diff --git a/lib/chef_apply/action/converge_target.rb b/lib/chef_apply/action/converge_target.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/chef_apply/action/converge_target.rb
+++ b/lib/chef_apply/action/converge_target.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,16 @@ module ChefApply::Action
         exception_handlers << reporter
       EOM
 
+      # add the target host's log level value
+      # (we don't set a location because we want output to
+      #   go in stdout for reporting back to chef-apply)
+      log_settings = ChefApply::Config.log
+      if !log_settings.target_level.nil?
+        workstation_rb << <<~EOM
+          log_level :#{log_settings.target_level}
+        EOM
+      end
+
       # Maybe add data collector endpoint.
       dc = ChefApply::Config.data_collector
       if !dc.url.nil? && !dc.token.nil?
diff --git a/lib/chef_apply/config.rb b/lib/chef_apply/config.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/chef_apply/config.rb
+++ b/lib/chef_apply/config.rb
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ module ChefApply
     config_context :log do
       default(:level, "warn")
       default(:location, File.join(WS_BASE_PATH, "logs/default.log"))
+      # set the log level for the target host's chef-client run
+      default(:target_level, "auto")
     end
 
     config_context :cache do
Add config setting for target host log level