I have worked on a project for a while. During development, for debugging, I had added console.logs across the codebase, even though we had other options to debug. When the app was about to go live, I realized those console logs might expose some sensitive data — and my crazy way of debugging! What should I do now? In this blog, we are going to see how to fix this.

Leaving the console.log in production build is risky,They might accidentally leak user data, internal errors, API responses, or simply make your app look unprofessional. One approach is to remove all the console.log statements, but what if an issue arises and you need to test the application?

Instead of removing them completely, we can simply disable them in production. This way, we can still retain the option to debug during development without exposing sensitive information in the live app.

Solution 1 :
If you already add the consloe.log in your React Angular or any JS framework. Add the following code in Applications entry point.

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
  console.log = () => {};    // Disable console.log
  console.warn = () => {};   // Disable console.warn
  console.error = () => {};  // Disable console.error
  console.info = () => {};   // Disable console.info
}

How It Works:

  • process.env.NODE_ENV checks whether the app is in production mode or not.
  • If it's production, the code replaces console.log, console.warn, console.error, and console.info with empty functions (() => {}).

Why This Works:

  • Replacing console.log with an empty function changes its behavior: Instead of printing messages to the console, it does nothing.
  • This ensures that when you call console.log or any of the other methods in production, there won’t be any output, keeping sensitive information safe and making the app look cleaner.

This is a global change because the console object is a global object in JavaScript, meaning it's accessible anywhere in your code. When you override one of its methods, the change takes effect globally across the entire application. So, no matter where in your code console.log() is called, it will simply do nothing in production.

Key Points:

  • Global Effect: Once you replace console.log with an empty function, it applies everywhere in the code, so any console.log statement will not output anything to the console, no matter where it's used.
  • No Output in Production: This effectively stops any debug or info messages from appearing in production environments, keeping sensitive information safe and ensuring your app looks polished and professional.
  • No Performance Hit: The empty function does not take up resources, so it avoids the performance overhead of keeping unnecessary logging active in production.

Solutuon 2 :
If you are just starting your project, a better approach is to create a helper function or service specifically for debugging. This way, you can avoid directly using console.log and instead use a custom function that you can intercept at any point in your code.

// debugService.js
export const debugLog = (message) => {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
    console.log(message); // Log only in development
  }
}
import { debugLog } from './debugService';

debugLog('This is a debug message');

Disabling or removing console.log statements in production is crucial for maintaining the security and professionalism of your application. By using the first approach, I have fixed my existing codebase, ensuring no console.log statements are exposed in production.

For new development, I am now using Solution 2, which provides more control and flexibility for debugging without compromising the integrity of the production environment