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Add detailed logs from the MCP Server #778

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e5fc2e4
merge conflict 1
anannya03 Oct 15, 2025
22ed466
changed verbose to trace
anannya03 Oct 13, 2025
2a9a7c5
Changed fileappend to streamwriter
anannya03 Oct 13, 2025
969590e
renamed file logger
anannya03 Oct 13, 2025
621bf75
default value of log level set to null
anannya03 Oct 14, 2025
dffbee1
removed verbose flag
anannya03 Oct 15, 2025
c5b0238
used the logging mechanism from asp.net
anannya03 Oct 15, 2025
0b56126
added file path to appsettings
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
1351f6b
deleted wrong appsetting
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
b64199b
updated azmcp and dotnet format
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
dfcb3ed
Merge branch 'main' into live-tests-debug_logs
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
c7eec5c
reverted live.yml changes
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
b12b0bb
adding the yml change back
anannya03 Oct 16, 2025
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201 changes: 167 additions & 34 deletions core/Azure.Mcp.Core/src/Areas/Server/Commands/ServiceStartCommand.cs
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
using Azure.Mcp.Core.Areas.Server.Options;
using Azure.Mcp.Core.Commands;
using Azure.Mcp.Core.Helpers;
using Azure.Mcp.Core.Services.Logging;
using Azure.Mcp.Core.Services.Telemetry;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -67,6 +68,8 @@ protected override void RegisterOptions(Command command)
command.Options.Add(ServiceOptionDefinitions.Debug);
command.Options.Add(ServiceOptionDefinitions.EnableInsecureTransports);
command.Options.Add(ServiceOptionDefinitions.InsecureDisableElicitation);
command.Options.Add(ServiceOptionDefinitions.LogLevel);
command.Options.Add(ServiceOptionDefinitions.LogFile);
command.Validators.Add(commandResult =>
{
ValidateMode(commandResult.GetValueOrDefault(ServiceOptionDefinitions.Mode), commandResult);
Expand All @@ -79,6 +82,33 @@ protected override void RegisterOptions(Command command)
});
}

/// <summary>
/// Resolves logging options from command line and environment variables.
/// Environment variables take precedence over defaults but not over explicit command line options.
/// </summary>
private static ServiceStartOptions ResolveLoggingOptions(ServiceStartOptions options)
{
// Environment variables (only if command line option wasn't explicitly set)
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.LogLevel))
{
var envLogLevel = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZMCP_LOG_LEVEL");
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(envLogLevel))
{
options.LogLevel = envLogLevel;
}
}

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.LogFile))
{
var envLogFile = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZMCP_LOG_FILE");
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(envLogFile))
{
options.LogFile = envLogFile;
}
}
return options;
}

/// <summary>
/// Binds the parsed command line arguments to the ServiceStartOptions object.
/// </summary>
Expand All @@ -104,9 +134,142 @@ protected override ServiceStartOptions BindOptions(ParseResult parseResult)
ReadOnly = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<bool?>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.ReadOnly.Name),
Debug = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<bool>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.Debug.Name),
EnableInsecureTransports = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<bool>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.EnableInsecureTransports.Name),
InsecureDisableElicitation = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<bool>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.InsecureDisableElicitation.Name)
InsecureDisableElicitation = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<bool>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.InsecureDisableElicitation.Name),
LogLevel = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<string?>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.LogLevel.Name),
LogFile = parseResult.GetValueOrDefault<string?>(ServiceOptionDefinitions.LogFile.Name)
};
return ResolveLoggingOptions(options);
}



/// <summary>
/// Configures logging using standard ASP.NET Core configuration.
/// Sets up console logging with appropriate levels based on command line options and environment variables.
/// </summary>
private static void ConfigureLogging(Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.IConfiguration configuration, ILoggingBuilder logging, ServiceStartOptions serverOptions, bool isStdioMode)
{
logging.ClearProviders();
logging.ConfigureOpenTelemetryLogger();
logging.AddEventSourceLogger();
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@conniey conniey Oct 16, 2025 •
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We can have a conversation offline if it is easier but I was hoping that we wouldn't have to add these switches.

