

updated May 13, 2026

See the code

README

obligatory xkcd

log15 godoc reference Build Status

Package log15 provides an opinionated, simple toolkit for best-practice logging in Go (golang) that is both human and machine readable. It is modeled after the Go standard library's io and net/http packages and is an alternative to the standard library's log package.

v3 upgrade

Version 3 compiles with Go modules. It also provides some basic simplifications:

  • For performance, the Call property has been removed from a log15.Record.

  • The CallerStackHandler, CallerFuncHandler, and CallerFileHandler have been removed (all three relied on the Call property).

  • The term subpackage has been removed (there are multiple better replacements you can use now).

In most cases, however, it should be sufficient to just change your import path:

- import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15"
+ import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15/v3"

A lot has happened since log15 was released; you may find the log/slog package in the standard library to be a better fit for your use case.

Development of the v3 branch happens in the v3 subdirectory.

We also added a compatibility layer, which allows existing code to use the v3 library, so you can incrementally migrate.

import compat "github.com/inconshreveable/log15/compat"
  • compat.CompatHandler takes a v3 Handler, and returns a legacy log15 Handler.
  • compat.CompatLogger does the same with the Logger type.

Features

  • A simple, easy-to-understand API
  • Promotes structured logging by encouraging use of key/value pairs
  • Child loggers which inherit and add their own private context
  • Lazy evaluation of expensive operations
  • Simple Handler interface allowing for construction of flexible, custom logging configurations with a tiny API.
  • Color terminal support
  • Built-in support for logging to files, streams, syslog, and the network
  • Support for forking records to multiple handlers, buffering records for output, failing over from failed handler writes, + more

Versioning

The API of the master branch of log15 should always be considered unstable. If you want to rely on a stable API, you must vendor the library.

Importing

import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15"

Examples

// all loggers can have key/value context
srvlog := log.New("module", "app/server")

// all log messages can have key/value context
srvlog.Warn("abnormal conn rate", "rate", curRate, "low", lowRate, "high", highRate)

// child loggers with inherited context
connlog := srvlog.New("raddr", c.RemoteAddr())
connlog.Info("connection open")

// lazy evaluation
connlog.Debug("ping remote", "latency", log.Lazy{pingRemote})

// flexible configuration
srvlog.SetHandler(log.MultiHandler(
    log.StreamHandler(os.Stderr, log.LogfmtFormat()),
    log.LvlFilterHandler(
        log.LvlError,
        log.Must.FileHandler("errors.json", log.JsonFormat()))))

Will result in output that looks like this:

WARN[06-17|21:58:10] abnormal conn rate                       module=app/server rate=0.500 low=0.100 high=0.800
INFO[06-17|21:58:10] connection open                          module=app/server raddr=10.0.0.1

Breaking API Changes

The following commits broke API stability. This reference is intended to help you understand the consequences of updating to a newer version of log15.

  • 57a084d014d4150152b19e4e531399a7145d1540 - Added a Get() method to the Logger interface to retrieve the current handler
  • 93404652ee366648fa622b64d1e2b67d75a3094a - Record field Call changed to stack.Call with switch to github.com/go-stack/stack
  • a5e7613673c73281f58e15a87d2cf0cf111e8152 - Restored syslog.Priority argument to the SyslogXxx handler constructors

FAQ

The varargs style is brittle and error prone! Can I have type safety please?

Yes. Use log.Ctx:

srvlog := log.New(log.Ctx{"module": "app/server"})
srvlog.Warn("abnormal conn rate", log.Ctx{"rate": curRate, "low": lowRate, "high": highRate})

Regenerating the CONTRIBUTORS file

go get -u github.com/kevinburke/write_mailmap
write_mailmap > CONTRIBUTORS

License

Apache

Contributors

inconshreveable

79 commits

ChrisHines

26 commits

kevinburke

25 commits

nikolay-ngrok

8 commits

inconshreveable/log15

Structured, composable logging for Go

Go

1,104

172 commits

updated May 13, 2026

See the code

README

obligatory xkcd

log15 godoc reference Build Status

Package log15 provides an opinionated, simple toolkit for best-practice logging in Go (golang) that is both human and machine readable. It is modeled after the Go standard library's io and net/http packages and is an alternative to the standard library's log package.

v3 upgrade

Version 3 compiles with Go modules. It also provides some basic simplifications:

  • For performance, the Call property has been removed from a log15.Record.

