custom-logging.md

Custom Logging

psake routes all internal messages through configurable output handlers. You can override these handlers in your psake-config.ps1 file to integrate with your own logging system.

Default Handlers

psake ships with handlers for six message types:

Type	Default Behavior
heading	Cyan colored output
default	Write-Output
debug	Write-Debug
warning	Yellow colored output
error	Red colored output
success	Green colored output

Unknown message types fall back to the default handler.

Override Specific Message Types

To customize how individual message types are handled, override entries in $config.outputHandlers in your psake-config.ps1:

# psake-config.ps1

# Send warnings to a log file instead of the console
$config.outputHandlers.warning = {
    Param($output)
    Add-Content -Path "build-warnings.log" -Value $output
}

# Suppress debug messages entirely
$config.outputHandlers.debug = {
    Param($output)
    # do nothing
}

Each handler receives a single $output parameter containing the message string.

Override All Logging

To replace the entire routing logic, override $config.outputHandler (singular). This script block receives both the message and its type, giving you full control:

# psake-config.ps1

$config.outputHandler = {
    Param($output, $type)
    # Route everything through your custom logger
    Write-MyBuildLog -Message $output -Level $type
}

When you override outputHandler, the individual outputHandlers entries are bypassed entirely.

Example: Log to a File

# psake-config.ps1

$config.outputHandler = {
    Param($output, $type)
    $timestamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"
    $line = "[$timestamp] [$type] $output"
    Add-Content -Path "build.log" -Value $line
    # Still write to console
    Write-Host $line
}