diff --git a/app/src/App.ts b/app/src/App.ts
index d716c1a..ab4b87a 100644
--- a/app/src/App.ts
+++ b/app/src/App.ts
@@ -66,17 +66,17 @@ export class App {
             // respond to events, such as "onUpdated".
             // this is important if multiple changes are done, and then build() is called manually
             if (!this.emgr.enabled) {
-               console.warn("[APP] config updated, but event manager is disabled, skip.");
+               console.warn("App config updated, but event manager is disabled, skip.");
                return;
             }
 
-            console.log("[APP] config updated", key);
+            console.log("App config updated", key);
             // @todo: potentially double syncing
             await this.build({ sync: true });
             await this.emgr.emit(new AppConfigUpdatedEvent({ app: this }));
          },
          onFirstBoot: async () => {
-            console.log("[APP] first boot");
+            console.log("App first boot");
             this.trigger_first_boot = true;
          },
          onServerInit: async (server) => {
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ export function createApp(config: CreateAppConfig = {}) {
       } else if (typeof config.connection === "object") {
          if ("type" in config.connection) {
             console.warn(
-               "[WARN] Using deprecated connection type 'libsql', use the 'config' object directly."
+               "Using deprecated connection type 'libsql', use the 'config' object directly."
             );
             connection = new LibsqlConnection(config.connection.config);
          } else {
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ export function createApp(config: CreateAppConfig = {}) {
          }
       } else {
          connection = new LibsqlConnection({ url: ":memory:" });
-         console.warn("[!] No connection provided, using in-memory database");
+         console.warn("No connection provided, using in-memory database");
       }
    } catch (e) {
       console.error("Could not create connection", e);
diff --git a/app/src/cli/commands/run/platform.ts b/app/src/cli/commands/run/platform.ts
index 86758dc..eda86e4 100644
--- a/app/src/cli/commands/run/platform.ts
+++ b/app/src/cli/commands/run/platform.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export async function attachServeStatic(app: any, platform: Platform) {
 
 export async function startServer(server: Platform, app: any, options: { port: number }) {
    const port = options.port;
-   console.log(`(using ${server} serve)`);
+   console.log(`Using ${server} serve`);
 
    switch (server) {
       case "node": {
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ export async function startServer(server: Platform, app: any, options: { port: n
    }
 
    const url = `http://localhost:${port}`;
-   console.log(`Server listening on ${url}`);
+   console.info("Server listening on", url);
    await open(url);
 }
 
diff --git a/app/src/cli/commands/run/run.ts b/app/src/cli/commands/run/run.ts
index a34a65c..2f078ad 100644
--- a/app/src/cli/commands/run/run.ts
+++ b/app/src/cli/commands/run/run.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@ import type { Config } from "@libsql/client/node";
 import { App, type CreateAppConfig } from "App";
 import { StorageLocalAdapter } from "adapter/node";
 import type { CliBkndConfig, CliCommand } from "cli/types";
+import { replaceConsole } from "cli/utils/cli";
 import { Option } from "commander";
 import { config } from "core";
 import dotenv from "dotenv";
 import { registries } from "modules/registries";
+import c from "picocolors";
 import {
    PLATFORMS,
    type Platform,
@@ -27,6 +29,13 @@ export const run: CliCommand = (program) => {
             .default(config.server.default_port)
             .argParser((v) => Number.parseInt(v))
       )
+      .addOption(
+         new Option("-m, --memory", "use in-memory database").conflicts([
+            "config",
+            "db-url",
+            "db-token"
+         ])
+      )
       .addOption(new Option("-c, --config <config>", "config file"))
       .addOption(
          new Option("--db-url <db>", "database url, can be any valid libsql url").conflicts(
@@ -97,33 +106,44 @@ export async function makeConfigApp(config: CliBkndConfig, platform?: Platform)
 
