diff --git a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
index 147a553ab..136f8ddfc 100755
--- a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
+++ b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 #   it is expected that this script is called by run-federation-test.sh script.
 set -e
 
-if [ -n "$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL" ];
+if [ -z "$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL" ];
 then
-  LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL=warn
+  LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL=info
 fi
 
 export RUST_BACKTRACE=1
-#export RUST_LOG="warn,lemmy_server=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_federate=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api_common=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api_crud=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_apub=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_schema=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views_actor=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views_moderator=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_routes=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_utils=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_websocket=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL"
+export RUST_LOG="warn,lemmy_server=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_federate=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api_common=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_api_crud=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_apub=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_schema=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views_actor=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_db_views_moderator=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_routes=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_utils=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL,lemmy_websocket=$LEMMY_LOG_LEVEL"
 
 export LEMMY_TEST_FAST_FEDERATION=1 # by default, the persistent federation queue has delays in the scale of 30s-5min
 
diff --git a/crates/federate/src/lib.rs b/crates/federate/src/lib.rs
index a4dc49536..fc5bd2387 100644
--- a/crates/federate/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/federate/src/lib.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use tokio::{
   time::sleep,
 };
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
+use tracing::info;
 
 mod util;
 mod worker;
@@ -44,6 +45,10 @@ async fn start_stop_federation_workers(
   let pool2 = &mut DbPool::Pool(&pool);
   let process_index = opts.process_index - 1;
   let local_domain = federation_config.settings().get_hostname_without_port()?;
+  info!(
+    "Starting federation workers for process count {} and index {}",
+    opts.process_count, process_index
+  );
   loop {
     let mut total_count = 0;
     let mut dead_count = 0;
diff --git a/crates/federate/src/worker.rs b/crates/federate/src/worker.rs
index ff2a68e3c..f6701a8d1 100644
--- a/crates/federate/src/worker.rs
+++ b/crates/federate/src/worker.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 use tokio::{sync::mpsc::UnboundedSender, time::sleep};
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
+use tracing::{debug, info, trace, warn};
 
 /// Check whether to save state to db every n sends if there's no failures (during failures state is saved after every attempt)
 /// This determines the batch size for loop_batch. After a batch ends and SAVE_STATE_EVERY_TIME has passed, the federation_queue_state is updated in the DB.
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ impl InstanceWorker {
     &mut self,
     pool: &mut DbPool<'_>,
   ) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
+    debug!("Starting federation worker for {}", self.instance.domain);
     let save_state_every = chrono::Duration::from_std(SAVE_STATE_EVERY_TIME).expect("not negative");
 
     self.update_communities(pool).await?;
@@ -176,15 +178,14 @@ impl InstanceWorker {
         .await
         .context("failed reading activity from db")?
       else {
-        tracing::debug!("{}: {:?} does not exist", self.instance.domain, id);
+        debug!("{}: {:?} does not exist", self.instance.domain, id);
         self.state.last_successful_id = Some(id);
         continue;
       };
       if let Err(e) = self.send_retry_loop(pool, &ele.0, &ele.1).await {
-        tracing::warn!(
+        warn!(
           "sending {} errored internally, skipping activity: {:?}",
-          ele.0.ap_id,
-          e
+          ele.0.ap_id, e
         );
       }
       if self.stop.is_cancelled() {
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ impl InstanceWorker {
       .await
       .context("failed figuring out inbox urls")?;
     if inbox_urls.is_empty() {
-      tracing::debug!("{}: {:?} no inboxes", self.instance.domain, activity.id);
+      trace!("{}: {:?} no inboxes", self.instance.domain, activity.id);
       self.state.last_successful_id = Some(activity.id);
       self.state.last_successful_published_time = Some(activity.published);
       return Ok(());
@@ -229,16 +230,14 @@ impl InstanceWorker {
       SendActivityTask::prepare(&object, actor.as_ref(), inbox_urls, &self.context).await?;
     for task in requests {
       // usually only one due to shared inbox
-      tracing::debug!("sending out {}", task);
+      trace!("sending out {}", task);
       while let Err(e) = task.sign_and_send(&self.context).await {
         self.state.fail_count += 1;
         self.state.last_retry = Some(Utc::now());
         let retry_delay: Duration = federate_retry_sleep_duration(self.state.fail_count);
-        tracing::info!(
+        info!(
           "{}: retrying {:?} attempt {} with delay {retry_delay:.2?}. ({e})",
-          self.instance.domain,
-          activity.id,
-          self.state.fail_count
+          self.instance.domain, activity.id, self.state.fail_count
         );
         self.save_and_send_state(pool).await?;
         tokio::select! {