README.md

id	setup-structured-logging
type	playbook
title	Set Up Production Structured Logging
summary	Configure structured JSON logging with context propagation, sensitive data redaction, and environment isolation.
lang	en-US
content_version	1
status	reviewed
reviewed_on	2026-09-02

Set Up Production Structured Logging

1. Choose JSON-formatted structured output for production and colorized readable text for local development; avoid ad-hoc print() and unstructured string concatenation.
2. Propagate a unique request_id or trace_id through every incoming HTTP request, background job, and downstream service call using Python contextvars.
3. Standardize log event schemas: include timestamp (ISO 8601), log level, logger name, event name, trace identifiers, and structured payload fields.
4. Implement automatic redaction filters for sensitive fields (e.g. password, token, authorization, api_key, and personally identifiable information).
5. Capture full exception stack traces with exc_info=True only at service boundaries; do not log redundant raw tracebacks across multiple nested catch blocks.
6. Verify log generation under test by asserting structured dictionary fields rather than brittle substring matches.