﻿---
title: Logging settings
description: You do not need to configure any additional settings to use the logging features in Kibana. Logging is enabled by default and will log at info level using...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/reference/kibana/configuration-reference/logging-settings
products:
  - Kibana
applies_to:
  - Self-managed Elastic deployments: Generally available
---

# Logging settings
You do not need to configure any additional settings to use the logging features in Kibana. Logging is enabled by default and will log at `info` level using the `pattern` layout, which outputs logs to `stdout`.
However, if you are planning to ingest your logs using Elasticsearch or another tool, we recommend using the `json` layout, which produces logs in ECS format. In general, `pattern` layout is recommended when raw logs will be read by a human, and `json` layout when logs will be read by a machine.
<note>
  The logging configuration is validated against the predefined schema and if there are any issues with it, Kibana will fail to start with the detailed error message.
</note>

Kibana relies on three high-level entities to set the logging service: appenders, loggers, and root. These can be configured in the `logging` namespace in `kibana.yml`.
- Appenders define where log messages are displayed (stdout or console) and their layout (`pattern` or `json`). They also allow you to specify if you want the logs stored and, if so, where (file on the disk).
- Loggers define what logging settings, such as the level of verbosity and the appenders, to apply to a particular context. Each log entry context provides information about the service or plugin that emits it and any of its sub-parts, for example, `metrics.ops` or `elasticsearch.query`.
- Root is a logger that applies to all the log entries in Kibana.

The following table serves as a quick reference for different logging configuration keys. Note that these are not stand-alone settings and may require additional logging configuration. See the [Configure Logging in Kibana](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-logging) guide and complete [examples](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-log-settings-examples) for common configuration use cases.

|                                                        |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|--------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>`                  | Unique appender identifier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `logging.appenders[].console:`                         | Appender to use for logging records to **stdout**. By default, uses the `[%date][%level][%logger] %message %error` **pattern*** layout. To use a ***json**, set the [layout type to `json`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-log-settings-examples#log-in-json-ecs-example). <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.1</applies-to> `%error` is present since Stack version 9.1.                                                                                                                             |
| `logging.appenders[].file:`                            | Allows you to specify a fileName to write log records to disk. To write [all log records to file](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-log-settings-examples#log-to-file-example), add the file appender to `root.appenders`. If configured, you also need to specify [`logging.appenders.file.pathName`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-log-settings-examples#log-to-file-example).                                                     |
| `logging.appenders[].rolling-file:`                    | Similar to [Log4j’s](https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/) `RollingFileAppender`, this appender will log to a file and rotate if following a rolling strategy when the configured policy triggers. There are currently two policies supported: [`size-limit`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-logging#size-limit-triggering-policy) and [`time-interval`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-logging#time-interval-triggering-policy). |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.type`             | The appender type determines where the log messages are sent. Options are `console`, `file`, `rewrite`, `rolling-file`. Required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.fileName`         | Determines the filepath where the log messages are written to for file and rolling-file appender types. Required for appenders that write to file.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.policy.type`      | Specify the triggering policy for when a rollover should occur for the `rolling-file` type appender.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.policy.interval`  | Specify the time interval for rotating a log file for a `time-interval` type `rolling-file` appender. **Default 24h**                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.policy.size`      | Specify the size limit at which the policy should trigger a rollover for a `size-limit` type `rolling-file` appender. **Default 100mb**.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.policy.interval`  | Specify the time interval at which the policy should trigger a rollover for a time-interval type `rolling-file` appender.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.policy.modulate`  | Whether the interval should be adjusted to cause the next rollover to occur on the interval boundary. Boolean. Default `true`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.strategy.type`    | Rolling file strategy type. Only `numeric` is currently supported.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.strategy.pattern` | The suffix to append to the file path when rolling. Must include `%i`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.strategy.max`     | The maximum number of files to keep. Optional. Default is `7` and the maximum is `100`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.layout.type`      | Determines how the log messages are displayed. Options are `pattern`, which provides human-readable output, or `json`, which provides ECS-compliant output. Required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.layout.highlight` | Optional boolean to highlight log messages in color. Applies to `pattern` layout only. Default is `false`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| `logging.appenders[].<appender-name>.layout.pattern`   | Optional [string pattern](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/kibana-logging#pattern-layout) for placeholders that will be replaced with data from the actual log message. Applicable to pattern type layout only.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| `logging.root.appenders[]`                             | List of specific appenders to apply to `root`. Defaults to `console` with `pattern` layout.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `logging.root.level`                                   | Specify default verbosity for all log messages to fall back to if not specifically configured at the individual logger level. Options are `all`, `fatal`, `error`, `warn`, `info`, `debug`, `trace`, `off`. The `all` and `off` levels can be used only in configuration and are just handy shortcuts that allow you to log every log record or disable logging entirely or for a specific logger. Default is `info`.                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `logging.loggers[].<logger>.name:`                     | Specific logger instance.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `logging.loggers[].<logger>.level`                     | Specify verbosity of log messages for <logger> context. Optional and inherits the verbosity of any ancestor logger, up to the `root` logger `level`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `logging.loggers[].<logger>.appenders`                 | Determines the appender to apply to a specific logger context as an array. Optional and falls back to the appender(s) of the `root` logger if not specified.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| `deprecation.enable_http_debug_logs`                   | Optional boolean to log debug messages when a deprecated API is called. Default is `false`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |

For details on audit logging settings, refer to the [Kibana security settings](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2993/reference/kibana/configuration-reference/security-settings#audit-logging-settings).