Logging API Requests

Overview

Implement structured API request logging with correlation IDs, performance timing, security audit trails, and PII redaction. Capture request/response metadata in JSON format suitable for aggregation in ELK Stack, Loki, or CloudWatch Logs, enabling debugging, performance analysis, and compliance auditing across distributed services.

Prerequisites

• Structured logging library: Pino or Winston (Node.js), structlog (Python), Logback with JSON encoder (Java)
• Log aggregation system: ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Grafana Loki, or CloudWatch Logs
• Correlation ID propagation mechanism (middleware-injected or from incoming X-Request-ID header)
• PII data classification for the API domain (which fields contain personal data requiring redaction)
• Log retention and rotation policy defined per compliance requirements

Instructions