diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1edd46e9..c9a9c1e9 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ version = "0.4.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "739f4a8db6605981345c5654f3a85b056ce52f37a39d34da03f25bf2151ea16e"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "aho-corasick"
+version = "0.7.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7404febffaa47dac81aa44dba71523c9d069b1bdc50a77db41195149e17f68e5"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ansi_term"
 version = "0.11.0"
@@ -15,6 +24,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ansi_term"
+version = "0.12.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d52a9bb7ec0cf484c551830a7ce27bd20d67eac647e1befb56b0be4ee39a55d2"
+dependencies = [
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anyhow"
 version = "1.0.40"
@@ -56,6 +74,12 @@ version = "0.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6cf89846ef2b2674ef1c153256cec98fba587c72bf4ea2c4b2f6d91a19f55926"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "byteorder"
+version = "1.4.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "14c189c53d098945499cdfa7ecc63567cf3886b3332b312a5b4585d8d3a6a610"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "c_utf8"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -118,7 +142,7 @@ version = "2.33.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "37e58ac78573c40708d45522f0d80fa2f01cc4f9b4e2bf749807255454312002"
 dependencies = [
- "ansi_term",
+ "ansi_term 0.11.0",
  "atty",
  "bitflags",
  "strsim",
@@ -324,6 +348,19 @@ version = "0.3.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a357d28ed41a50f9c765dbfe56cbc04a64e53e5fc58ba79fbc34c10ef3df831f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "env_logger"
+version = "0.8.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "17392a012ea30ef05a610aa97dfb49496e71c9f676b27879922ea5bdf60d9d3f"
+dependencies = [
+ "atty",
+ "humantime",
+ "log",
+ "regex",
+ "termcolor",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "envsubst"
 version = "0.2.0"
@@ -658,6 +695,12 @@ version = "0.4.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7f24254aa9a54b5c858eaee2f5bccdb46aaf0e486a595ed5fd8f86ba55232a70"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "humantime"
+version = "2.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9a3a5bfb195931eeb336b2a7b4d761daec841b97f947d34394601737a7bba5e4"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "indicatif"
 version = "0.15.0"
@@ -780,6 +823,15 @@ version = "1.0.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3e2e65a1a2e43cfcb47a895c4c8b10d1f4a61097f9f254f183aee60cad9c651d"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "matchers"
+version = "0.0.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f099785f7595cc4b4553a174ce30dd7589ef93391ff414dbb67f62392b9e0ce1"
+dependencies = [
+ "regex-automata",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.3.4"
@@ -1307,6 +1359,19 @@ version = "1.4.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d9251239e129e16308e70d853559389de218ac275b515068abc96829d05b948a"
 dependencies = [
+ "aho-corasick",
+ "memchr",
+ "regex-syntax",
+ "thread_local",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "regex-automata"
+version = "0.1.9"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ae1ded71d66a4a97f5e961fd0cb25a5f366a42a41570d16a763a69c092c26ae4"
+dependencies = [
+ "byteorder",
  "regex-syntax",
 ]
 
