Log Smell Auditor#

You wake up at 3am. The alert fired. You open the logs.

DEBUG processing request console.log("here") INFO user password: hunter2

No trace ID. No request context. Just noise and a PII leak.

This skill scans your codebase before that moment happens — finds the print statements, the wrong log levels, the PII exposures, and the missing structured context fields.

Supports JS/TS, Python, Go, Java, Ruby. Zero external API.

---

Trigger Phrases#

• "logging audit", "bad logs", "logging quality"
• "debug left in code", "console.log in production"
• "PII in logs", "password in logs", "sensitive data logged"
• "log level wrong", "error logged as info"
• "missing trace id", "missing request id"
• "structured logging check", "log noise"
• "/log-audit"

---

How to Provide Input#

bash

# Option 1: Audit entire project
/log-audit

# Option 2: Specific directory
/log-audit src/
/log-audit app/

# Option 3: Focus on a specific smell
/log-audit --check debug-leaks      # print/console.log in prod paths
/log-audit --check pii              # sensitive data in log strings
/log-audit --check levels           # wrong log levels
/log-audit --check structure        # missing trace/request IDs

# Option 4: Generate fix script
/log-audit --fix-debug-leaks        # outputs sed commands to remove debug prints

# Option 5: CI mode (exit 1 if issues found above threshold)
/log-audit --ci --max-errors 0 --max-warnings 10

---

Step 1: Detect Logging Framework#

bash

python3 -c "
import os, json
from pathlib import Path

frameworks = {}

# Node.js
if os.path.exists('package.json'):
    pkg = json.loads(Path('package.json').read_text())
    deps = {**pkg.get('dependencies', {}), **pkg.get('devDependencies', {})}
    for lib in ['winston', 'pino', 'bunyan', 'morgan', 'loglevel', 'debug', 'log4js']:
        if lib in deps:
            frameworks.setdefault('javascript', []).append(lib)

# Python
for f in ['requirements.txt', 'Pipfile', 'pyproject.toml']:
    if os.path.exists(f):
        content = Path(f).read_text()
        for lib in ['structlog', 'loguru', 'python-json-logger']:
            if lib in content:
                frameworks.setdefault('python', []).append(lib)

# Go
if os.path.exists('go.mod'):
    content = Path('go.mod').read_text()
    for lib in ['zap', 'logrus', 'zerolog', 'slog']:
        if lib in content:
            frameworks.setdefault('go', []).append(lib)

if frameworks:
    for lang, libs in frameworks.items():
        print(f'{lang}: {libs}')
else:
    print('No logging framework detected — scanning for stdlib logging patterns')
"

---

Step 2: Detect Debug/Print Leaks#

python

import re
import glob
from pathlib import Path

# Language-specific debug print patterns
DEBUG_LEAK_PATTERNS = {
    'js_ts': [
        (re.compile(r'^\s*console\.(log|debug|warn|error|info|trace)\s*\('), 'console.log — should use structured logger'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*debugger\s*;?$'), 'debugger statement — remove before production'),
    ],
    'python': [
        (re.compile(r'^\s*print\s*\('), 'print() — should use logging module'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*import\s+pdb\b|^\s*pdb\.set_trace\(\)'), 'pdb debugger — remove before production'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*breakpoint\(\)'), 'breakpoint() — remove before production'),
    ],
    'go': [
        (re.compile(r'^\s*fmt\.Print(ln|f)?\s*\('), 'fmt.Print — use structured logger (zap/slog) instead'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*log\.Print(ln|f)?\s*\('), 'stdlib log.Print — consider structured logger'),
    ],
    'java': [
        (re.compile(r'^\s*System\.out\.print'), 'System.out.print — use SLF4J logger'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*e\.printStackTrace\(\)'), 'printStackTrace() — log with logger.error instead'),
    ],
    'ruby': [
        (re.compile(r'^\s*puts\s+'), 'puts — use Rails logger instead'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*pp\s+'), 'pp — remove debug output'),
        (re.compile(r'^\s*binding\.pry'), 'binding.pry — remove before production'),
    ],
}

EXT_TO_LANG = {
    '.js': 'js_ts', '.jsx': 'js_ts', '.ts': 'js_ts', '.tsx': 'js_ts', '.mjs': 'js_ts',
    '.py': 'python',
    '.go': 'go',
    '.java': 'java',
    '.rb': 'ruby',
}

