diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 933eb022d..503d874b3 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
     environment:
-      - SERVICES=ses,secretsmanager
+      - SERVICES=ses,secretsmanager,cloudwatch,logs
       - DEBUG=0
       - AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=test
       - AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=test
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ services:
         aws --endpoint-url=http://localstack:4566 ses verify-domain-identity --domain imex.online --region ca-central-1
         aws --endpoint-url=http://localstack:4566 ses verify-email-identity --email-address noreply@imex.online --region ca-central-1
         aws --endpoint-url=http://localstack:4566 secretsmanager create-secret --name CHATTER_PRIVATE_KEY --secret-string file:///tmp/certs/id_rsa
+        aws --endpoint-url=http://localstack:4566 logs create-log-group --log-group-name development --region ca-central-1
       "
   # Node App: The Main IMEX API
   node-app:
diff --git a/server/utils/logger.js b/server/utils/logger.js
index 183442dc6..6768b6821 100644
--- a/server/utils/logger.js
+++ b/server/utils/logger.js
@@ -1,73 +1,87 @@
 const InstanceManager = require("../utils/instanceMgr").default;
 const winston = require("winston");
 const WinstonCloudWatch = require("winston-cloudwatch");
+const { isString, isEmpty } = require("lodash");
 
-const region = InstanceManager({
-  imex: "ca-central-1",
-  rome: "us-east-2"
-});
+const createLogger = () => {
+  try {
+    const region = InstanceManager({
+      imex: "ca-central-1",
+      rome: "us-east-2"
+    });
 
-const logGroupName = process.env.CLOUDWATCH_LOG_GROUP;
+    const isLocal = isString(process.env?.LOCALSTACK_HOSTNAME) && !isEmpty(process.env?.LOCALSTACK_HOSTNAME);
 
-const winstonLogger = winston.createLogger({
-  //level: "debug",
-  format: winston.format.json(),
-  transports: [
-    ...(process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production"
-      ? [
-          new winston.transports.Console({
-            level: "silly",
-            format: winston.format.combine(
-              winston.format.colorize(), // Colorize the output
-              winston.format.timestamp(), // Add timestamps
-              winston.format.printf(({ level, message, timestamp, user, record, object }) => {
-                // Format the log message for pretty printing
-                return `${timestamp} [${level}]: ${message} ${
-                  user ? `| user: ${JSON.stringify(user)}` : ""
-                } ${record ? `| record: ${JSON.stringify(record)}` : ""} ${
-                  object ? `| object: ${JSON.stringify(object, null, 2)}` : ""
-                }`;
-              })
-            )
+    const logGroupName = isLocal ? "development" : process.env.CLOUDWATCH_LOG_GROUP;
+
+    const winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults = {
+      logGroupName: logGroupName,
+      awsOptions: {
+        region
+      },
+      jsonMessage: true
+    };
+
+    if (isLocal) {
+      winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults.awsOptions.endpoint = `http://${process.env.LOCALSTACK_HOSTNAME}:4566`;
+      console.log(`Winston Transports set to LocalStack end point: ${winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults.endpoint}`);
+    }
+
+    const developmentTransports = [
+      new winston.transports.Console({
+        level: "silly",
+        format: winston.format.combine(
+          winston.format.colorize(), // Colorize the output
+          winston.format.timestamp(), // Add timestamps
+          winston.format.printf(({ level, message, timestamp, user, record, object }) => {
+            // Format the log message for pretty printing
+            return `${timestamp} [${level}]: ${message} ${
+              user ? `| user: ${JSON.stringify(user)}` : ""
+            } ${record ? `| record: ${JSON.stringify(record)}` : ""} ${
+              object ? `| object: ${JSON.stringify(object, null, 2)}` : ""
+            }`;
           })
-        ]
-      : [
-          new WinstonCloudWatch({
-            level: "error",
-            logGroupName: logGroupName,
-            logStreamName: "errors",
-            awsRegion: region,
-            jsonMessage: true
-          }),
-          new WinstonCloudWatch({
-            level: "warn",
-            logGroupName: logGroupName,
-            logStreamName: "warn",
-            awsRegion: region,
-            jsonMessage: true
-          }),
-          new WinstonCloudWatch({
-            level: "debug",
-            logGroupName: logGroupName,
-            logStreamName: "debug",
-            awsRegion: region,
-            jsonMessage: true
-          })
-        ])
-  ]
-});
+        )
+      })
+    ];
+    const productionTransports = [
+      new WinstonCloudWatch({
+        level: "error",
+        logStreamName: "errors",
+        ...winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults
+      }),
+      new WinstonCloudWatch({
+        level: "warn",
+        logStreamName: "warn",
+        ...winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults
+      }),
+      new WinstonCloudWatch({
+        level: "debug",
+        logStreamName: "debug",
+        ...winstonCloudwatchTransportDefaults
+      })
+    ];
 
-function log(message, type, user, record, object) {
-  // winstonLogger.debug(message, user, record, object);
+    const winstonLogger = winston.createLogger({
+      format: winston.format.json(),
+      transports:
+        process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production"
+          ? productionTransports
+          : [...developmentTransports, ...productionTransports]
+    });
 
-  winstonLogger.log({
-    level: type.toLowerCase(),
-    message: message,
-    user: user,
-    record: record,
-    meta: object
-  });
+    return (message, type, user, record, object) => {
+      winstonLogger.log({
+        level: type.toLowerCase(),
+        message: message,
+        user: user,
+        record: record,
+        meta: object
+      });
+    };
+  } catch (e) {
+    return console.log;
+  }
+};
 
-}
-
-module.exports = { log };
+module.exports = { log: createLogger() };