How does your payload look like? It seems like console logger ignores complex data structures.

config :logger,
  default_formatter: [
    format: "$metadata[$level] $message\n",
    metadata: [:request_id, :primitive, :complex]
  ]

iex> require Logger
Logger
iex> Logger.error("message", primitive: :foo, complex: %{foo: :bar})
primitive=foo [error] message
iex> Logger.error("message", primitive: :foo, complex: :bar)
primitive=foo complex=bar [error] message
iex> Logger.error("message", primitive: :foo, complex: Jason.encode!(%{foo: :bar}))
primitive=foo complex={"foo":"bar"} [error] message

That’s to be expected. You can add metadata that is associated with the current process, using Logger.metadata/1. Whatever you pass in with Logger.error/2 as a second parameter will add to that metadata. But that “base” metadata can be anything, and by default is probably rightfully so an empty list.

OK I am definitely having a Saturday moment and spoke too soon without scanning properly. The application key got printed, the payload thing didn’t.

Still leaving @LostKobrakai’s comment as the solution since it achieved partial success but the search goes on.

Yeah, Logger has some sharp edges, but I also believe this might not be the right tool for the job, I’m a big fan of telemetry for these kind of things, even thought structured logs has come to the BEAM, seams like a lot of setup for something that should be simpler, but there might be good reasons for it.

Same here for OTel, that’s going to be my next step, I even experimented with OpenObserve in my Golang and Rust work and it worked amazingly well there – logs, metrics and telemetry, all included – so I’ll do it with Elixir next.

Indeed Logger itself seems like it’s not getting the love it deserves and to me it looks more like a thin wrapper over Erlang’s :logger that does not attempt to fix its sharp edges and just carries them over.

Which is fine but it’s IMO dooming it to obscurity.

Good reasons or not, technology should be ergonomic. If it’s not then it’s not living up to its potential. And I quite agree with your “a lot of setup for something that should be simpler”, yep.