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Enable Request Payload Logging in MCP Gateway

This guide shows how to enable request payload logging to debug and validate tool registration requests and other API calls.

Quick Setup

To enable request payload logging, set these environment variables:

# Enable request logging
LOG_REQUESTS=true

# Set log level to INFO or DEBUG to see request payloads
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

# Optional: Enable file logging to persist logs
LOG_TO_FILE=true
LOG_FILE=mcpgateway.log
LOG_FOLDER=logs
LOG_FILEMODE=a+

Configuration Options

Required Settings

  • LOG_REQUESTS=true - Enables the request logging middleware
  • LOG_LEVEL=INFO - Ensures request logs are visible (INFO or DEBUG)

Optional Settings

  • LOG_TO_FILE=true - Saves logs to file (default: console only)
  • LOG_FILE=mcpgateway.log - Log file name
  • LOG_FOLDER=logs - Log folder path
  • LOG_FILEMODE=a+ - File mode (append)
  • LOG_MAX_SIZE_MB=1 - Maximum request body size to log (in MB)

Example .env Configuration

# Request Logging
LOG_REQUESTS=true
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

# File Logging (optional)
LOG_TO_FILE=true
LOG_FILE=mcpgateway.log
LOG_FOLDER=logs
LOG_FILEMODE=a+
LOG_MAX_SIZE_MB=4

# Other settings
MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true
MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true
PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme
PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Platform Administrator"

What Gets Logged

When enabled, you'll see detailed request information including:

  • HTTP method and path
  • Query parameters
  • Request headers (with sensitive data masked)
  • Request body/payload (with sensitive fields masked)
  • Truncation notice if body exceeds size limit

Example Log Output

📩 Incoming request: POST /tools
Query params: {}
Headers: {'host': 'localhost:4444', 'content-type': 'application/json', 'authorization': '******'}
Body: {
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_system_time",
    "arguments": {
      "timezone": "Europe/Dublin"
    }
  },
  "id": 1758624387514
}

Security Features

The logging middleware automatically masks sensitive information:

  • Headers: Authorization, authentication tokens
  • Body fields: password, secret, token, apikey, access_token, refresh_token, client_secret
  • Large payloads: Truncated with notice if they exceed the size limit

Troubleshooting

No Request Logs Appearing

  1. Check that LOG_REQUESTS=true is set
  2. Verify LOG_LEVEL is set to INFO or DEBUG
  3. Restart the gateway after changing configuration

Logs Not Saved to File

  1. Ensure LOG_TO_FILE=true is set
  2. Check that the log folder exists and is writable
  3. Verify LOG_FILE and LOG_FOLDER paths are correct

Request Bodies Truncated

  • Increase LOG_MAX_SIZE_MB if you need to see larger payloads
  • Default is 1MB to prevent log files from becoming too large

Performance Considerations

  • Request logging adds minimal overhead
  • Large request bodies are automatically truncated
  • Sensitive data is masked, not removed, so original functionality is preserved
  • Logging is skipped entirely if LOG_REQUESTS=false

Example Usage

  1. Set environment variables:

    export LOG_REQUESTS=true
export LOG_LEVEL=INFO
export LOG_TO_FILE=true
export LOG_FOLDER=logs

  2. Start the gateway:

    mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

  3. Make a request and check the logs:

    # Check console output or log file
tail -f logs/mcpgateway.log

Now you can see the full request payloads (with sensitive data masked) to debug tool registration and other API issues.