diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 17be733..4267e6f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2959,6 +2959,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-core",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-serde"
+version = "0.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bc6b213177105856957181934e4920de57730fc69bf42c37ee5bb664d406d9e1"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "tracing-core",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tracing-subscriber"
 version = "0.3.18"
@@ -2969,12 +2979,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "nu-ansi-term",
  "once_cell",
  "regex",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
  "sharded-slab",
  "smallvec",
  "thread_local",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-core",
  "tracing-log",
+ "tracing-serde",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 2b1929a..7c1445e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ tokio = { version = "1.32.0", features = ["full", "tracing"] }
 tokio-util = "0.7.4"
 tower-http = { version = "0.5.2", features = ["cors", "trace"] }
 tracing = "0.1.34"
-tracing-subscriber = "0.3.11"
+tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.11", features = ["json"] }
 uuid = { version = "1.3.2", features = ["v4", "fast-rng", "serde"] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
diff --git a/boilmaster.toml b/boilmaster.toml
index 741e9bd..b25b084 100644
--- a/boilmaster.toml
+++ b/boilmaster.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
-[tracing.filters]
-default = "debug"
-hyper = "info"
+[tracing.console]
+enabled = false
+
+[tracing.stdout]
+enabled = true
+format = "full"
+filters.default = "debug"
+filters.hyper = "info"
 
 [http]
 # address = "0.0.0.0"
diff --git a/src/tracing.rs b/src/tracing.rs
index 0b84f77..b782635 100644
--- a/src/tracing.rs
+++ b/src/tracing.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,36 @@
 use std::{collections::HashMap, fmt, str::FromStr};
 
 use serde::{de, Deserialize};
-use tracing::metadata::LevelFilter;
-use tracing_subscriber::{filter, layer::SubscriberExt, util::SubscriberInitExt, Layer};
+use tracing::{metadata::LevelFilter, Subscriber};
+use tracing_subscriber::{
+	filter, layer::SubscriberExt, registry::LookupSpan, util::SubscriberInitExt, Layer,
+};
 
-// TODO: tracing should proooobably be it's own file at this point
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 pub struct Config {
-	// TODO: log file config? or like, sink config? work out how that's going to work i guess.
+	console: ConsoleConfig,
+	stdout: StdoutConfig,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
+struct ConsoleConfig {
+	enabled: bool,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
+struct StdoutConfig {
+	enabled: bool,
+	format: StdoutFormat,
 	filters: TracingFilters,
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
+enum StdoutFormat {
+	Full,
+	Json,
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 struct TracingFilters {
 	default: ConfigLevelFilter,
@@ -46,19 +66,49 @@ impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for ConfigLevelFilter {
 }
 
 pub fn init(config: Config) {
-	// TODO: consider enabling this with a config flag or something tracing.console?
-	let console_filter = filter::Targets::new()
+	// TODO: env filter (will need feature enabled). consider enabling pulling from log! too.
+	// TODO: now that i have config working, is it worth using env filter here or should i handle it via config env?
+	tracing_subscriber::registry()
+		.with(tokio_console(config.console))
+		.with(stdout(config.stdout))
+		.init();
+}
+
+fn tokio_console<S>(config: ConsoleConfig) -> Option<impl Layer<S>>
+where
+	S: Subscriber + for<'a> LookupSpan<'a>,
+{
+	if !config.enabled {
+		return None;
+	}
+
+	let layer = console_subscriber::spawn();
+
+	let filter = filter::Targets::new()
 		.with_target("tokio", LevelFilter::TRACE)
 		.with_target("runtime", LevelFilter::TRACE);
 
-	let tracing_filter = filter::Targets::new()
+	Some(layer.with_filter(filter))
+}
+
+fn stdout<S>(config: StdoutConfig) -> Option<impl Layer<S>>
+where
+	S: Subscriber + for<'a> LookupSpan<'a>,
+{
+	if !config.enabled {
+		return None;
+	}
+
+	let layer = tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer();
+
+	let layer = match config.format {
+		StdoutFormat::Full => layer.boxed(),
+		StdoutFormat::Json => layer.json().boxed(),
+	};
+
+	let filter = filter::Targets::new()
 		.with_default(config.filters.default)
 		.with_targets(config.filters.targets);
 
-	// TODO: env filter (will need feature enabled). consider enabling pulling from log! too.
-	// TODO: now that i have config working, is it worth using env filter here or should i handle it via config env?
-	tracing_subscriber::registry()
-		.with(console_subscriber::spawn().with_filter(console_filter))
-		.with(tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer().with_filter(tracing_filter))
-		.init();
+	Some(layer.with_filter(filter))
 }