diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 4fa52eef..f92d75c3 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 dependencies = [
  "num-integer 0.1.39 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "num-traits 0.2.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "time 0.1.40 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -157,7 +158,9 @@ dependencies = [
  "iq-cli-derive 0.0.0",
  "lazy_static 1.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "libc 0.2.43 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.4.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "redox_syscall 0.1.40 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "simplelog 0.5.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "term 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "winapi 0.3.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
@@ -311,6 +314,16 @@ name = "rustc-demangle"
 version = "0.1.9"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "simplelog"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+dependencies = [
+ "chrono 0.4.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "log 0.4.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "term 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "syn"
 version = "0.14.7"
@@ -386,6 +399,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "unreachable 1.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "time"
+version = "0.1.40"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc 0.2.43 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "redox_syscall 0.1.40 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "winapi 0.3.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ucd-util"
 version = "0.1.1"
@@ -481,6 +504,7 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum regex-syntax 0.6.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "747ba3b235651f6e2f67dfa8bcdcd073ddb7c243cb21c442fc12395dfcac212d"
 "checksum remove_dir_all 0.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3488ba1b9a2084d38645c4c08276a1752dcbf2c7130d74f1569681ad5d2799c5"
 "checksum rustc-demangle 0.1.9 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "bcfe5b13211b4d78e5c2cadfebd7769197d95c639c35a50057eb4c05de811395"
+"checksum simplelog 0.5.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "9cc12b39fdf4c9a07f88bffac2d628f0118ed5ac077a4b0feece61fadf1429e5"
 "checksum syn 0.14.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "e2e13df71f29f9440b50261a5882c86eac334f1badb3134ec26f0de2f1418e44"
 "checksum synstructure 0.9.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "85bb9b7550d063ea184027c9b8c20ac167cd36d3e06b3a40bceb9d746dc1a7b7"
 "checksum tempdir 0.3.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "15f2b5fb00ccdf689e0149d1b1b3c03fead81c2b37735d812fa8bddbbf41b6d8"
@@ -488,6 +512,7 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum termcolor 1.0.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "722426c4a0539da2c4ffd9b419d90ad540b4cff4a053be9069c908d4d07e2836"
 "checksum termion 1.5.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "689a3bdfaab439fd92bc87df5c4c78417d3cbe537487274e9b0b2dce76e92096"
 "checksum thread_local 0.3.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "279ef31c19ededf577bfd12dfae728040a21f635b06a24cd670ff510edd38963"
+"checksum time 0.1.40 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d825be0eb33fda1a7e68012d51e9c7f451dc1a69391e7fdc197060bb8c56667b"
 "checksum ucd-util 0.1.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "fd2be2d6639d0f8fe6cdda291ad456e23629558d466e2789d2c3e9892bda285d"
 "checksum unicode-xid 0.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "fc72304796d0818e357ead4e000d19c9c174ab23dc11093ac919054d20a6a7fc"
 "checksum unreachable 1.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "382810877fe448991dfc7f0dd6e3ae5d58088fd0ea5e35189655f84e6814fa56"
diff --git a/iq-cli/Cargo.toml b/iq-cli/Cargo.toml
index 382a8684..66e58db5 100644
--- a/iq-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/iq-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,14 +18,17 @@ appveyor  = { repository = "iqlusioninc/crates" }
 failure = { version = "0.1", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 iq-cli-derive = { version = "0", path = "../iq-cli-derive" }
 lazy_static = "1"
+log = { version = "0.4", optional = true }
+simplelog = { version = "0.5", optional = true }
 term = "0.5"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 assert_matches = "1"
 
 [features]
-default = ["errors", "options", "status"]
+default = ["errors", "logging", "options", "status"]
 errors = []
+logging = ["log", "simplelog"]
 options = ["iq-cli-derive/options"]
 status = []
 
diff --git a/iq-cli/src/lib.rs b/iq-cli/src/lib.rs
index 1827dcf0..00f568f2 100644
--- a/iq-cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/iq-cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -41,12 +41,18 @@ extern crate failure;
 extern crate iq_cli_derive;
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate lazy_static;
+#[cfg(feature = "log")]
+pub extern crate log;
+#[cfg(feature = "simplelog")]
+extern crate simplelog;
 extern crate term;
 
 #[cfg(all(test, feature = "options"))]
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate assert_matches;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "simplelog")]
+use simplelog::{CombinedLogger, LevelFilter, TermLogger};
 pub use term::color::{self, Color};
 
