Run Modes

The http_mode field controls the verbosity of request logging and the behaviour of the underlying Gin HTTP framework.

{
  "http_mode": "release"
}

---

Available modes

Mode	Gin framework mode	Request logging	Query statistics	Use case
debug	debug	Full Gin debug output including route registration	Printed after every request	Development and troubleshooting
test	test	Gin test mode output	Printed after every request	Automated integration tests
release	release	Standard Gin access log	Printed after every request	Production with logging
production	release	Suppressed entirely	Suppressed entirely	Production without logging overhead

---

Mode details

debug

Gin prints all registered routes at startup, plus a coloured access log line for every request. The proxy also logs per-request statistics showing the running total, cache hit/miss counts, and hit rate percentage. Use this when first setting up the proxy or diagnosing problems.

[GIN-debug] GET  /:ip_address  --> main.Maxmind_Query_IP (3 handlers)
[GIN] 2025/06/12 - 10:00:01 | 200 | 1.234ms | 10.0.0.1 | GET /8.8.8.8
[ Total Queries: 5 | Cached: 3 [60.0%] | Not Cached: 2 [40.0%] - 8.8.8.8 pull from cache.

release

The standard production mode. Gin does not print route registration or coloured debug output, but still logs each request. Query statistics are still printed to stdout after every lookup. Suitable for environments where a log aggregator (e.g. Loki, Splunk, CloudWatch) collects stdout.

test

Intended for use with automated test suites. Behaves like release for logging purposes.

production

All logging is suppressed — Gin's access log, query statistics, and error messages are all discarded. Use this when the proxy is running in a high-throughput environment and log volume is a concern, or when logs are genuinely not needed.

The proxy still starts and functions normally; errors are silently dropped rather than logged.

---

Choosing a mode

Scenario	Recommended mode
Local development	debug
CI / automated tests	test
Production with a log aggregator	release
High-throughput production, no logging needed	production