---
title: Formatters
description: Our log formatters allow you to change the way various logging frameworks log to IO (file/console) to use ECS json. Our log formatters allow you to set...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/ecs/logging/dotnet/_formatters
products:
  - ECS Logging
  - ECS Logging .NET
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Formatters
Our log formatters allow you to change the way various logging frameworks log to IO (file/console) to use ECS json.

## ECS aware message templates

Our log formatters allow you to set ECS fields directly from the message template using properties that adhere to the [[https://messagetemplates.org/](https://messagetemplates.org/)](https://messagetemplates.org/) format.
```csharp
Log.Information("The time is {TraceId}", "my-trace-id");
```

Will directly override `trace.id` on the resulting ECS json document.
All supported ECS message template properties are available as constants under the `LogTemplateProperties` static class. For example `LogTemplateProperties.TraceId` will return `"TraceId"`.

## Ingest ECS log files

<applies-to>
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Unavailable
</applies-to>

If you are using one of our formatter libraries to log to file or stdout/stderr you can use the following options to get these logs into Elasticsearch or Elastic Cloud:
<note>
  We also support writing logs directly to Elasticsearch or Elastic Cloud. See our [various data shipper integrations](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/ecs/logging/dotnet/data-shippers)
</note>

<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Log file">
    1. Follow the [Filebeat quick start](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/filebeat-installation-configuration)
    2. Add the following configuration to your `filebeat.yaml` file.
    For Filebeat 7.16+
    ```yaml
    filebeat.inputs:
    - type: filestream 
      paths: /path/to/logs.json
      parsers:
        - ndjson:
          overwrite_keys: true 
          add_error_key: true 
          expand_keys: true 

    processors: 
      - add_host_metadata: ~
      - add_cloud_metadata: ~
      - add_docker_metadata: ~
      - add_kubernetes_metadata: ~
    ```
    For Filebeat < 7.16
    ```yaml
    filebeat.inputs:
    - type: log
      paths: /path/to/logs.json
      json.keys_under_root: true
      json.overwrite_keys: true
      json.add_error_key: true
      json.expand_keys: true

    processors:
    - add_host_metadata: ~
    - add_cloud_metadata: ~
    - add_docker_metadata: ~
    - add_kubernetes_metadata: ~
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Kubernetes">
    1. Make sure your application logs to stdout/stderr.
    2. Follow the [Run Filebeat on Kubernetes](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/running-on-kubernetes) guide.
    3. Enable [hints-based autodiscover](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/configuration-autodiscover-hints) (uncomment the corresponding section in `filebeat-kubernetes.yaml`).
    4. Add these annotations to your pods that log using ECS loggers. This will make sure the logs are parsed appropriately.

    ```yaml
    annotations:
      co.elastic.logs/json.overwrite_keys: true 
      co.elastic.logs/json.add_error_key: true 
      co.elastic.logs/json.expand_keys: true 
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Docker">
    1. Make sure your application logs to stdout/stderr.
    2. Follow the [Run Filebeat on Docker](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/running-on-docker) guide.
    3. Enable [hints-based autodiscover](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/configuration-autodiscover-hints).
    4. Add these labels to your containers that log using ECS loggers. This will make sure the logs are parsed appropriately.

    ```yaml
    labels:
      co.elastic.logs/json.overwrite_keys: true 
      co.elastic.logs/json.add_error_key: true 
      co.elastic.logs/json.expand_keys: true 
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

For more information, see the [Filebeat reference](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/filebeat/configuring-howto-filebeat).