diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d1d0c00..a8cf6b4 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4596,9 +4596,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "log"
-version = "0.4.21"
+version = "0.4.22"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "90ed8c1e510134f979dbc4f070f87d4313098b704861a105fe34231c70a3901c"
+checksum = "a7a70ba024b9dc04c27ea2f0c0548feb474ec5c54bba33a7f72f873a39d07b24"
 dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "value-bag",
@@ -8931,6 +8931,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "futures",
  "itertools 0.10.5",
  "libp2p",
+ "log",
  "log_entry_sync",
  "metrics",
  "miner",
@@ -8950,6 +8951,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "toml 0.5.11",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-appender",
+ "tracing-core",
+ "tracing-log",
  "tracing-subscriber",
  "zgs_spec",
  "zgs_version",
diff --git a/node/Cargo.toml b/node/Cargo.toml
index e9d5211..6441cb1 100644
--- a/node/Cargo.toml
+++ b/node/Cargo.toml
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ config = "0.14"
 public-ip = "0.2"
 ethers = "2.0.14"
 metrics = { workspace = true }
+rust-log = { package = "log", version = "0.4.22" }
+tracing-core = "0.1.32"
+tracing-log = "0.2.0"
 
 [dependencies.libp2p]
 version = "0.45.1"
diff --git a/node/src/log.rs b/node/src/log.rs
index db8c1ce..3060b02 100644
--- a/node/src/log.rs
+++ b/node/src/log.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use task_executor::TaskExecutor;
 use tracing::Level;
+use tracing_log::AsLog;
 use tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter;
 
 const LOG_RELOAD_PERIOD_SEC: u64 = 30;
@@ -7,9 +8,17 @@ const LOG_RELOAD_PERIOD_SEC: u64 = 30;
 pub fn configure(log_level_file: &str, log_directory: &str, executor: TaskExecutor) {
     let file_appender = tracing_appender::rolling::daily(log_directory, "zgs.log");
     let (non_blocking, guard) = tracing_appender::non_blocking(file_appender);
+
+    let level_file = log_level_file.trim_end().to_string();
+    // load config synchronously
+    let mut config = std::fs::read_to_string(&level_file)
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+        .trim_end()
+        .to_string();
+
     let builder = tracing_subscriber::fmt()
         .with_max_level(Level::TRACE)
-        .with_env_filter(EnvFilter::default())
+        .with_env_filter(EnvFilter::try_new(config.clone()).expect("invalid log level"))
         .with_writer(non_blocking)
         .with_ansi(false)
         // .with_file(true)
@@ -20,15 +29,6 @@ pub fn configure(log_level_file: &str, log_directory: &str, executor: TaskExecut
     let handle = builder.reload_handle();
     builder.init();
 
-    let level_file = log_level_file.trim_end().to_string();
-
-    // load config synchronously
-    let mut config = std::fs::read_to_string(&level_file)
-        .unwrap_or_default()
-        .trim_end()
-        .to_string();
-    let _ = handle.reload(&config);
-
     // periodically check for config changes
     executor.spawn(
         async move {
@@ -58,7 +58,10 @@ pub fn configure(log_level_file: &str, log_directory: &str, executor: TaskExecut
                 println!("Updating log config to {:?}", new_config);
 
                 match handle.reload(&new_config) {
-                    Ok(()) => config = new_config,
+                    Ok(()) => {
+                        rust_log::set_max_level(tracing_core::LevelFilter::current().as_log());
+                        config = new_config
+                    }
                     Err(e) => {
                         println!("Failed to load new config: {:?}", e);
                     }