If you’re running a Node.js application on an EC2 instance using PM2, one of the most important production requirements is centralized logging.

By default, PM2 stores logs locally on the server:

/home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs

This can quickly lead to:

• Disk space issues 🚨
• Difficult debugging across environments
• No centralized visibility

In this guide, I’ll show you step-by-step how to send PM2 logs to AWS CloudWatch Logs.

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🚀 Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure:

• Your Node.js app is running via PM2
• You have access to your EC2 instance
• IAM role is attached to EC2 with CloudWatch permissions

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🔹 STEP 1: Install CloudWatch Agent (Ubuntu EC2)

The default apt install method may not work on EC2 Ubuntu, so use the official package:

For x86-64 systems:

wget https://amazoncloudwatch-agent.s3.amazonaws.com/ubuntu/amd64/latest/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.deb

For ARM64 systems:

wget https://amazoncloudwatch-agent.s3.amazonaws.com/ubuntu/arm64/latest/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.deb

Install the agent:

sudo dpkg -i -E ./amazon-cloudwatch-agent.deb

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🔹 STEP 2: Attach IAM Role to EC2

Attach a role with the following policy:

Recommended:

CloudWatchAgentServerPolicy

Or minimal permissions:

{
  "Effect": "Allow",
  "Action": [
    "logs:CreateLogGroup",
    "logs:CreateLogStream",
    "logs:PutLogEvents"
  ],
  "Resource": "*"
}

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🔹 STEP 3: Verify PM2 Log Path

Check your PM2 logs:

ls /home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs

Typical files:

app-out.log
app-error.log

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🔹 STEP 4: Configure CloudWatch Agent

Edit the configuration file:

sudo nano /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config.json

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🔹 STEP 5: Add PM2 Log Configuration

Basic configuration (all PM2 logs):

{
  "agent": {
    "run_as_user": "root",
    "region": "us-east-2"
  },
  "logs": {
    "logs_collected": {
      "files": {
        "collect_list": [
          {
            "file_path": "/home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs/myapp-*.log",
            "log_group_name": "myapp-logs",
            "log_stream_name": "{instance_id}-myapp",
            "retention_in_days": 7
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "metrics": {
    "metrics_collected": {
      "cpu": {
        "measurement": [],
        "metrics_collection_interval": 600
      }
    }
  }
}

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Production-style (separate log groups per service):

{
  "file_path": "/home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs/myapp-prod*",
  "log_group_name": "myapp-prod",
  "log_stream_name": "{instance_id}"
},
{
  "file_path": "/home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs/myapp-stage*",
  "log_group_name": "myapp-stage",
  "log_stream_name": "{instance_id}"
}

Once the configuration file is created, run the following command to start it.

sudo /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/amazon-cloudwatch-agent-ctl -a fetch-config -m ec2 -s -c file:/opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/bin/config.json

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🔹 STEP 6: Start / Restart CloudWatch Agent

sudo systemctl restart amazon-cloudwatch-agent

Check status:

sudo systemctl status amazon-cloudwatch-agent

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🔹 STEP 7: Verify Logs in AWS Console

Go to:

CloudWatch → Logs → Log Groups

You should see your log group (e.g., pm2-app-logs).

Click on it → open log stream → 🎉 logs will start appearing.

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🔧 Optional (Highly Recommended)

✅ Set Log Retention (Cost Optimization)

By default, logs are stored forever → can increase AWS cost.

Set retention (example: 30 days):

aws logs put-retention-policy \
  --log-group-name pm2-app-logs \
  --retention-in-days 30

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✅ Enable PM2 Log Rotation (Prevent Disk Full)

Install log rotation:

sudo -iu ubuntu
pm2 install pm2-logrotate

Recommended config:

pm2 set pm2-logrotate:max_size 100M
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:retain 3
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:compress true

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🚨 Troubleshooting

Logs not appearing?

Check agent logs:

sudo tail -f /opt/aws/amazon-cloudwatch-agent/logs/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.log

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Permission issues?

sudo chmod -R 755 /home/ubuntu/.pm2/logs

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Restart agent

sudo systemctl restart amazon-cloudwatch-agent

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🧠 Best Practices

Component	Purpose
PM2 logrotate	Prevent disk overflow
CloudWatch Agent	Ship logs
CloudWatch retention	Control cost

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✅ Final Outcome

After completing this setup:

• Logs are stored locally (short-term)
• Logs are available in CloudWatch (long-term)
• Easy debugging across environments 🚀
• No more disk space issues 🔥

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🎯 Conclusion

Centralized logging is critical for production systems. By integrating PM2 with CloudWatch Logs, you ensure:

• Better observability
• Faster debugging
• Scalable log management