specifying a logger does not work with `pino@9.8`+

[rhdhvolschenk]

When upgrading pino up-to or beyond 9.8, a logger cannot be specified anymore.

import pino from "pino";
import pinoHTTP from "pino-http";

export const logger = pino(/* ... */);
export const logHTTP = pinoHTTP({ logger }); // <-- This breaks

No overload matches this call.
  Overload 1 of 2, '(opts?: Options<IncomingMessage, ServerResponse<IncomingMessage>, never> | undefined, stream?: DestinationStream | undefined): HttpLogger<...>', gave the following error.
    Type 'Logger<never, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'Logger<never, boolean> | undefined'.
      Type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino/pino").Logger<never, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino-http/node_modules/pino/pino").default.Logger<never, boolean>'.
        Type 'Logger<never, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'LoggerExtras<never, boolean>'.
          The types returned by 'child(...)' are incompatible between these types.
            Type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino/pino").Logger<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino-http/node_modules/pino/pino").default.Logger<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>'.
              Type 'Logger<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'LoggerExtras<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>'.
                Types of property 'onChild' are incompatible.
                  Type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino/pino").OnChildCallback<ChildCustomLevels>' is not assignable to type 'OnChildCallback<ChildCustomLevels>'.
                    Types of parameters 'child' and 'child' are incompatible.
                      Type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino-http/node_modules/pino/pino").default.Logger<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>' is not assignable to type 'import("/projectpath/node_modules/pino/pino").Logger<ChildCustomLevels, boolean>'.
                        Property 'msgPrefix' is missing in type 'BaseLogger & LoggerExtras<ChildCustomLevels, boolean> & { customLevels: { [level in ChildCustomLevels]: number; }; useOnlyCustomLevels: boolean; } & { [K in Exclude<...> | ... 4 more ... | Exclude<...>]: LogFn; } & { [level in ChildCustomLevels]: LogFn; }' but required in type 'BaseLogger'.
  Overload 2 of 2, '(stream?: DestinationStream | undefined): HttpLogger<IncomingMessage, ServerResponse<IncomingMessage>, never>', gave the following error.
    Object literal may only specify known properties, and 'logger' does not exist in type 'DestinationStream'.ts(2769)
pino.d.ts(224, 13): 'msgPrefix' is declared here.

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say it stems from this change. Here is a comment about the same issue in another project.

[mahmoodhamdi]

This is a TypeScript declaration mismatch caused by pino-http having its own copy of pino types (via node_modules/pino-http/node_modules/pino) that doesn't match the project's root pino types.

The root cause is the msgPrefix property added in pino v9.8 (pinojs/pino#2223) — pino-http's bundled pino types don't include it.

Workaround until pino-http is updated:

1. Deduplicate pino — ensure only one copy exists:

# npm
npm dedupe
# or force resolution in package.json

2. Type assertion as a temporary fix:

import pino from 'pino'
import pinoHTTP from 'pino-http'

const logger = pino(/* ... */)
const logHTTP = pinoHTTP({ logger: logger as any })

3. Match versions — ensure pino-http's peer dependency range includes your pino version:

npm ls pino  # check for duplicate installations

The proper fix would be for pino-http to update its pino peer dependency to include v9.8+. @mcollina would a pino-http release with updated pino peer deps be appropriate here?

[kilisamemarisaaa]

Tried to reproduce this with the current released state and it compiles clean — sharing the evidence in case it helps narrow down your environment.

Setup (Windows, TypeScript 5.9.2, --strict, @types/node@24.3.1):

• top-level pino@9.8.0
• pino-http@11.0.0 (master @ 814751e, identical to the 11.0.0 release)
• npm's dedup produces exactly the dual-copy layout from this report: pino@9.8.0 at the root and pino@10.3.1 nested under pino-http (verified via npm ls)

Repro file:

import pino from "pino";
import pinoHTTP from "pino-http";

export const logger = pino();
export const logHTTP = pinoHTTP({ logger });

Result: tsc --noEmit exits 0 with zero errors under both --moduleResolution bundler and --moduleResolution node16 — including the pinoHTTP({ logger }) call, where a pino@9 logger instance meets pino-http's pino@10-typed parameter.

Could you share your tsconfig.json (especially module/moduleResolution, skipLibCheck, and the TypeScript version) plus your lockfile/pino versions? If you're on an older TypeScript, or a package manager that resolves types differently (yarn PnP, pnpm's isolated node_modules), that would explain the divergence — happy to test against your exact config.

[aliabbas34]

I encountered similar error recently.

import pino from "pino";
import pinoHttp from "pino-http";
/* code in between */
const logger = pino(/* ... */);
app.use( pinoHttp({ logger })); // <-- This breaks

Above code throws error, This expression is not callable.
The error was not about pino or pino-http. It was how i imported it.
My tsconfig.json file has "module":"nodenext"

The issue is default export vs. named export:

import pinoHttp from "pino-http"
Tries to import the default export, but pino-http doesn't export one as a callable function.
import { pinoHttp } from "pino-http"
Imports the named export pinoHttp, which is the actual function.
The pino-http library exports the function as a named export, not a default export. So you need the curly braces to tell TypeScript "I want the named export called pinoHttp", not the default.