logpaint

Configure once, log everywhere.

A lightweight, zero-dependency colored logger for Node.js with full TypeScript support. Custom log levels, timestamps, level filtering, and runtime switching — all in one tiny package.

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Table of Contents

• Why logpaint?
• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• With Timestamps
• Log Level Filtering
• Custom Levels
• Runtime Level Switching
• CommonJS Usage
• Available Colors
• API Reference
• Contributing
• License

Why logpaint?

Most logging libraries are designed for production-grade infrastructure — they're heavy, complex, and need configuration files, transports, and plugins just to get colored output.

logpaint does one thing well: it gives your Node.js app beautiful, colored console logs with a single function call. No config files. No transports. No dependencies. Just install, call createLogger(), and your terminal comes to life.

| Feature | logpaint | chalk | winston | pino | |---|---|---|---|---| | Zero dependencies | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Built-in log levels | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | | Custom levels (typed) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | | Level filtering | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | | Runtime level switching | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | | ESM + CJS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | TypeScript generics | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |

Features

• Zero runtime dependencies — pure Node.js, nothing to audit or update
• 5 built-in levels — debug, info, success, warn, error — ready out of the box
• Custom log levels — add http, db, query, or anything else, fully typed in TypeScript
• Timestamps — enable with a single flag (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format)
• Level filtering — set minLevel to suppress noise in production
• Runtime switching — change log level on the fly with setLevel(), no restart needed
• TypeScript generics — custom level methods get full IntelliSense autocomplete
• Dual CJS + ESM — works with import and require() out of the box

Installation

# npm
npm install logpaint

# yarn
yarn add logpaint

# pnpm
pnpm add logpaint

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 14

Quick Start

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger();

log.info('Server started on port 3000');
log.success('Database connected');
log.warn('Deprecated API endpoint used');
log.error('Failed to read config file');
log.debug('Request payload: { id: 42 }');

Output (colors rendered in your terminal):

[INFO]    Server started on port 3000
[SUCCESS] Database connected
[WARN]    Deprecated API endpoint used
[ERROR]   Failed to read config file
[DEBUG]   Request payload: { id: 42 }

With Timestamps

Pass timestamp: true to prepend a YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS timestamp to every log line.

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger({ timestamp: true });

log.info('Request received');
log.success('Response sent in 42ms');
log.error('Connection timeout');

2026-02-22 10:30:45 [INFO]    Request received
2026-02-22 10:30:45 [SUCCESS] Response sent in 42ms
2026-02-22 10:30:45 [ERROR]   Connection timeout

Log Level Filtering

Set minLevel to suppress all logs below a certain priority. Useful for silencing debug/info noise in production.

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger({ minLevel: 'warn' });

log.debug('Hidden');   // suppressed — priority 0 < 2
log.info('Hidden');    // suppressed — priority 1 < 2
log.warn('Visible');   // shown — priority 2 ≥ 2
log.error('Visible');  // shown — priority 3 ≥ 2

Default Priority Table

| Level | Color | Priority | |-----------|---------|----------| | debug | magenta | 0 | | info | cyan | 1 | | success | green | 1 | | warn | yellow | 2 | | error | red | 3 |

Custom Levels

Add your own log levels with custom colors, prefixes, and priorities. They're fully typed — TypeScript will give you autocomplete on log.http(), log.db(), etc.

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger({
  timestamp: true,
  levels: {
    http: { color: 'brightBlue' },
    db:   { color: 'brightMagenta', prefix: 'DATABASE' },
  },
});

log.http('GET /api/users 200 OK');
log.db('Query executed in 12ms');
log.info('Default levels still work');

2026-02-22 10:30:45 [HTTP]     GET /api/users 200 OK
2026-02-22 10:30:45 [DATABASE] Query executed in 12ms
2026-02-22 10:30:45 [INFO]     Default levels still work

You can also pass a color name directly as a shorthand:

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger({
  levels: {
    http: 'brightBlue',
    db:   'brightMagenta',
  },
});

Runtime Level Switching

Change the minimum log level at any point during execution using setLevel(). No process restart needed — useful for toggling verbose output in long-running servers.

import { createLogger } from 'logpaint';

const log = createLogger();

log.info('Visible');        // shown

log.setLevel('error');      // from now on, only show errors

log.info('Hidden');         // suppressed
log.error('Visible');       // shown

CommonJS Usage

logpaint ships both ESM and CJS builds. Use require() if you're not using ES modules.

const { createLogger } = require('logpaint');

const log = createLogger({ timestamp: true });

log.info('Works with require() too');
log.success('CJS + ESM — your choice');

Full working examples: Node.js · NestJS

Available Colors

Use any of these color names in color fields for built-in or custom levels.

| Basic | Bright | |--------------|---------------------| | black | brightBlack | | red | brightRed | | green | brightGreen | | yellow | brightYellow | | blue | brightBlue | | magenta | brightMagenta | | cyan | brightCyan | | white | brightWhite |

API Reference

createLogger(config?)

Creates and returns a logger instance. All built-in level methods and any custom level methods are available on the returned object.

Config Options

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |-------------|--------------------------------------------|-------------|------------------------------------------| | timestamp | boolean | false | Prepend YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS to each log | | minLevel | string | undefined | Minimum priority level to display | | levels | Record<string, ANSIColor \| LevelConfig> | undefined | Custom levels to add alongside built-ins |

LevelConfig

| Field | Type | Default | Description | |------------|-------------|------------------------|--------------------------------------| | color | ANSIColor | required | ANSI color name for this level | | prefix | string | level name (uppercase) | Label shown in brackets, e.g. [DB] | | priority | number | 1 | Priority used for minLevel filtering |

Logger Methods

| Method | Description | |-----------------------|------------------------------------------| | log.debug(...args) | Log at debug level (priority 0) | | log.info(...args) | Log at info level (priority 1) | | log.success(...args)| Log at success level (priority 1) | | log.warn(...args) | Log at warn level (priority 2) | | log.error(...args) | Log at error level (priority 3) | | log.setLevel(level) | Change minimum log level at runtime |

Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feat/your-feature
3. Make your changes and run npm test
4. Open a pull request

Please open an issue first for large changes so we can discuss the approach.

License

MIT © Sounak Das