Logging with Monolog: From Devtools to Slack

Logging is an important part of the app development/maintenance cycle. It’s not just about the data you log, but also about how you do it. In this article, we are going to explore the Monolog package and see how it can help us take advantage of our logs.

Installation

Monolog is available on Packagist, which means that you can install it via Composer.

composer require 'monolog/monolog:1.13.*'

However, there is a great chance that you’re using a framework for your app. Monolog provides a list of integrations for most popular frameworks. I’m using Silex for this demo, but I won’t be using the provided integration to show how you can configure Monolog for any of your apps.

The Logger

When you create a new logger, you should give it a channel name. This is how you distinguish your list of loggers. I will bind my logger to the app container.

// app/bootstrap/container.php

$logger = new \Monolog\Logger('general');
$app->container->logger = $logger;

Because Monolog is PSR-3, you can be sure that you are adhering to the PHP-FIG standards. This will allow you to switch to any other implementation if you don’t feel comfortable with Monolog (I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t). You can now start logging using one of the following methods, depending on your log level. (log, debug, info, warning, error, critical, alert, emergency).

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by Younes Rafie via SitePoint