Debug Log Level Analyzer

Analyzer ID	Category	Severity	Time To Fix
debug-log-level	⚡ Performance	High	5 minutes

What This Checks

Detects excessive debug logging in production that degrades performance and fills disk space.

Why It Matters

• Performance Impact: Debug logging can slow applications by 20-50%
• Disk Space: Verbose logs quickly fill disk storage
• Security: Debug logs may expose sensitive data

Debug-level logging captures every framework operation. In production, this creates massive log files and significantly impacts performance.

How to Fix

Quick Fix (1 minute)

# .env
LOG_LEVEL=warning

Proper Fix (5 minutes)

Configure Log Levels per Environment:

// config/logging.php
'channels' => [
    'stack' => [
        'driver' => 'stack',
        'channels' => ['single'],
        'ignore_exceptions' => false,
    ],

    'single' => [
        'driver' => 'single',
        'path' => storage_path('logs/laravel.log'),
        'level' => env('LOG_LEVEL', 'debug'),
    ],
],

# .env - Production
LOG_LEVEL=error

# .env - Staging
LOG_LEVEL=warning

# .env - Local/Development
LOG_LEVEL=debug

Use Proper Logging:

// ❌ Don't log debug in production code
Log::debug('User accessed page', ['user' => $user]);

// ✅ Use appropriate levels
Log::error('Payment failed', ['error' => $e->getMessage()]);
Log::warning('API rate limit approaching');
Log::info('User registered', ['id' => $user->id]);

ShieldCI Configuration

This analyzer is automatically skipped in CI environments ($runInCI = false) and only runs in production and staging environments.

Why skip in CI and development?

• CI environments typically use debug logging for detailed test output
• Local/development environments need verbose logging for debugging
• Prevents false failures when debug logging is intentionally used during development

When to run this analyzer:

• ✅ Staging/Production servers: Ensures debug logging is disabled in production
• ❌ Local/Testing development: Skipped automatically (debug logging acceptable)
• ❌ CI/CD pipelines: Skipped automatically (deployment-specific check)

Environment Detection: The analyzer checks your Laravel APP_ENV setting and only runs when it maps to production or staging. Custom environment names can be mapped in config/shieldci.php:

// config/shieldci.php
'environment_mapping' => [
    'production-us' => 'production',
    'production-blue' => 'production',
    'staging-preview' => 'staging',
],

Examples:

• APP_ENV=production → Runs (no mapping needed)
• APP_ENV=production-us → Maps to production → Runs
• APP_ENV=local → Skipped (not production/staging)

References

• Laravel Logging
• PSR-3 Log Levels

Related Analyzers

• Debug Mode - Ensures debug mode is disabled in production