@@ -1345,6 +1410,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "curl",
  "cxx",
+ "env_logger",
  "envsubst",
  "fn-error-context",
  "gio",
@@ -1381,6 +1447,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "system-deps 3.1.1",
  "systemd",
  "tempfile",
+ "tracing",
+ "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1464,6 +1532,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "yaml-rust",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "sharded-slab"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "79c719719ee05df97490f80a45acfc99e5a30ce98a1e4fb67aee422745ae14e3"
+dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "siphasher"
 version = "0.3.3"
@@ -1700,6 +1777,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "thread_local"
+version = "1.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8018d24e04c95ac8790716a5987d0fec4f8b27249ffa0f7d33f1369bdfb88cbd"
+dependencies = [
+ "once_cell",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "time"
 version = "0.1.44"
@@ -1720,6 +1806,81 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing"
+version = "0.1.25"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "01ebdc2bb4498ab1ab5f5b73c5803825e60199229ccba0698170e3be0e7f959f"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if 1.0.0",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "tracing-attributes",
+ "tracing-core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-attributes"
+version = "0.1.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c42e6fa53307c8a17e4ccd4dc81cf5ec38db9209f59b222210375b54ee40d1e2"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-core"
+version = "0.1.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f50de3927f93d202783f4513cda820ab47ef17f624b03c096e86ef00c67e6b5f"
+dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-log"
+version = "0.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a6923477a48e41c1951f1999ef8bb5a3023eb723ceadafe78ffb65dc366761e3"
+dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static",
+ "log",
+ "tracing-core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-serde"
+version = "0.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fb65ea441fbb84f9f6748fd496cf7f63ec9af5bca94dd86456978d055e8eb28b"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "tracing-core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-subscriber"
+version = "0.2.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "705096c6f83bf68ea5d357a6aa01829ddbdac531b357b45abeca842938085baa"
+dependencies = [
+ "ansi_term 0.12.1",
+ "chrono",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "matchers",
+ "regex",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+ "sharded-slab",
+ "smallvec",
+ "thread_local",
+ "tracing",
+ "tracing-core",
+ "tracing-log",
+ "tracing-serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-segmentation"
 version = "1.7.1"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e88bc2bb..8a7f6c01 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ clap = "2.33.3"
 curl = "0.4.36"
 cxx = "1.0.46"
 envsubst = "0.2.0"
+env_logger = "0.8.3"
 fn-error-context = "0.1.2"
 gio = "0.9.1"
 gio-sys = "0.10.1"
@@ -66,6 +67,8 @@ structopt = "0.3.21"
 subprocess = "0.2.6"
 systemd = "0.8.2"
 tempfile = "3.2.0"
+tracing = "0.1"
+tracing-subscriber = "0.2"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 anyhow = "1.0"
diff --git a/rust/src/main.rs b/rust/src/main.rs
index 6e07636c..8675a092 100644
--- a/rust/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/src/main.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ fn main() {
     // Call this early on; it invokes e.g. setenv() so must be done
     // before we create threads.
     rpmostree_rust::ffi::early_main();
+    // We need to write to stderr, because some of our commands write to stdout
+    // like `rpm-ostree compose tree --print-json`.
+    tracing_subscriber::fmt::fmt()
+        .with_env_filter(tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter::from_default_env())
+        .with_writer(std::io::stderr)
+        .init();
+    tracing::trace!("starting");
     // Gather our arguments.
     let args: Vec<String> = std::env::args().collect();
     let args: Vec<&str> = args.iter().map(|s| s.as_str()).collect();
diff --git a/rust/src/treefile.rs b/rust/src/treefile.rs
index f7da305e..9744abfc 100644
--- a/rust/src/treefile.rs
+++ b/rust/src/treefile.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ use std::os::unix::io::{AsRawFd, RawFd};
 use std::path::Path;
 use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::{collections, fs, io};
+use tracing::{event, instrument, Level};
 
 use crate::utils;
 
@@ -455,6 +456,7 @@ fn add_files_path_is_valid(path: &str) -> bool {
 
 impl Treefile {
     /// The main treefile creation entrypoint.
+    #[instrument(skip(workdir))]
     fn new_boxed(
         filename: &Path,
         basearch: Option<&str>,
@@ -462,6 +464,7 @@ impl Treefile {
     ) -> Result<Box<Treefile>> {
         let mut seen_includes = collections::BTreeMap::new();
         let mut parsed = treefile_parse_recurse(filename, basearch, 0, &mut seen_includes)?;
+        event!(Level::DEBUG, "parsed successfully");
         parsed.config = parsed.config.substitute_vars()?;
         Treefile::validate_config(&parsed.config)?;
         let dfd = openat::Dir::open(utils::parent_dir(filename).unwrap())?;