SKIP_DIRS = {'node_modules', '.git', 'dist', 'build', '__pycache__', '.next', 'vendor', 'venv', '.venv'}

def find_debug_leaks(src_dir='.'):
    findings = []
    for ext, lang in EXT_TO_LANG.items():
        for fpath in glob.glob(f'{src_dir}/**/*{ext}', recursive=True):
            if any(skip in fpath for skip in SKIP_DIRS):
                continue
            # Skip test files — print/console is acceptable in tests
            if any(t in fpath for t in ['test', 'spec', '__tests__']):
                continue
            try:
                lines = Path(fpath).read_text(errors='replace').splitlines()
            except Exception:
                continue
            for i, line in enumerate(lines, 1):
                for pattern, message in DEBUG_LEAK_PATTERNS[lang]:
                    if pattern.search(line):
                        findings.append({
                            'file': fpath,
                            'line': i,
                            'code': line.strip(),
                            'smell': 'DEBUG_LEAK',
                            'message': message,
                            'severity': 'MEDIUM',
                        })
    return findings

---

Step 3: Detect PII Exposure#

python

# PII-sensitive field patterns in log strings
PII_PATTERNS = [
    (re.compile(r'(password|passwd|pwd|secret|token|api.?key|auth.?token)', re.I),
     'CRITICAL', 'Credential/secret in log string'),
    (re.compile(r'\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}\b', re.I),
     'HIGH', 'Email address literal in log'),
    (re.compile(r'(credit.?card|card.?number|ccn|cvv|ssn|social.?security)', re.I),
     'CRITICAL', 'Financial/identity data in log string'),
    (re.compile(r'(phone|mobile|cell).*(=|:|\+)\s*[\d\s\-\(\)]{7,}', re.I),
     'HIGH', 'Phone number in log string'),
    (re.compile(r'(user.?id|userid|user_id)\s*[:=]\s*["\']?\d+', re.I),
     'LOW', 'User ID in log — consider pseudonymizing'),
    (re.compile(r'(ip.?addr|x.?forwarded|remote.?addr)\s*[:=]\s*["\']?\d{1,3}\.\d', re.I),
     'MEDIUM', 'IP address in log — GDPR sensitive'),
    (re.compile(r'Bearer\s+[A-Za-z0-9\-._~+/]+=*', re.I),
     'CRITICAL', 'Bearer token literal in log'),
]

LOG_CALL_PATTERN = re.compile(
    r'(console\.|logger\.|log\.|logging\.|fmt\.|System\.out\.|puts\s)',
    re.I
)

def find_pii_in_logs(src_dir='.'):
    findings = []
    for ext in EXT_TO_LANG:
        for fpath in glob.glob(f'{src_dir}/**/*{ext}', recursive=True):
            if any(skip in fpath for skip in SKIP_DIRS):
                continue
            try:
                lines = Path(fpath).read_text(errors='replace').splitlines()
            except Exception:
                continue
            for i, line in enumerate(lines, 1):
                # Only check lines that contain a log call
                if not LOG_CALL_PATTERN.search(line):
                    continue
                for pattern, severity, message in PII_PATTERNS:
                    if pattern.search(line):
                        findings.append({
                            'file': fpath,
                            'line': i,
                            'code': line.strip()[:100],
                            'smell': 'PII_EXPOSURE',
                            'message': message,
                            'severity': severity,
                        })
    return findings

---

Step 4: Detect Missing Structured Context#

python

# Web handler patterns — these should always have structured context in logs
HANDLER_PATTERNS = [
    re.compile(r'(app\.(get|post|put|delete|patch)|router\.|@app\.route|@router\.|func.*Handler)', re.I),
    re.compile(r'(express|fastapi|flask|gin|echo|koa|fiber)\b', re.I),
    re.compile(r'def\s+(get|post|put|delete|patch|handle)\b', re.I),
]

# Structured context fields that should be present in handler logs
REQUIRED_CONTEXT_FIELDS = [
    ('request_id', re.compile(r'request.?id|req.?id|trace.?id|correlation.?id|x.?request.?id', re.I)),
    ('user_id', re.compile(r'user.?id|userid|actor.?id|subject', re.I)),
    ('method_path', re.compile(r'method|path|url|endpoint|route', re.I)),
]

def find_missing_structured_context(src_dir='.'):
    findings = []

    for ext in ['.ts', '.js', '.py', '.go']:
        for fpath in glob.glob(f'{src_dir}/**/*{ext}', recursive=True):
            if any(skip in fpath for skip in SKIP_DIRS):
                continue
            try:
                content = Path(fpath).read_text(errors='replace')
                lines = content.splitlines()
            except Exception:
                continue

            # Check if file contains web handlers
            if not any(p.search(content) for p in HANDLER_PATTERNS):
                continue

            # Find log calls in this file
            for i, line in enumerate(lines, 1):
                if not LOG_CALL_PATTERN.search(line):
                    continue

