diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 583fb83..b891487 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1930,7 +1930,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "tokio",
  "tracing",
- "tracing-appender",
  "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
@@ -2923,18 +2922,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-core",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "tracing-appender"
-version = "0.2.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3566e8ce28cc0a3fe42519fc80e6b4c943cc4c8cef275620eb8dac2d3d4e06cf"
-dependencies = [
- "crossbeam-channel",
- "thiserror",
- "time",
- "tracing-subscriber",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tracing-attributes"
 version = "0.1.27"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bb1694c..954d12a 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ codegen-units = 4
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow = "1.0.83"
+arc-swap = "1.7.1"
 async-trait = "0.1.80"
 bollard = "0.16.1"
 bollard-stubs = "=1.44.0-rc.2"
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ clap = { version = "4.5.4", features = ["derive"] }
 figment = { version = "0.10.18", features = ["toml", "yaml", "env", "test"] }
 http = "1.1.0"
 instant-acme = "0.4.3"
+once_cell = "1.19.0"
 pingora = "0.2.0"
 pingora-openssl = "0.2.0"
 pingora-http = "0.2.0"
@@ -46,6 +48,3 @@ serde_json = "1.0.117"
 tokio = { version = "1.37.0", features = ["rt-multi-thread"] }
 tracing = "0.1.40"
 tracing-subscriber = "0.3.18"
-tracing-appender = "0.2.3"
-arc-swap = "1.7.1"
-once_cell = "1.19.0"
diff --git a/src/config/mod.rs b/src/config/mod.rs
index 9d6a076..e2ae201 100644
--- a/src/config/mod.rs
+++ b/src/config/mod.rs
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ pub struct ConfigRoute {
     pub upstreams: Vec<ConfigRouteUpstream>,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Clone, ValueEnum)]
+#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Clone, Copy, ValueEnum)]
 pub enum LogLevel {
     Debug,
     Info,
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 524ad1a..f16abdc 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 use pingora::listeners::TlsSettings;
 use pingora_load_balancing::{health_check::TcpHealthCheck, LoadBalancer};
 use pingora_proxy::http_proxy_service;
+use services::logger::{ProxyLogger, ProxyLoggerReceiver};
 use stores::{certificates::CertificatesStore, routes::RouteStore};
+use tokio::sync::mpsc;
 
 mod config;
 mod docker;
@@ -29,13 +31,14 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
     let proxy_config = load_proxy_config("/etc/proksi/configs")?;
 
     // let file_appender = tracing_appender::rolling::hourly("./tmp", "proksi.log");
-    let (non_blocking, _guard) = tracing_appender::non_blocking(std::io::stdout());
+    let (log_sender, log_receiver) = mpsc::unbounded_channel::<Vec<u8>>();
+    let proxy_logger = ProxyLogger::new(log_sender);
 
     // Creates a tracing/logging subscriber based on the configuration provided
     tracing_subscriber::fmt()
         .with_max_level(&proxy_config.logging.level)
         .compact()
-        .with_writer(non_blocking)
+        .with_writer(proxy_logger)
         .init();
 
     // Pingora load balancer server
@@ -107,7 +110,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
     pingora_server.add_service(https_service);
     pingora_server.add_service(docker_service);
     pingora_server.add_service(le_service);
-    // pingora_server.add_service(logger_service);
+    pingora_server.add_service(ProxyLoggerReceiver(log_receiver));
 
     pingora_server.bootstrap();
     pingora_server.run_forever();
diff --git a/src/services/logger/mod.rs b/src/services/logger/mod.rs
index 0b7fe86..b138f9e 100644
--- a/src/services/logger/mod.rs
+++ b/src/services/logger/mod.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,77 @@
+use std::io;
+
 use async_trait::async_trait;
-use pingora::{server::ShutdownWatch, services::background::BackgroundService};
+use pingora::{
+    server::{ListenFds, ShutdownWatch},
+    services::Service,
+};
+use tokio::sync::mpsc::{UnboundedReceiver, UnboundedSender};
+use tracing_subscriber::fmt::MakeWriter;
+
+/// A io::Write implementation that sends logs to a background service
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct StdoutLogger(UnboundedSender<Vec<u8>>);
+
+impl io::Write for StdoutLogger {
+    fn write(&mut self, buf: &[u8]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+        let buf_copy = buf.to_owned();
+        if let Ok(()) = self.0.send(buf_copy) {
+            return Ok(buf.len());
+        }
+
+        Ok(buf.len())
+    }
+
+    fn flush(&mut self) -> io::Result<()> {
+        todo!()
+    }
+}
+
+/// A naive implementation of a logger that delegate sending logs to a background channel
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct ProxyLogger {
+    stdout: StdoutLogger,
+}
 
-use crate::config::LogLevel;
+impl ProxyLogger {
+    pub fn new(sender: UnboundedSender<Vec<u8>>) -> Self {
+        ProxyLogger {
+            // level,
+            stdout: StdoutLogger(sender.clone()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// impl from tracing_subscriber::fmt::MakeWriter
+impl<'a> MakeWriter<'a> for ProxyLogger {
+    type Writer = StdoutLogger;
+
+    fn make_writer(&'a self) -> Self::Writer {
+        self.stdout.clone()
+    }
+}
 
-pub struct ProxyLogger(pub LogLevel);
+/// A background service that receives logs from the main thread and writes them to stdout
+/// TODO: implement log rotation/write to disk (or use an existing lightweight crate)
+pub struct ProxyLoggerReceiver(pub UnboundedReceiver<Vec<u8>>);
 
 #[async_trait]
-impl BackgroundService for ProxyLogger {
-    async fn start(&self, _shutdown: ShutdownWatch) {
-        tracing_subscriber::fmt()
-            .with_max_level(&self.0)
-            .with_writer(std::io::stdout)
-            .init()
+impl Service for ProxyLoggerReceiver {
+    async fn start_service(&mut self, _fds: Option<ListenFds>, _shutdown: ShutdownWatch) {
+        loop {
+            if let Some(buf) = self.0.recv().await {
+                let buf = std::str::from_utf8(&buf).unwrap();
+                // TODO: flush/rotate logs to disk
+                print!("{}", buf);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn name(&self) -> &str {
+        "ProxyLogger"
+    }
+
+    fn threads(&self) -> Option<usize> {
+        Some(1)
     }
 }