pkg/logger: io.Writer injection, Flush(), -log-dump flag

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

cmd/app/config.go

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ type AppConfig struct {
 // LoggerConfig controls logging behavior.
 type LoggerConfig struct {
 	Level   string // debug | info | warn | error
-	DebugFile string // non-empty enables debug mode: writes full JSON trace to this path
+	LogDump string // non-empty enables debug mode: writes full JSON trace to this path
 }
 
 // Greeter config for internal/greeter/Service.
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func parseArgs() *Config {
 	port := flag.Int("port", 8080, "listen port")
 	env := flag.String("env", "dev", "environment: dev | staging | prod")
 	level := flag.String("log-level", "info", "log level: debug | info | warn | error")
-	debugLog := flag.String("debug-log", "", "write full debug trace to file (enables debug mode)")
+	debugLog := flag.String("log-dump", "", "write full debug trace to file (enables debug mode)")
 
 	flag.Parse()
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func parseArgs() *Config {
 		},
 		Logger: LoggerConfig{
 			Level:   *level,
-			DebugFile: *debugLog,
+			LogDump: *debugLog,
 		},
 		Greeter: GreeterConfig{
 			Name: *name,

cmd/app/main.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
@@ -22,9 +23,13 @@ type app struct {
 }
 
 func newApp(cfg *Config) *app {
-	// NewCLI auto-detects: human text on a terminal, JSON when piped.
+	// Open the debug writer if requested. The OS closes it on exit.
-	// Pass -debug-log FILE to enable debug mode (writes full trace to file).
+	var debugOut io.Writer
-	log := logger.NewCLI(cfg.Logger.Level, cfg.Logger.DebugFile).Expect("create logger")
+	if cfg.Logger.LogDump != "" {
+		debugOut = result.Of(os.Create(cfg.Logger.LogDump)).Expect("enable logs dump") // #nosec G304 — CLI flag
+	}
+
+	log := logger.NewCLI(cfg.Logger.Level, debugOut).Expect("create logger")
 	log.Debug("config", "port", cfg.App.Port, "level", cfg.Logger.Level, "env", cfg.App.Env)
 	if cfg.App.Env == "dev" {
 		log.Warn("dev mode — not for production")
@@ -55,8 +60,6 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 func (a *app) run() {
-	defer a.log.Close()
-
 	// Warm up the greeter with a few names before the real call.
 	// In debug mode this produces repeated identical debug lines from the greeter,
 	// demonstrating how the deduplication counter collapses them in-place.

pkg/logger/logger.go

@@ -11,26 +11,27 @@
 // Two constructors write to stderr:
 //
 //   - New(level)              — JSON, 12-factor compatible; use for headless services.
-//   - NewCLI(level, debugFile) — auto-detects: human text on a terminal, JSON when piped.
+//   - NewCLI(level, debugOut) — auto-detects: human text on a terminal, JSON when piped.
-//     Providing a non-empty debugFile enables debug mode: DEBUG writes to that
+//     Passing a non-nil debugOut enables debug mode: screen shows debug messages
-//     file as JSON; the screen always shows INFO and above.
+//     and the writer receives a full JSON trace. Any io.Writer is accepted —
+//     a file, a bytes.Buffer, os.Stdout, a network connection. The caller owns
+//     the writer and is responsible for closing it.
 //
-// Typical use in a CLI application:
+// Typical CLI use:
 //
-//	log := logger.NewCLI("info", "").Expect("create logger")
+//	// Normal mode:
-//	log.Info("server started", "port", 8080)
+//	log := logger.NewCLI("info", nil).Expect("create logger")
 //
-//	// child logger with request-scoped fields:
+//	// Debug mode — full trace to a file:
-//	req := log.WithField("request_id", rid)
+//	f, err := os.Create(path)   // caller controls the file; #nosec G304 if path is a CLI flag
-//	req.Info("start")
+//	if err != nil { ... }
-//	req.Info("end")
+//	defer f.Close()
+//	log := logger.NewCLI("info", f).Expect("create logger")
 //
 // In tests that need to assert on log content, use NewWriter with a buffer:
 //
 //	var buf bytes.Buffer
 //	log := logger.NewWriter(&buf, "debug").Expect("create logger")
-//	// ... exercise code ...
-//	// assert on buf.String()
 package logger
 
