Logging

The process of recording events in a computer system.

Logging is the practice of recording events, actions, and errors that occur during software execution. Logs provide a chronological record of system behavior and are essential for debugging, auditing, performance analysis, and security monitoring. Log entries typically include a timestamp, severity level, message, and contextual data.

Structured logging formats like JSON make logs easier to parse and analyze with tools like Elasticsearch, Splunk, Datadog, and Cloudflare Logpush. Log levels (debug, info, warn, error, fatal) allow filtering by severity. Centralized log aggregation collects logs from multiple services into a single queryable system.

In API management, logging captures details about every request: the endpoint called, HTTP method, response status code, latency, client identity, and error details. API gateways typically provide access logging and can forward logs to external analytics systems. This data is valuable for identifying usage patterns, detecting abuse, debugging integration issues, and meeting compliance requirements. In serverless environments, logging is especially important because there are no persistent servers to SSH into for troubleshooting.