 mod error;
@@ -60,3 +66,28 @@ pub use error::Error;
 #[cfg(feature = "options")]
 pub use options::Options;
 pub use shell::{config, status, ColorConfig, Stream};
+
+/// Initialize a command-line app with the given options
+// TODO: better API for this
+#[allow(unused_variables)]
+pub fn init(color_config: ColorConfig, verbose: bool) {
+    config(color_config);
+    #[cfg(feature = "simplelog")]
+    init_logging(verbose);
+}
+
+/// Initialize the logging subsystem (i.e. simplelog)
+#[cfg(feature = "simplelog")]
+fn init_logging(verbose: bool) {
+    let level_filter = if verbose {
+        LevelFilter::Debug
+    } else {
+        LevelFilter::Info
+    };
+
+    let config = simplelog::Config::default();
+
+    if let Some(logger) = TermLogger::new(level_filter, config) {
+        CombinedLogger::init(vec![logger]).unwrap()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/iq-cli/src/macros/log.rs b/iq-cli/src/macros/log.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..61f08f10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iq-cli/src/macros/log.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+// Copyright 2014-2015 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+//
+// TODO: find a way to re-export the upstream macros rather than copypasta
+
+//! Logging macros, originally from:
+//! <https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/log/blob/master/src/macros.rs>
+
+/// The standard logging macro.
+///
+/// This macro will generically log with the specified `Level` and `format!`
+/// based argument list.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// use log::Level;
+///
+/// # fn main() {
+/// let data = (42, "Forty-two");
+/// let private_data = "private";
+///
+/// log!(Level::Error, "Received errors: {}, {}", data.0, data.1);
+/// log!(target: "app_events", Level::Warn, "App warning: {}, {}, {}",
+///     data.0, data.1, private_data);
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! log {
+    (target: $target:expr, $lvl:expr, $($arg:tt)+) => ({
+        let lvl = $lvl;
+        if lvl <= $crate::log::STATIC_MAX_LEVEL && lvl <= $crate::log::max_level() {
+            $crate::log::__private_api_log(
+                format_args!($($arg)+),
+                lvl,
+                &($target, module_path!(), file!(), line!()),
+            );
+        }
+    });
+    ($lvl:expr, $($arg:tt)+) => (log!(target: module_path!(), $lvl, $($arg)+))
+}
+
+/// Logs a message at the error level.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// # fn main() {
+/// let (err_info, port) = ("No connection", 22);
+///
+/// error!("Error: {} on port {}", err_info, port);
+/// error!(target: "app_events", "App Error: {}, Port: {}", err_info, 22);
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! error {
+    (target: $target:expr, $($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!(target: $target, $crate::log::Level::Error, $($arg)*);
+    );
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!($crate::log::Level::Error, $($arg)*);
+    )
+}
+
+/// Logs a message at the warn level.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// # fn main() {
+/// let warn_description = "Invalid Input";
+///
+/// warn!("Warning! {}!", warn_description);
+/// warn!(target: "input_events", "App received warning: {}", warn_description);
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! warn {
+    (target: $target:expr, $($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!(target: $target, $crate::log::Level::Warn, $($arg)*);
+    );
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!($crate::log::Level::Warn, $($arg)*);
+    )
+}
+
+/// Logs a message at the info level.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// # fn main() {
+/// # struct Connection { port: u32, speed: f32 }
+/// let conn_info = Connection { port: 40, speed: 3.20 };
+///
+/// info!("Connected to port {} at {} Mb/s", conn_info.port, conn_info.speed);
+/// info!(target: "connection_events", "Successfull connection, port: {}, speed: {}",
+///       conn_info.port, conn_info.speed);
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! info {
+    (target: $target:expr, $($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!(target: $target, $crate::log::Level::Info, $($arg)*);
+    );
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!($crate::log::Level::Info, $($arg)*);
+    )
+}
+
+/// Logs a message at the debug level.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// # fn main() {
+/// # struct Position { x: f32, y: f32 }
+/// let pos = Position { x: 3.234, y: -1.223 };
+///
+/// debug!("New position: x: {}, y: {}", pos.x, pos.y);
+/// debug!(target: "app_events", "New position: x: {}, y: {}", pos.x, pos.y);
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! debug {
+    (target: $target:expr, $($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!(target: $target, $crate::log::Level::Debug, $($arg)*);
+    );
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!($crate::log::Level::Debug, $($arg)*);
+    )
+}
+
+/// Logs a message at the trace level.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// # fn main() {
+/// # struct Position { x: f32, y: f32 }
+/// let pos = Position { x: 3.234, y: -1.223 };
+///
+/// trace!("Position is: x: {}, y: {}", pos.x, pos.y);
+/// trace!(target: "app_events", "x is {} and y is {}",
+///        if pos.x >= 0.0 { "positive" } else { "negative" },
+///        if pos.y >= 0.0 { "positive" } else { "negative" });
+/// # }
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! trace {
+    (target: $target:expr, $($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!(target: $target, $crate::log::Level::Trace, $($arg)*);
+    );
+    ($($arg:tt)*) => (
+        log!($crate::log::Level::Trace, $($arg)*);
+    )
+}
+
+/// Determines if a message logged at the specified level in that module will
+/// be logged.
+///
+/// This can be used to avoid expensive computation of log message arguments if
+/// the message would be ignored anyway.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```rust
+/// # #[macro_use]
+/// # extern crate log;
+/// use log::Level::Debug;
+///
+/// # fn foo() {
+/// if log_enabled!(Debug) {
+///     let data = expensive_call();
+///     debug!("expensive debug data: {} {}", data.x, data.y);
+/// }
+/// if log_enabled!(target: "Global", Debug) {
+///    let data = expensive_call();
+///    debug!(target: "Global", "expensive debug data: {} {}", data.x, data.y);
+/// }
+/// # }
+/// # struct Data { x: u32, y: u32 }
+/// # fn expensive_call() -> Data { Data { x: 0, y: 0 } }
+/// # fn main() {}
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! log_enabled {
+    (target: $target:expr, $lvl:expr) => {{
+        let lvl = $lvl;
+        lvl <= $crate::log::STATIC_MAX_LEVEL
+            && lvl <= $crate::log::max_level()
+            && $crate::log::__private_api_enabled(lvl, $target)
+    }};
+    ($lvl:expr) => {
+        log_enabled!(target: module_path!(), $lvl)
+    };
+}
diff --git a/iq-cli/src/macros/mod.rs b/iq-cli/src/macros/mod.rs
index ceac84ef..8f1c2e4b 100644
--- a/iq-cli/src/macros/mod.rs
+++ b/iq-cli/src/macros/mod.rs
@@ -3,5 +3,8 @@
 #[cfg(feature = "errors")]
 pub mod error;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "log")]
+pub mod log;
+
 #[cfg(feature = "status")]
 pub mod status;