feat: add LOG_FORMAT=json for structured JSON logging (#21747)

* feat: add LOG_FORMAT env var with JSON formatter for early logging

Introduce LOG_FORMAT environment variable (set to "json" to enable).
When active, logging.basicConfig() uses a JSONFormatter that outputs
single-line JSON objects with fields: ts, level, msg, caller, error,
stacktrace. This covers all log messages emitted during module imports
before Loguru's start_logger() takes over.

* feat: add JSON sink for Loguru when LOG_FORMAT=json

Add _json_sink() as a Loguru sink function that writes single-line JSON
to stdout. In start_logger(), conditionally use the JSON sink instead of
the plain-text stdout_format when LOG_FORMAT is set to "json".

* feat: suppress ASCII banner and fix alembic logging in JSON mode

- Wrap the ASCII art banner print in main.py with a LOG_FORMAT != "json"
  guard so JSON output stays machine-parseable.
- Skip alembic's fileConfig() call in migrations/env.py when
  LOG_FORMAT=json to prevent it from replacing the JSON log handlers
  installed during early startup.

backend/open_webui/env.py

@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import os
 import pkgutil
 import sys
 import shutil
+import traceback
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from typing import Any
 from uuid import uuid4
 from pathlib import Path
 from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import serialization
@@ -72,9 +75,51 @@ except Exception:
 # LOGGING
 ####################################
 
+_LEVEL_MAP = {
+    "DEBUG": "debug",
+    "INFO": "info",
+    "WARNING": "warn",
+    "ERROR": "error",
+    "CRITICAL": "fatal",
+}
+
+
+class JSONFormatter(logging.Formatter):
+    """Format log records as single-line JSON objects for structured logging."""
+
+    def format(self, record: logging.LogRecord) -> str:
+        log_entry: dict[str, Any] = {
+            "ts": datetime.fromtimestamp(record.created, tz=timezone.utc).isoformat(
+                timespec="milliseconds"
+            ),
+            "level": _LEVEL_MAP.get(record.levelname, record.levelname.lower()),
+            "msg": record.getMessage(),
+            "caller": record.name,
+        }
+
+        if record.exc_info and record.exc_info[0] is not None:
+            log_entry["error"] = "".join(
+                traceback.format_exception(*record.exc_info)
+            ).rstrip()
+        elif record.exc_text:
+            log_entry["error"] = record.exc_text
+
+        if record.stack_info:
+            log_entry["stacktrace"] = record.stack_info
+
+        return json.dumps(log_entry, ensure_ascii=False, default=str)
+
+
+LOG_FORMAT = os.environ.get("LOG_FORMAT", "").lower()
+
 GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL = os.environ.get("GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL", "").upper()
 if GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL in logging.getLevelNamesMapping():
-    logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL, force=True)
+    if LOG_FORMAT == "json":
+        _handler = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
+        _handler.setFormatter(JSONFormatter())
+        logging.basicConfig(handlers=[_handler], level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL, force=True)
+    else:
+        logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL, force=True)
 else:
     GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL = "INFO"
 

backend/open_webui/main.py

@@ -503,6 +503,7 @@ from open_webui.env import (
     WEBUI_ADMIN_PASSWORD,
     WEBUI_ADMIN_NAME,
     ENABLE_EASTER_EGGS,
+    LOG_FORMAT,
 )
 
 
@@ -581,7 +582,8 @@ class SPAStaticFiles(StaticFiles):
                 raise ex
 
 
-print(rf"""
+if LOG_FORMAT != "json":
+    print(rf"""
  ██████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗███╗   ██╗    ██╗    ██╗███████╗██████╗ ██╗   ██╗██╗
 ██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗██╔════╝████╗  ██║    ██║    ██║██╔════╝██╔══██╗██║   ██║██║
 ██║   ██║██████╔╝█████╗  ██╔██╗ ██║    ██║ █╗ ██║█████╗  ██████╔╝██║   ██║██║

backend/open_webui/migrations/env.py

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
+import logging
 from logging.config import fileConfig
 
 from alembic import context
 from open_webui.models.auths import Auth
-from open_webui.env import DATABASE_URL, DATABASE_PASSWORD
+from open_webui.env import DATABASE_URL, DATABASE_PASSWORD, LOG_FORMAT
 from sqlalchemy import engine_from_config, pool, create_engine
 
 # this is the Alembic Config object, which provides
@@ -14,6 +15,13 @@ config = context.config
 if config.config_file_name is not None:
     fileConfig(config.config_file_name, disable_existing_loggers=False)
 
+# Re-apply JSON formatter after fileConfig replaces handlers.
+if LOG_FORMAT == "json":
+    from open_webui.env import JSONFormatter
+
+    for handler in logging.root.handlers:
+        handler.setFormatter(JSONFormatter())
+
 # add your model's MetaData object here
 # for 'autogenerate' support
 # from myapp import mymodel

backend/open_webui/utils/logger.py

@@ -12,13 +12,15 @@ from open_webui.env import (
     AUDIT_LOG_FILE_ROTATION_SIZE,
     AUDIT_LOG_LEVEL,
     GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL,
+    LOG_FORMAT,
     AUDIT_UVICORN_LOGGER_NAMES,
     ENABLE_OTEL,
     ENABLE_OTEL_LOGS,
+    _LEVEL_MAP,
 )
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from loguru import Record
+    from loguru import Message, Record
 
 
 def stdout_format(record: "Record") -> str:
@@ -43,6 +45,31 @@ def stdout_format(record: "Record") -> str:
     )
 
 
+def _json_sink(message: "Message") -> None:
+    """Write log records as single-line JSON to stdout.
+
+    Used as a Loguru sink when LOG_FORMAT is set to "json".
+    """
+    record = message.record
+    log_entry = {
+        "ts": record["time"].strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f")[:-3] + "Z",
+        "level": _LEVEL_MAP.get(record["level"].name, record["level"].name.lower()),
+        "msg": record["message"],
+        "caller": f"{record['name']}:{record['function']}:{record['line']}",
+    }
+
+    if record["extra"]:
+        log_entry["extra"] = record["extra"]
+
+    if record["exception"] is not None:
+        log_entry["error"] = "".join(
+            record["exception"].format_exception()
+        ).rstrip()
+
+    sys.stdout.write(json.dumps(log_entry, ensure_ascii=False, default=str) + "\n")
+    sys.stdout.flush()
+
+
 class InterceptHandler(logging.Handler):
     """
     Intercepts log records from Python's standard logging module
@@ -127,14 +154,22 @@ def start_logger():
     """
     logger.remove()
 
-    logger.add(
+    audit_filter = lambda record: (
-        sys.stdout,
+        "auditable" not in record["extra"] if ENABLE_AUDIT_STDOUT else True
-        level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL,
-        format=stdout_format,
-        filter=lambda record: (
-            "auditable" not in record["extra"] if ENABLE_AUDIT_STDOUT else True
-        ),
     )
+    if LOG_FORMAT == "json":
+        logger.add(
+            _json_sink,
+            level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL,
+            filter=audit_filter,
+        )
+    else:
+        logger.add(
+            sys.stdout,
+            level=GLOBAL_LOG_LEVEL,
+            format=stdout_format,
+            filter=audit_filter,
+        )
     if AUDIT_LOG_LEVEL != "NONE" and ENABLE_AUDIT_LOGS_FILE:
         try:
             logger.add(