Add timestamp to logs

[way0utwest]

tl;dr Add date / time logging to entries output. Use UTC for consistency and optionally make this a flag.

Currently when running DAB, especially in development, I get logs like this:

info: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Diagnostics[1]
Request starting HTTP/1.1 GET http://localhost:5000/graphql/service-worker.js - - -
dbugdbug: Azure.DataApiBuilder.Core.AuthenticationHelpers.ClientRoleHeaderAuthenticationMiddleware[0]
bfa3a6ee-7f10-41ba-8899-2e0990428aa0 AuthN state: Anonymous. Role: Anonymous. Scheme: UnauthenticatedAuthentication
: Microsoft.AspNetCore.StaticFiles.StaticFileMiddleware[3]
The request path does not match the path filter
dbug: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DfaMatcher[1001]
2 candidate(s) found for the request path '/graphql/service-worker.js'
dbug: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DfaMatcher[1005]
Endpoint 'Hot Chocolate GraphQL Pipeline' with route pattern '/graphql/{**slug}' is valid for the request path '/graphql/service-worker.js'

This is a fraction of what is logged for a request. However, trying to determine which new entries have occurred is hard and slow, even with AI LLM help. It would be nice to mark each of these with a timestamp, as mocked here.

2026/07/07 08:01:01.344 info: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Diagnostics[1]
Request starting HTTP/1.1 GET http://localhost:5000/graphql/service-worker.js - - -
2026/07/07 08:01:01.345 dbugdbug: Azure.DataApiBuilder.Core.AuthenticationHelpers.ClientRoleHeaderAuthenticationMiddleware[0]
bfa3a6ee-7f10-41ba-8899-2e0990428aa0 AuthN state: Anonymous. Role: Anonymous. Scheme: UnauthenticatedAuthentication
: Microsoft.AspNetCore.StaticFiles.StaticFileMiddleware[3]
The request path does not match the path filter
2026/07/07 08:01:01.347 dbug: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DfaMatcher[1001]
2 candidate(s) found for the request path '/graphql/service-worker.js'
2026/07/07 08:01:01.348 dbug: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DfaMatcher[1005]
Endpoint 'Hot Chocolate GraphQL Pipeline' with route pattern '/graphql/{**slug}' is valid for the request path '/graphql/service-worker.js'

[JerryNixon]

Great request.

[JerryNixon]

Give me your feedback, Steve.

Spec summary

Add UTC timestamps to every DAB console log entry.

Current behavior

Console log entries don't include a timestamp, making it difficult to determine when events occurred or distinguish new output from earlier output.

Desired behavior

Prepend every console log entry with an ISO 8601 UTC timestamp using millisecond precision.

2026-07-07T14:01:01.344Z info: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Diagnostics[1]
Request starting HTTP/1.1 GET http://localhost:5000/graphql/service-worker.js

Requirements

• Apply timestamps to all DAB console log entries.
• Use UTC.
• Use ISO 8601 format.
• Include millisecond precision.

Implementation example

builder.Logging.AddSimpleConsole(options =>
{
    options.TimestampFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.fff'Z' ";
    options.UseUtcTimestamp = true;
});

[way0utwest]

Can't speak for the C# code, but I like the spec for having the timestamp. Might make it a startup option, like LoggingLevel