---
title: NLog
description: For NLog, we offer two LayoutRenderers that inject the current trace and transaction id into logs. In order to use them, you need to add the Elastic.Apm.NLog...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/apm/agents/dotnet/nlog
products:
  - APM .NET Agent
  - APM Agent
applies_to:
  - Serverless Observability projects: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
  - Application Performance Monitoring Agent for .NET: Generally available
---

# NLog
For NLog, we offer two [LayoutRenderers](https://github.com/NLog/NLog/wiki/Layout-Renderers) that inject the current trace and transaction id into logs.
In order to use them, you need to add the [Elastic.Apm.NLog](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Elastic.Apm.NLog) NuGet package to your application and load it in the `<extensions>` section of your NLog config file:
```xml
<nlog>
<extensions>
   <add assembly="Elastic.Apm.NLog"/>
</extensions>
<targets>
<target type="file" name="logfile" fileName="myfile.txt">
    <layout type="jsonlayout">
        <attribute name="traceid" layout="${ElasticApmTraceId}" />
        <attribute name="transactionid" layout="${ElasticApmTransactionId}" />
    </layout>
</target>
</targets>
<rules>
    <logger name="*" minLevel="Trace" writeTo="logfile" />
</rules>
</nlog>
```

As you can see in the sample file above, you can reference the current transaction id with `${ElasticApmTransactionId}` and the trace id with `${ElasticApmTraceId}`.

## Alternate

Rather than using a Layout Renderer such as `jsonlayout`, you may specify the Trace and Transaction ID in the Target Layout:
```xml
<nlog>
  <extensions>
    <add assembly="Elastic.Apm.NLog"/>
  </extensions>
  <targets>
    <target name="console" 
        type="console" 
        layout="${ElasticApmTraceId}|${ElasticApmTransactionId}|${ElasticApmSpanId}|${message}" />
  </targets>
  <rules>
    <logger name="*" minLevel="Debug" writeTo="Console" />
  </rules>
</nlog>
```