diff --git a/handlerApi.go b/handlerApi.go
index b8faac9..5b3d82a 100644
--- a/handlerApi.go
+++ b/handlerApi.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"log"
+	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
 )
 
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ func (s *Server) handlerRefresh(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 	if err := s.c.Refresh(); err != nil {
-		// #log
-		log.Printf("refresh failed: %v", err)
+		slog.Error("refresh failed", "err", err)
 		http.Error(w, "refresh failed", http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/handlerPkgs.go b/handlerPkgs.go
index bfeb897..2d63e9f 100644
--- a/handlerPkgs.go
+++ b/handlerPkgs.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"io"
-	"log"
+	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ func (s *Server) handlePackage(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	}
 
 	// record the useragent from requestor
-	// #log level debug
-	log.Printf("Requestors UA: %s", req.Header.Get("User-Agent"))
+	slog.Debug("Requestors User Agent", "UA", req.Header.Get("User-Agent"))
 
 	// build file paths from the request, they follow archlinux repo
 	// <mirrorroot>/[core, extra, etc]/os/[x86_64, arm, etc]/package.pkg.tar.zst[.sig]
@@ -34,13 +33,11 @@ func (s *Server) handlePackage(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	cachedFile, err := s.c.Fetch(repoPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		if upstreamErr, ok := errors.AsType[*cache.UpstreamError](err); ok {
-			// #log level warn
-			log.Printf("upstream Error: %v", upstreamErr.Error())
+			slog.Warn("upstream error", "err", upstreamErr.Error())
 			http.Error(w, "Not found upstream", upstreamErr.StatusCode)
 			return
 		}
-		// #log level warn
-		log.Printf("fetch error: %v", err)
+		slog.Warn("fetch error", "err", err)
 		http.Error(w, "Failed to fetch from upstream", http.StatusBadGateway)
 		return
 	}
@@ -51,8 +48,7 @@ func (s *Server) handlePackage(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	w.Header().Set("Content-Length", strconv.FormatInt(cachedFile.Size, 10))
 	_, err = io.Copy(w, cachedFile.Reader)
 	if err != nil {
-		// #log error
-		log.Printf("error streaming file to client: %v", err)
+		slog.Warn("streaming error", "err", err)
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 9fca7e6..fb3c764 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"flag"
-	"log"
+	"fmt"
+	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
 
 	"github.com/ewpt3ch/pkgstash/internal/cache"
 )
@@ -15,18 +17,33 @@ type Server struct {
 
 func main() {
 
-	// set config from flag if available
+	// get options from cli flags
 	var configPath string
 	flag.StringVar(&configPath, "config", "", "path to config file")
+	logFlag := flag.String("loglevel", "INFO", "loglevel: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR")
 	flag.Parse()
+
+	// set config from flag if available
 	if len(configPath) == 0 {
 		configPath = "/etc/pkgstash/pkgstash.toml"
 	}
 
+	//set log level from flag if available
+	var logLevel slog.Level
+	if err := logLevel.UnmarshalText([]byte(*logFlag)); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "invalid log level %q, defaulting to INFO\n", *logFlag)
+		logLevel = slog.LevelInfo
+	}
+
+	logger := slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(os.Stderr, &slog.HandlerOptions{
+		Level: logLevel,
+	}))
+	slog.SetDefault(logger)
+
 	cfg, err := ReadConfig(configPath)
 	if err != nil {
-		// #log error
-		log.Fatal(err)
+		slog.Error("failed to read config", "err", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
 	c := cache.NewCache(cfg.CacheRoot, cfg.MirrorURLs, cfg.MirroredRepos)
@@ -37,8 +54,8 @@ func main() {
 	mux.HandleFunc("POST /api/refresh", srv.handlerRefresh)
 
 	if err := srv.c.Refresh(); err != nil {
-		// #log error
-		log.Fatal(err)
+		slog.Error("failed to refesh db files", "err", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
 	httpServe := &http.Server{
@@ -46,8 +63,10 @@ func main() {
 		Handler: mux,
 	}
 
-	// #log error
-	log.Printf("serving pkgstash root: %v on port: %v", cfg.CacheRoot, cfg.Port)
-	log.Fatal(httpServe.ListenAndServe())
+	slog.Info("serving pkgstash", "root", cfg.CacheRoot, "port", cfg.Port)
+	if err = httpServe.ListenAndServe(); err != nil {
+		slog.Error("server failed", "err", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 
 }