Logs Help You Debug
If you do it right.
Log Levels
Log::emergency('System is down');
Log::alert('Action required immediately');
Log::critical('Critical error');
Log::error('Error occurred');
Log::warning('Something unusual');
Log::notice('Normal but significant');
Log::info('Informational');
Log::debug('Debug details');
Use appropriate levels. Not everything is an error.
Include Context
// Bad
Log::error('Payment failed');
// Good
Log::error('Payment failed', [
'user_id' => $user->id,
'amount' => $amount,
'provider' => 'stripe',
'error_code' => $e->getCode(),
]);
Structured Logging
// JSON format for log aggregators
{
"level": "error",
"message": "Payment failed",
"context": {
"user_id": 123,
"amount": 99.99
},
"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}
What to Log
Do log:
- Errors and exceptions
- Authentication events
- Important business events
- Performance metrics
- External API calls
Don't log:
- Passwords or tokens
- Full credit card numbers
- Personal data (GDPR)
- Every request (too noisy)
Log Rotation
// config/logging.php
'daily' => [
'driver' => 'daily',
'path' => storage_path('logs/laravel.log'),
'days' => 14,
],
Centralized Logging
For production, aggregate logs:
- ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
- Papertrail
- Loggly
- CloudWatch Logs
Search across all servers, set up alerts.
Request IDs
Track requests across services:
$requestId = request()->header('X-Request-ID') ?? Str::uuid();
Log::withContext(['request_id' => $requestId]);