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An NLog layout that writes JSON in Compact Log Event FormatCLEF that is compatible withSeq.

There are situations when it is not possible to send logs directly to Seq, for example, due to enterprise security policies. In this case, a Seq-compatible JSON log can be useful, which can be manually fed to Seq usingseqcliingest command.

After installing NLog, install theNLog.Layouts.ClefJsonLayout package from NuGet:

dotnet add package NLog.Layouts.ClefJsonLayout

Then, use theClefJsonLayout layout within the file target in your NLog configuration:

<nlog>    <extensions>        <addassembly="NLog.Layouts.ClefJsonLayout"/>    </extensions>    <targets>        <targetxsi:type="File"name="file"fileName="log.json">            <layoutxsi:type="ClefJsonLayout" />        </target>    </targets>    <rules>        <loggername="*"minlevel="Info"writeTo="file" />    </rules></nlog>

Thelayout declaration inNLog.config can be expanded with additional properties:

<targetxsi:type="File"name="file"fileName="log.json">    <layoutxsi:type="ClefJsonLayout">        <attributename="logger"layout="${logger}"/>        <attributename="thread"layout="${threadid}"/>    </layout></target>

Any properties specified here will be attached to all outgoing events. The value can be any supportedlayout renderer.

The layout is the part of theNLog.Targets.Seq code that is responsible for generating JSON inCLEF.