Using a custom ILogger, we can leverage existing infrastructure to output logs. The user experience here is to do azmcp.exe server start --log-level debug. But this only applies to the logger we wrote, the settings won't also apply to the "EventSourceLogger" or any other ILogger.

I was hoping that an end user would be able to do something like:

set Logging__LogLevel__Default=Debug
./azmcp.exe server start

And this log level would apply to your new logger, and also the EventSourceLogger, any other Console logger, possibly a file logger if there is one.

Or they can use the same configuration system to be more granular about their logging. There's a bigger example here: Configure Logging

The bonus would be that they wouldn't have to learn something new about our logging because it uses the same configuration as other .NET loggers.

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Or if you used the [ProviderAlias("AzureMcpDebugLogger")] or something, they could configure our logger via:

set Logging__AzureMcpDebugLogger__LogLevel=Debug


// Determine effective log level from options and configuration
var effectiveLogLevel = GetEffectiveLogLevel(configuration, serverOptions);

if (isStdioMode)
{
// For STDIO mode, send logs to STDERR to keep STDOUT clean for MCP protocol
logging.AddConsole(options =>
{
options.LogToStandardErrorThreshold = effectiveLogLevel;
options.FormatterName = Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.ConsoleFormatterNames.Simple;
});
}
else
{
// For HTTP mode, normal console logging
logging.AddConsole(options =>
{
options.FormatterName = Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.ConsoleFormatterNames.Simple;
});
}

logging.AddSimpleConsole(simple =>
{
simple.ColorBehavior = Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.LoggerColorBehavior.Disabled;
simple.IncludeScopes = false;
simple.SingleLine = true;
simple.TimestampFormat = "[HH:mm:ss] ";
});

// Resolve log file path using ASP.NET Core configuration precedence
var logFilePath = GetEffectiveLogFilePath(configuration, serverOptions);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(logFilePath))
{
logging.AddFile(logFilePath);
}

// Set minimum level - this works with standard ASP.NET Core configuration
logging.SetMinimumLevel(effectiveLogLevel);

// Configure console provider filter
logging.AddFilter("Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.ConsoleLoggerProvider", effectiveLogLevel);
}

/// <summary>
/// Determines the effective log level using ASP.NET Core configuration precedence.
/// Priority: --log-level > --debug > AZMCP_LOG_LEVEL env var > appsettings.json > default (Information)
/// </summary>
private static LogLevel GetEffectiveLogLevel(Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.IConfiguration configuration, ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(serverOptions.LogLevel))
{
return ParseLogLevel(serverOptions.LogLevel);
}

if (serverOptions.Debug)
{
return LogLevel.Debug;
}

var envLogLevel = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZMCP_LOG_LEVEL")
?? Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("LOGGING__LOGLEVEL__DEFAULT");
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(envLogLevel))
{
return ParseLogLevel(envLogLevel);
}

var configLogLevel = configuration["Logging:LogLevel:Default"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(configLogLevel))
{
return ParseLogLevel(configLogLevel);
}

return LogLevel.Information;
}

/// <summary>
/// Determines the effective log file path using ASP.NET Core configuration precedence.
/// Priority: --log-file > AZMCP_LOG_FILE env var > appsettings.json > none
/// </summary>
private static string? GetEffectiveLogFilePath(Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.IConfiguration configuration, ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(serverOptions.LogFile))
{
return serverOptions.LogFile;
}

var envLogFile = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZMCP_LOG_FILE")
?? Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("LOGGING__FILE__PATH");
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(envLogFile))
{
return envLogFile;
}

var configLogFile = configuration["Logging:File:Path"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(configLogFile))
{
return configLogFile;
}

return null;
}

/// <summary>
/// Parses a log level string to LogLevel enum, with fallback to Information for invalid values.
/// </summary>
private static LogLevel ParseLogLevel(string logLevelString)
{
return logLevelString.ToLowerInvariant() switch
{
"trace" => LogLevel.Trace,
"debug" => LogLevel.Debug,
"info" or "information" => LogLevel.Information,
"warn" or "warning" => LogLevel.Warning,
"error" => LogLevel.Error,
"critical" => LogLevel.Critical,
_ => LogLevel.Information // Fallback for invalid values
};
return options;
}