                # Check if nearby context (±5 lines) has structured fields
                context_window = '\n'.join(lines[max(0, i-5):i+5])
                missing_fields = []
                for field_name, field_pattern in REQUIRED_CONTEXT_FIELDS:
                    if not field_pattern.search(context_window):
                        missing_fields.append(field_name)

                if len(missing_fields) >= 2:  # Missing 2+ required fields
                    findings.append({
                        'file': fpath,
                        'line': i,
                        'code': line.strip()[:100],
                        'smell': 'MISSING_STRUCTURED_CONTEXT',
                        'message': f'Log in web handler missing: {", ".join(missing_fields)}',
                        'severity': 'MEDIUM',
                    })

    return findings

---

Step 5: Output Report#

markdown

## Log Smell Audit
Project: my-api | Files scanned: 312 | Log calls found: 847

---

### Summary

| Smell | Count | Severity |
|-------|-------|---------|
| 🔴 PII Exposure | 3 | CRITICAL/HIGH |
| 🟠 Debug Leaks | 12 | MEDIUM |
| 🟡 Missing Structured Context | 8 | MEDIUM |
| ⚪ Noisy Debug in Loop | 2 | LOW |

---

### 🔴 CRITICAL — PII in Logs (3 findings)

**1. src/auth/login.ts:89**
```ts
logger.info(`User login: ${email} with password: ${password}`)

⚠️ Password logged in plaintext. This is a CRITICAL security and compliance issue.

Fix:

ts

logger.info('User login attempt', { email: email, success: true })
// NEVER log password — not even hashed

2. src/api/payments.ts:134

ts

console.log('Processing card', cardNumber, cvv)

⚠️ Credit card number and CVV in log — PCI-DSS violation.

Fix:

ts

logger.info('Processing payment', { card_last4: cardNumber.slice(-4) })

3. src/middleware/auth.ts:12

ts

log.debug(`Authorization: Bearer ${token}`)

⚠️ Bearer token logged — enables credential theft from logs.

Fix:

ts

log.debug('Auth header present', { has_token: !!token })

---

🟠 Debug Leaks (12 console.log / print statements)#

Top 5 production-path findings:

FileLineCodesrc/services/user.ts23console.log("processing user", userId)src/db/queries.ts67console.log("query result:", rows)app/models/order.rb45puts order.inspecthandlers/webhook.go12fmt.Println("webhook received", payload)src/utils/cache.ts89console.log("cache miss for key:", key)

Fix — replace with structured logger:

ts

// Before:
console.log("processing user", userId)

// After (pino/winston):
logger.debug({ userId }, 'Processing user')

// OR remove if not needed in production:
// (delete the line)

One-command removal of all console.log in src/:

bash

# Preview (does not modify):
grep -rn "console\.log" src/ --include="*.ts" --include="*.js"

# Remove (careful — review first):
find src/ -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.js" | xargs sed -i '/console\.log/d'

---

🟡 Missing Structured Context (8 web handler logs)#

These logs are in HTTP request handlers but are missing request_id and/or user_id:

src/routes/orders.ts:45

ts

router.get('/orders', async (req, res) => {
    logger.info('Fetching orders')  // ← no request_id, no user_id
    const orders = await db.getOrders()

Fix:

ts

logger.info('Fetching orders', {
    request_id: req.headers['x-request-id'],
    user_id: req.user?.id,
    method: req.method,
    path: req.path,
})

Add request context middleware once, fix all handlers:

ts

// middleware/logging.ts
app.use((req, res, next) => {
    req.log = logger.child({
        request_id: req.headers['x-request-id'] || crypto.randomUUID(),
        method: req.method,
        path: req.path,
    })
    next()
})

// Now all handlers use: req.log.info('Fetching orders', { user_id: req.user?.id })

---

CI Integration#

bash

# Fail CI if any CRITICAL log smells found
python3 -m log_smell_auditor --ci --max-critical 0 --max-pii 0 src/
# Exit 1 if violations found — add to pre-commit hook or CI pipeline

text

---

## Quick Mode Output

Log Audit: my-api (312 files, 847 log calls)

🔴 3 PII exposures — password logged plaintext (auth/login.ts:89), credit card (payments.ts:134), Bearer token (middleware/auth.ts:12) 🟠 12 debug leaks — console.log in production paths (src/services, src/db, handlers) 🟡 8 handler logs missing request_id/user_id context ⚪ 2 debug loops — logger.debug inside tight loop in cache.ts, queue.ts

Priority: Fix PII exposures IMMEDIATELY (compliance risk) Quick win: Add request context middleware → fixes all 8 missing-context findings at once

text

---

## Author

**[Canlah AI](https://canlah.ai)** — Run performance marketing without breaking your brand.

- GitHub: [github.com/PHY041](https://github.com/PHY041)
- All Skills: [clawhub.ai/PHY041](https://clawhub.ai/PHY041)