diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9a6daf0cef..4ce6f44dda 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -29,3 +29,4 @@ resources.qrc
 status-react-translations/
 /.update.timestamp
 notarization.log
+status-desktop.log
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7e222d8960..c2b5a1fd9d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -220,6 +220,9 @@ DEFAULT_TOKEN := 220a1abb4b6943a093c35d0ce4fb0732
 INFURA_TOKEN ?= $(DEFAULT_TOKEN)
 NIM_PARAMS += -d:INFURA_TOKEN:"$(INFURA_TOKEN)"
 
+# generate a status-desktop.log file with chronicles output. This file will be truncated each time the app starts
+NIM_PARAMS += -d:chronicles_sinks="textlines[stdout],textlines[nocolors,file(status-desktop.log,truncate)]"
+
 RESOURCES_LAYOUT := -d:development
 
 nim_status_client: NIM_PARAMS += $(RESOURCES_LAYOUT)