Pick: Debug Logging

Pick uses the Rust tracing ecosystem for structured logging. This guide covers how to enable and target logging for different Pick subsystems.

Enabling debug logs

# General debug output
RUST_LOG=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

# Trace-level (very verbose)
RUST_LOG=trace cargo run -p pick-connector

Per-crate log targeting

# Pick connector logic
RUST_LOG=pick_connector=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

# Tool execution
RUST_LOG=pick_connector::tools=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

# gRPC communication with Prospector Studio
RUST_LOG=tonic=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

# Multiple targets
RUST_LOG=pick_connector=debug,tonic=info cargo run -p pick-connector

Common crate targets:

Crate	What it covers
`pick_connector`	Core Pick logic, tool registry, execution engine
`pick_connector::tools`	Individual tool implementations (port scan, ARP, etc.)
`tonic`	gRPC client/server communication
`hyper`	HTTP requests (Axum server, health endpoint)
`pcap`	Packet capture internals

Tool execution tracing

To trace a specific tool's execution:

# Watch all tool invocations
RUST_LOG=pick_connector::tools=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

Look for structured log output:

pick_connector::tools: tool invoked name="port_scan" params={"target":"10.0.0.1","ports":"1-1024"}
pick_connector::tools: tool completed name="port_scan" duration_ms=3200 results=42
pick_connector::tools: tool failed name="traffic_capture" err="permission denied"

gRPC logging

When Pick communicates with Prospector Studio over gRPC:

RUST_LOG=tonic=debug,pick_connector=debug cargo run -p pick-connector

This shows:

tonic::transport: connecting to studio endpoint="https://studio.example.com:443"
pick_connector: registering tools with studio count=9
pick_connector: remote invocation received tool="port_scan"

Headless vs StrikeHub logging

Pick runs in two modes, and log output differs:

Headless mode (Prospector Studio)

When running as a hosted connector, logs go directly to stderr:

RUST_LOG=debug ./pick-connector 2>&1 | tee pick-debug.log

StrikeHub IPC mode

Logs go to StrikeHub's combined output. To isolate Pick's logs:

RUST_LOG=pick_connector=debug cargo run --features desktop 2>&1 | grep pick_connector

Collecting logs for bug reports

RUST_LOG=pick_connector=debug,tonic=debug cargo run -p pick-connector 2>&1 | tee pick-debug.log

Tip: Strip any sensitive data (target IPs, network scan results, credentials) from log files before sharing.