 import (
@@ -63,18 +64,16 @@ func New(level string) result.Expect[*Logger] {
 // NewCLI creates a logger for programs invoked by a human operator.
 //
 // When stderr is a terminal it operates in one of two modes:
-//   - Normal (debugFile == ""): human-readable text, INFO and above on screen.
+//   - Normal (debugOut == nil): human-readable text, INFO and above on screen.
-//   - Debug  (debugFile != ""): same screen output, plus a full JSON trace of
+//   - Debug  (debugOut != nil): same screen output, plus full JSON trace written
-//     DEBUG and above written to debugFile for post-run investigation.
+//     to debugOut. level="debug" also activates debug mode without a writer.
 //
 // When stderr is not a terminal (piped or redirected), NewCLI behaves like
-// New: JSON at the given level to stderr; debugFile is ignored.
+// New: JSON at the given level to stderr; debugOut is ignored.
-//
-// Passing a level above "info" when running in a terminal is unusual —
-// NewCLI will log a warning because interactive mode always shows INFO and above.
 //
+// The caller owns debugOut and is responsible for closing it when done.
 // Valid levels: debug, info, warn, error.
-func NewCLI(level, debugFile string) result.Expect[*Logger] {
+func NewCLI(level string, debugOut io.Writer) result.Expect[*Logger] {
 	lvl := parseLevel(level)
 	if lvl.Err() != nil {
 		return result.Errw[*Logger](lvl.Err(), "parse log level")
@@ -85,20 +84,16 @@ func NewCLI(level, debugFile string) result.Expect[*Logger] {
 		return result.Ok(&Logger{slog.New(h)})
 	}
 
-	// debugFile activates debug mode regardless of level; level="debug" also activates it.
+	// debugOut or level="debug" activates debug mode.
 	screenLevel := slog.LevelInfo
-	if debugFile != "" || lvl.Value() <= slog.LevelDebug {
+	if debugOut != nil || lvl.Value() <= slog.LevelDebug {
 		screenLevel = slog.LevelDebug
 	}
 	screen := newHumanHandler(os.Stderr, screenLevel)
 
 	var h slog.Handler = screen
-	if debugFile != "" {
+	if debugOut != nil {
-		f, err := os.Create(debugFile)
+		dump := slog.NewJSONHandler(debugOut, &slog.HandlerOptions{Level: slog.LevelDebug})
-		if err != nil {
-			return result.Errw[*Logger](err, "create debug log")
-		}
-		dump := slog.NewJSONHandler(f, &slog.HandlerOptions{Level: slog.LevelDebug})
 		h = multiHandler{screen, dump}
 	}
 
@@ -124,10 +119,10 @@ func NewWriter(w io.Writer, level string) result.Expect[*Logger] {
 	return result.Ok(&Logger{slog.New(h)})
 }
 
-// Close flushes any pending debug output. Call defer log.Close() at the entry
+// Flush writes any pending debug output. Only needed if a debug loop is the
-// point so a debug line that was never followed by an INFO/WARN/ERROR record
+// very last operation before exit with no subsequent INFO/WARN/ERROR record.
-// still gets its trailing newline before the process exits.
+// Most programs never need this — an INFO at the end commits the line naturally.
-func (l *Logger) Close() {
+func (l *Logger) Flush() {
 	type flusher interface{ flush() }
 	if f, ok := l.Handler().(flusher); ok {
 		f.flush()

pkg/logger/logger_test.go

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func TestNewCLI(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.level, func(t *testing.T) {
 			// In tests stderr is not a terminal — NewCLI uses JSON path.
-			r := logger.NewCLI(tc.level, "")
+			r := logger.NewCLI(tc.level, nil)
 			if tc.wantErr {
 				testutil.ResultErr(t, r)
 				return

pkg/result/result.go

@@ -119,7 +119,18 @@ func (r Expect[T]) Unwrap() (T, error) {
 // [Run] call as a normal Go error. A stack trace is captured at this call site
 // when [CaptureStack] is true.
 //
+// msg should express intent — what the code was trying to accomplish — not
+// the mechanism. This produces error messages that read as "intent: cause"
+// rather than "operation: cause", keeping failure context meaningful to the
+// reader without leaking implementation details.
+//
+//	// Good — expresses intent:
 //	data := Parse(raw).Expect("parse user input")
+//	log  := logger.NewCLI(level, out).Expect("create logger")
+//
+//	// Avoid — describes the mechanism, not the goal:
+//	data := Parse(raw).Expect("call Parse()")
+//	log  := logger.NewCLI(level, out).Expect("call NewCLI")
 func (r Expect[T]) Expect(msg string) T {
 	if r.err != nil {
 		exitGoroutine(&stackError{