diff --git a/lib/cmd.js b/lib/cmd.js
index 12cd67b86..5b6a0242e 100644
--- a/lib/cmd.js
+++ b/lib/cmd.js
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ class Cmd {
       .option('--nodashboard', 'simple mode, disables the dashboard')
       .option('--no-color', 'no colors in case it\'s needed for compatbility purposes')
       .option('--logfile [logfile]', 'filename to output logs (default: none)')
+      .option('--logLevel [logLevel]', 'level of logging to display ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"] (default: debug)')
       .description('run dapp (default: development)')
       .action(function (env, options) {
         embark.run({
@@ -110,7 +111,8 @@ class Cmd {
           serverHost: options.host,
           runWebserver: !options.noserver,
           useDashboard: !options.nodashboard,
-          logfile: options.logfile
+          logfile: options.logfile,
+          logLevel: options.logLevel
         });
       });
   }
diff --git a/lib/core/engine.js b/lib/core/engine.js
index 9c02a5da0..1afa76d77 100644
--- a/lib/core/engine.js
+++ b/lib/core/engine.js
@@ -17,13 +17,14 @@ class Engine {
     this.interceptLogs = options.interceptLogs;
     this.version = options.version;
     this.logfile = options.logfile;
+    this.logLevel = options.logLevel;
   }
 
   init(_options) {
     let self = this;
     let options = _options || {};
     this.events = new Events();
-    this.logger = options.logger || new Logger({logLevel: options.logLevel || 'debug', events: this.events, logfile: this.logfile});
+    this.logger = options.logger || new Logger({logLevel: options.logLevel || this.logLevel || 'debug', events: this.events, logfile: this.logfile});
     this.config = new Config({env: this.env, logger: this.logger, events: this.events});
     this.config.loadConfigFiles({embarkConfig: this.embarkConfig, interceptLogs: this.interceptLogs});
     this.plugins = this.config.plugins;
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index ef0dbffa7..3e7e7ca98 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ class Embark {
       env: options.env,
       version: this.version,
       embarkConfig: options.embarkConfig || 'embark.json',
-      logfile: options.logfile
+      logfile: options.logfile,
+      logLevel: options.logLevel,
+      interceptLogs: true
     });
     engine.init();