  • The CallerStackHandler, CallerFuncHandler, and CallerFileHandler have been removed (all three relied on the Call property).

  • The term subpackage has been removed (there are multiple better replacements you can use now).

In most cases, however, it should be sufficient to just change your import path:

- import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15"
+ import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15/v3"

A lot has happened since log15 was released; you may find the log/slog package in the standard library to be a better fit for your use case.

Development of the v3 branch happens in the v3 subdirectory.

We also added a compatibility layer, which allows existing code to use the v3 library, so you can incrementally migrate.

import compat "github.com/inconshreveable/log15/compat"
  • compat.CompatHandler takes a v3 Handler, and returns a legacy log15 Handler.
  • compat.CompatLogger does the same with the Logger type.

Features

  • A simple, easy-to-understand API
  • Promotes structured logging by encouraging use of key/value pairs
  • Child loggers which inherit and add their own private context
  • Lazy evaluation of expensive operations
  • Simple Handler interface allowing for construction of flexible, custom logging configurations with a tiny API.
  • Color terminal support
  • Built-in support for logging to files, streams, syslog, and the network
  • Support for forking records to multiple handlers, buffering records for output, failing over from failed handler writes, + more

Versioning

The API of the master branch of log15 should always be considered unstable. If you want to rely on a stable API, you must vendor the library.

Importing

import log "github.com/inconshreveable/log15"

Examples

// all loggers can have key/value context
srvlog := log.New("module", "app/server")

// all log messages can have key/value context
srvlog.Warn("abnormal conn rate", "rate", curRate, "low", lowRate, "high", highRate)

// child loggers with inherited context
connlog := srvlog.New("raddr", c.RemoteAddr())
connlog.Info("connection open")

// lazy evaluation
connlog.Debug("ping remote", "latency", log.Lazy{pingRemote})

// flexible configuration
srvlog.SetHandler(log.MultiHandler(
    log.StreamHandler(os.Stderr, log.LogfmtFormat()),
    log.LvlFilterHandler(
        log.LvlError,
        log.Must.FileHandler("errors.json", log.JsonFormat()))))

Will result in output that looks like this:

WARN[06-17|21:58:10] abnormal conn rate                       module=app/server rate=0.500 low=0.100 high=0.800
INFO[06-17|21:58:10] connection open                          module=app/server raddr=10.0.0.1

Breaking API Changes

The following commits broke API stability. This reference is intended to help you understand the consequences of updating to a newer version of log15.

  • 57a084d014d4150152b19e4e531399a7145d1540 - Added a Get() method to the Logger interface to retrieve the current handler
  • 93404652ee366648fa622b64d1e2b67d75a3094a - Record field Call changed to stack.Call with switch to github.com/go-stack/stack
  • a5e7613673c73281f58e15a87d2cf0cf111e8152 - Restored syslog.Priority argument to the SyslogXxx handler constructors

FAQ

The varargs style is brittle and error prone! Can I have type safety please?

Yes. Use log.Ctx:

srvlog := log.New(log.Ctx{"module": "app/server"})
srvlog.Warn("abnormal conn rate", log.Ctx{"rate": curRate, "low": lowRate, "high": highRate})

Regenerating the CONTRIBUTORS file

go get -u github.com/kevinburke/write_mailmap
write_mailmap > CONTRIBUTORS

License

Apache

Contributors

inconshreveable

79 commits

ChrisHines

26 commits

kevinburke

25 commits

nikolay-ngrok

8 commits

Languages

Go

99.9%