What is this?
Pino is a very low overhead JSON logger for JavaScript. It writes structured JSON logs from inside a Node.js application while keeping the performance cost minimal.
Pino is a very low overhead JSON logger for JavaScript. It writes structured JSON logs from inside a Node.js application while keeping the performance cost minimal.Is it a library I call from my own code, or a separate service I run?A library: you install it from npm or yarn and create a logger inside your application. There is no server or daemon to operate.
A library: you install it from npm or yarn and create a logger inside your application. There is no server or daemon to operate.How do I add it to a project?Install it with npm or yarn, require it in your code and start logging. There are ready-made integration guides for Fastify, Express, Hapi, Restify, Koa, Node core http, Nest and Hono.
Install it with npm or yarn, require it in your code and start logging. There are ready-made integration guides for Fastify, Express, Hapi, Restify, Koa, Node core http, Nest and Hono.Does it run only under Node.js, or on other runtimes too?Node.js is the runtime it is built for, but the README also lists Bare and Pear support through the pino-bare compatibility module. It ships as a regular npm package.
Node.js is the runtime it is built for, but the README also lists Bare and Pear support through the pino-bare compatibility module. It ships as a regular npm package.If every log line is raw JSON, doesn't my terminal become unreadable?That is the trade-off for fast, machine-parsable output. For development, the pino-pretty module formats the JSON into human-readable logs.
That is the trade-off for fast, machine-parsable output. For development, the pino-pretty module formats the JSON into human-readable logs.Can I use it in browser-side or bundled code as well?Yes — there is a documented Browser API, and Pino explicitly supports bundling with tools like webpack or esbuild.
Yes — there is a documented Browser API, and Pino explicitly supports bundling with tools like webpack or esbuild.Is it free to use, including in commercial projects?Yes — Pino is MIT licensed, so it can be used freely in any project, commercial or not.
Yes — Pino is MIT licensed, so it can be used freely in any project, commercial or not.How much faster is Pino than other loggers?The README claims that in many cases Pino is over 5x faster than alternatives and links a Benchmarks document with detailed comparisons. The point of the low overhead is that heavy logging does not throttle your application's requests per second.
The README claims that in many cases Pino is over 5x faster than alternatives and links a Benchmarks document with detailed comparisons. The point of the low overhead is that heavy logging does not throttle your application's requests per second.How should I ship, reformat or alert on logs in production?Not in your app's main thread: since Node's event loop is single-threaded, the README recommends running all log processing as transports in a worker thread via the pino.transport API.
Not in your app's main thread: since Node's event loop is single-threaded, the README recommends running all log processing as transports in a worker thread via the pino.transport API.Can I scrub sensitive fields like passwords from the logs?Yes — the README documents a Redaction API alongside child loggers and transports, so sensitive values can be removed from log output.
Yes — the README documents a Redaction API alongside child loggers and transports, so sensitive values can be removed from log output.What are similar projects?fastify, loguru, monolog, fiber, winston, http-proxy-middleware, express, koa
fastify, loguru, monolog, fiber, winston, http-proxy-middleware, express, koaWhich topics is it in?logger, fastify, fast, logging, express, observability, json, browser, benchmark, backend, web-development, performance
logger, fastify, fast, logging, express, observability, json, browser, benchmark, backend, web-development, performance