How to Integrate Tinylog into Spring Boot for Lightweight Logging

tinylog (https://tinylog.org/v2/) is a lightweight open‑source logging solution that consists of only two JAR files (API and implementation) with a total size of 178 KB and no external dependencies.

Despite its small footprint, it provides complete basic logging management, a familiar API, multiple configurable output options, and excellent performance as shown in the official benchmark.

Integrating tinylog with Spring Boot

Following the usual three‑step process for replacing Spring Boot’s default logging framework, we:

Exclude the default logging starter.

Add the tinylog dependencies.

Provide a tinylog configuration file.

Step 1 – Exclude Spring Boot’s default logging

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Step 2 – Add tinylog dependencies

<properties>
    <tinylog.version>2.4.1</tinylog.version>
</properties>

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.tinylog</groupId>
        <artifactId>tinylog-api</artifactId>
        <version>${tinylog.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.tinylog</groupId>
        <artifactId>tinylog-impl</artifactId>
        <version>${tinylog.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.tinylog</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-tinylog</artifactId>
        <version>${tinylog.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.tinylog</groupId>
        <artifactId>jcl-tinylog</artifactId>
        <version>${tinylog.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.tinylog</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j1.2-api</artifactId>
        <version>${tinylog.version}</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Step 3 – Verify the integration

Using Lombok’s @Slf4j, create a simple Spring Boot application that logs messages at all levels:

@Slf4j
@SpringBootApplication
public class Chapter83Application {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Chapter83Application.class, args);
        log.error("Hello World");
        log.warn("Hello World");
        log.info("Hello World");
        log.debug("Hello World");
        log.trace("Hello World");
    }
}

Running the program prints the messages to the console, confirming that TinylogLogger is active.

Step 4 – Add tinylog configuration

Create tinylog.properties under src/main/resources with the desired format:

writer=console
writer.format={date: HH:mm:ss.SSS} {level}: {message}

After restarting, the console output follows the specified pattern. Further configuration such as file output or level control can be found in the official documentation.