/// <summary>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -284,31 +447,7 @@ private IHost CreateHost(ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
private IHost CreateStdioHost(ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
{
return Host.CreateDefaultBuilder()
.ConfigureLogging(logging =>
{
logging.ClearProviders();
logging.ConfigureOpenTelemetryLogger();
logging.AddEventSourceLogger();

if (serverOptions.Debug)
{
// Configure console logger to emit Debug+ to stderr so tests can capture logs from StandardError
logging.AddConsole(options =>
{
options.LogToStandardErrorThreshold = LogLevel.Debug;
options.FormatterName = Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.ConsoleFormatterNames.Simple;
});
logging.AddSimpleConsole(simple =>
{
simple.ColorBehavior = Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.LoggerColorBehavior.Disabled;
simple.IncludeScopes = false;
simple.SingleLine = true;
simple.TimestampFormat = "[HH:mm:ss] ";
});
logging.AddFilter("Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.ConsoleLoggerProvider", LogLevel.Debug);
logging.SetMinimumLevel(LogLevel.Debug);
}
})
.ConfigureLogging((context, logging) => ConfigureLogging(context.Configuration, logging, serverOptions, isStdioMode: true))
.ConfigureServices(services =>
{
ConfigureServices(services);
Expand All @@ -325,13 +464,7 @@ private IHost CreateStdioHost(ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
private IHost CreateHttpHost(ServiceStartOptions serverOptions)
{
return Host.CreateDefaultBuilder()
.ConfigureLogging(logging =>
{
logging.ClearProviders();
logging.ConfigureOpenTelemetryLogger();
logging.AddEventSourceLogger();
logging.AddConsole();
})
.ConfigureLogging((context, logging) => ConfigureLogging(context.Configuration, logging, serverOptions, isStdioMode: false))
.ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
{
webBuilder.ConfigureServices(services =>
Expand Down
16 changes: 16 additions & 0 deletions core/Azure.Mcp.Core/src/Areas/Server/Options/ServiceOptionDefinitions.cs
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ public static class ServiceOptionDefinitions
public const string DebugName = "debug";
public const string EnableInsecureTransportsName = "enable-insecure-transports";
public const string InsecureDisableElicitationName = "insecure-disable-elicitation";
public const string LogLevelName = "log-level";
public const string LogFileName = "log-file";

public static readonly Option<string> Transport = new($"--{TransportName}")
{
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -83,4 +85,18 @@ public static class ServiceOptionDefinitions
Description = "Disable elicitation (user confirmation) before allowing high risk commands to run, such as returning Secrets (passwords) from KeyVault.",
DefaultValueFactory = _ => false
};

public static readonly Option<string?> LogLevel = new($"--{LogLevelName}")
{
Required = false,
Description = "Set logging level: Trace, Debug, Information, Warning, Error, Critical. Default is 'Information'.",
DefaultValueFactory = _ => null
};

public static readonly Option<string?> LogFile = new($"--{LogFileName}")
{
Required = false,
Description = "Write logs to specified file path. Supports {timestamp} and {pid} placeholders.",
DefaultValueFactory = _ => null
};
}
13 changes: 13 additions & 0 deletions core/Azure.Mcp.Core/src/Areas/Server/Options/ServiceStartOptions.cs
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -64,4 +64,17 @@ public class ServiceStartOptions
/// </summary>
[JsonPropertyName("insecureDisableElicitation")]
public bool InsecureDisableElicitation { get; set; } = false;

/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the logging level. Valid values: Trace, Debug, Information, Warning, Error, Critical.
/// </summary>
[JsonPropertyName("logLevel")]
public string? LogLevel { get; set; } = null;

/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the log file path. When specified, logs will be written to this file in addition to console.
/// Supports placeholders: {timestamp}, {pid}.
/// </summary>
[JsonPropertyName("logFile")]
public string? LogFile { get; set; } = null;
}
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