Logging with Winston or Pino in NestJS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Logging with Winston in NestJS

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple NestJS application that needs to log important messages. Logging helps you track what your app is doing and find problems quickly.We will use Winston, a popular logging library, to add logging to your app.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to set up Winston logging in a NestJS app. You will create a logger, configure it, use it to log messages, and see the output in the console.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Winston logger instance with console transport

Add a log level configuration variable

Use the logger to log an info message

Print the logged message output

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Logging is essential in real apps to track events and errors. Winston is a popular tool for this in Node.js and NestJS apps.

💼 Career

Understanding how to set up and use logging libraries like Winston is a key skill for backend developers and DevOps engineers to monitor and debug applications.

1

Create a Winston logger instance

Create a constant called logger and set it to a Winston logger instance using winston.createLogger with a console transport.

NestJS

import * as winston from 'winston';

// Create a Winston logger instance with console transport
# Your code here

Hint

Use winston.createLogger and add new winston.transports.Console() inside the transports array.

2

Add a log level configuration

Create a constant called logLevel and set it to the string 'info'. Then add level: logLevel to the logger configuration.

NestJS

import * as winston from 'winston';

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  format: winston.format.simple(),
  transports: [new winston.transports.Console()]
});

// Add a logLevel constant and set logger level
# Your code here

Hint

Define const logLevel = 'info' and add level: logLevel inside the logger options.

3

Log an info message using the logger

Use logger.info to log the message 'NestJS app started'.

NestJS

import * as winston from 'winston';

const logLevel = 'info';

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: logLevel,
  format: winston.format.simple(),
  transports: [new winston.transports.Console()]
});

// Log an info message 'NestJS app started'
# Your code here

Hint

Call logger.info with the exact message 'NestJS app started'.

4

Run and see the logged output

Run the program and observe the console output showing the info log message.

NestJS

import * as winston from 'winston';

const logLevel = 'info';

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: logLevel,
  format: winston.format.simple(),
  transports: [new winston.transports.Console()]
});

logger.info('NestJS app started');

// Run the program and see the output

Hint

Run the file with node and check the console for the log message starting with info:.

Practice

1.

What is the main purpose of using Winston or Pino in a NestJS application?

easy

A. To handle HTTP requests and responses

B. To log application events and errors for monitoring and debugging

C. To manage database connections efficiently

D. To compile TypeScript code into JavaScript

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand logging role

   Logging tools like Winston or Pino record app events and errors to help developers monitor and debug the app.

2. Step 2: Identify unrelated options

   Database management, HTTP handling, and code compilation are unrelated to logging.

3. Final Answer:

   To log application events and errors for monitoring and debugging -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Logging = Monitoring and debugging [OK]

Hint: Logging tools track app events and errors [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing logging with database or HTTP handling
• Thinking logging compiles code
• Assuming logging manages app logic

2.

Which of the following is the correct way to import and use Logger from @nestjs/common for basic logging?

?

easy

A. import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common'; const logger = new Logger('App'); logger.log('App started');

B. import Logger from 'nestjs'; const logger = Logger(); logger.log('App started');

C. const Logger = require('@nestjs/common'); const logger = new Logger(); logger.info('App started');

D. import { Logger } from 'winston'; const logger = new Logger(); logger.log('App started');

Solution

1. Step 1: Check correct import syntax

   Correct import is from '@nestjs/common' using named import: import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common';

2. Step 2: Verify usage

   Logger is instantiated with a context string, then log method is called. import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common'; const logger = new Logger('App'); logger.log('App started'); matches this.

3. Final Answer:

   import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common'; const logger = new Logger('App'); logger.log('App started'); -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Correct import and usage = import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common'; const logger = new Logger('App'); logger.log('App started'); [OK]

Hint: Use named import from '@nestjs/common' for Logger [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using default import instead of named import
• Calling wrong method like info instead of log
• Importing Logger from wrong package

3.

Given this NestJS code using Pino logger, what will be the output in the console?

import { Logger } from 'nestjs-pino';
const logger = new Logger();
logger.info('Server started');
logger.error('Failed to connect');

medium

A. {"level":30,"msg":"Server started"} followed by {"level":50,"msg":"Failed to connect"}

B. Plain text logs: 'Server started' and 'Failed to connect' without JSON

C. SyntaxError due to missing import from '@nestjs/common'

D. No output because logger is not instantiated correctly

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand Pino output format

   Pino logs output JSON strings with level numbers (30=info, 50=error) and message keys.

2. Step 2: Analyze code behavior

   Logger instance calls info and error methods, producing JSON logs with messages.

3. Final Answer:

   {"level":30,"msg":"Server started"} followed by {"level":50,"msg":"Failed to connect"} -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Pino logs JSON with level and msg [OK]

Hint: Pino logs JSON with level numbers and message keys [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Expecting plain text logs instead of JSON
• Confusing Pino with NestJS Logger
• Assuming no output due to import confusion

4.

Identify the error in this NestJS Winston logger setup:

import { WinstonModule } from 'nest-winston';
import * as winston from 'winston';

const logger = WinstonModule.forRoot({
  transports: [
    new winston.transports.Console({ level: 'info' })
  ]
});

logger.error('Error occurred');

medium

A. Incorrect transport name; should be winston.Console instead of winston.transports.Console

B. Missing import of Logger from '@nestjs/common'

C. The logger instance does not have an error method directly; it returns a module, not a logger

D. Level 'info' is invalid for Console transport

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand WinstonModule.forRoot return

   This method returns a NestJS module, not a direct logger instance with methods like error.

2. Step 2: Identify correct usage

   To log, you must inject the logger service or use winston.createLogger directly, not call error on the module.

3. Final Answer:

   The logger instance does not have an error method directly; it returns a module, not a logger -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   WinstonModule.forRoot returns module, not logger instance [OK]

Hint: WinstonModule.forRoot returns module, not logger instance [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Calling error method on module instead of logger instance
• Confusing transport names
• Assuming level 'info' is invalid

5.

You want to configure NestJS to use Pino for logging with JSON output and also log HTTP requests. Which setup is correct?

?

hard

A. import * as pino from 'pino';

const logger = pino({ prettyPrint: true });
logger.info('HTTP request logged');

B. import { WinstonModule } from 'nest-winston';

WinstonModule.forRoot({
transports: [new winston.transports.File({ filename: 'log.json' })]
});

C. import { Logger } from '@nestjs/common';

const logger = new Logger();
logger.log('HTTP request logged');

D. import { LoggerModule } from 'nestjs-pino';

LoggerModule.forRoot({
pinoHttp: {
level: 'info'
}
});

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify Pino module usage in NestJS

   Use LoggerModule from 'nestjs-pino' with forRoot and pinoHttp config for HTTP logging and JSON output.

2. Step 2: Check options for JSON and pretty printing

   import { LoggerModule } from 'nestjs-pino'; LoggerModule.forRoot({ pinoHttp: { level: 'info' } }); configures nestjs-pino LoggerModule with pinoHttp for HTTP request logging at info level, producing JSON output by default, matching requirements.

3. Final Answer:

   import { LoggerModule } from 'nestjs-pino'; LoggerModule.forRoot({ pinoHttp: { level: 'info' } }); -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   nestjs-pino with pinoHttp config = import { LoggerModule } from 'nestjs-pino'; LoggerModule.forRoot({ pinoHttp: { level: 'info' } }); [OK]

Hint: Use nestjs-pino LoggerModule with pinoHttp config for HTTP logs [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using WinstonModule instead of nestjs-pino for Pino logging
• Using Logger from '@nestjs/common' for HTTP logs
• Using pino directly without NestJS integration