---
title: Configure the Console output
description: The Console output writes events in JSON format to stdout. To use this output, edit the APM Server configuration file to disable the Elasticsearch output...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/solutions/observability/apm/apm-server/configure-console-output
products:
  - APM
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Configure the Console output
<note>
  ![supported deployment methods](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/solutions/images/observability-binary-yes-fm-no.svg)The Console output is not yet supported by Fleet-managed APM Server.
</note>

The Console output writes events in JSON format to stdout.
<warning>
  The Console output should be used only for debugging issues as it can produce a large amount of logging data.
</warning>

To use this output, edit the APM Server configuration file to disable the Elasticsearch output by commenting it out, and enable the console output by adding `output.console`.
Example configuration:
```yaml
output.console:
  pretty: true
```


## Configuration options

You can specify the following `output.console` options in the `apm-server.yml` config file:

### `enabled`

The enabled config is a boolean setting to enable or disable the output. If set to false, the output is disabled.
The default value is `true`.

### `pretty`

If `pretty` is set to true, events written to stdout will be nicely formatted. The default is false.

### `codec`

Output codec configuration. If the `codec` section is missing, events will be JSON encoded using the `pretty` option.
See [Change the output codec](#apm-configuration-output-codec) for more information.

### `bulk_max_size`

The maximum number of events to buffer internally during publishing. The default is 2048.
Specifying a larger batch size may add some latency and buffering during publishing. However, for Console output, this setting does not affect how events are published.
Setting `bulk_max_size` to values less than or equal to 0 disables the splitting of batches. When splitting is disabled, the queue decides on the number of events to be contained in a batch.

## Change the output codec

For outputs that do not require a specific encoding, you can change the encoding by using the codec configuration. You can specify either the `json` or `format` codec. By default the `json` codec is used.
**`json.pretty`**: If `pretty` is set to true, events will be nicely formatted. The default is false.
**`json.escape_html`**: If `escape_html` is set to true, HTML symbols will be escaped in strings. The default is false.
Example configuration that uses the `json` codec with pretty printing enabled to write events to the console:
```yaml
output.console:
  codec.json:
    pretty: true
    escape_html: false
```

**`format.string`**: Configurable format string used to create a custom formatted message.
Example configurable that uses the `format` codec to print the events timestamp and message field to console:
```yaml
output.console:
  codec.format:
    string: '%{[@timestamp]} %{[message]}'
```