 async function action(options: {
    port: number;
+   memory?: boolean;
    config?: string;
    dbUrl?: string;
    dbToken?: string;
    server: Platform;
 }) {
+   replaceConsole();
    const configFilePath = await getConfigPath(options.config);
 
    let app: App | undefined = undefined;
    if (options.dbUrl) {
+      console.info("Using connection from", c.cyan("--db-url"));
       const connection = options.dbUrl
          ? { url: options.dbUrl, authToken: options.dbToken }
          : undefined;
       app = await makeApp({ connection, server: { platform: options.server } });
    } else if (configFilePath) {
-      console.log("[INFO] Using config from:", configFilePath);
+      console.info("Using config from", c.cyan(configFilePath));
       const config = (await import(configFilePath).then((m) => m.default)) as CliBkndConfig;
       app = await makeConfigApp(config, options.server);
+   } else if (options.memory) {
+      console.info("Using", c.cyan("in-memory"), "connection");
+      app = await makeApp({ server: { platform: options.server } });
    } else {
       const credentials = getConnectionCredentialsFromEnv();
       if (credentials) {
-         console.log("[INFO] Using connection from environment");
+         console.info("Using connection from env", c.cyan(credentials.url));
          app = await makeConfigApp({ app: { connection: credentials } }, options.server);
       }
    }
 
    if (!app) {
-      app = await makeApp({ server: { platform: options.server } });
+      const connection = { url: "file:data.db" } as Config;
+      console.info("Using connection", c.cyan(connection.url));
+      app = await makeApp({
+         connection,
+         server: { platform: options.server }
+      });
    }
 
    await startServer(options.server, app, { port: options.port });
diff --git a/app/src/cli/utils/cli.ts b/app/src/cli/utils/cli.ts
index 5b0d8e7..6e3a284 100644
--- a/app/src/cli/utils/cli.ts
+++ b/app/src/cli/utils/cli.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import { isDebug } from "core";
+import c from "picocolors";
+import type { Formatter } from "picocolors/types";
 const _SPEEDUP = process.env.LOCAL;
 
 const DEFAULT_WAIT = _SPEEDUP ? 0 : 250;
@@ -54,3 +57,31 @@ export async function* typewriter(
       }
    }
 }
+
+function ifString(args: any[], c: Formatter) {
+   return args.map((a) => (typeof a === "string" ? c(a) : a));
+}
+
+const originalConsole = {
+   log: console.log,
+   info: console.info,
+   debug: console.debug,
+   warn: console.warn,
+   error: console.error
+};
+
+export const $console = {
+   log: (...args: any[]) => originalConsole.info(c.gray("[LOG]  "), ...ifString(args, c.dim)),
+   info: (...args: any[]) => originalConsole.info(c.cyan("[INFO] "), ...args),
+   debug: (...args: any[]) => isDebug() && originalConsole.info(c.yellow("[DEBUG]"), ...args),
+   warn: (...args: any[]) => originalConsole.info(c.yellow("[WARN] "), ...ifString(args, c.yellow)),
+   error: (...args: any[]) => originalConsole.info(c.red("[ERROR]"), ...ifString(args, c.red))
+};
+
+export function replaceConsole() {
+   console.log = $console.log;
+   console.info = $console.info;
+   console.debug = $console.debug;
+   console.warn = $console.warn;
+   console.error = $console.error;
+}
diff --git a/app/src/data/api/DataController.ts b/app/src/data/api/DataController.ts
index ff27a75..d567fd2 100644
--- a/app/src/data/api/DataController.ts
+++ b/app/src/data/api/DataController.ts
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ export class DataController extends Controller {
                //console.log("request", c.req.raw);
                const { entity, context } = c.req.param();
                if (!this.entityExists(entity)) {
-                  console.log("not found", entity, definedEntities);
+                  console.warn("not found:", entity, definedEntities);
                   return c.notFound();
                }
                const _entity = this.em.entity(entity);
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ export class DataController extends Controller {
                //console.log("request", c.req.raw);
                const { entity } = c.req.param();
                if (!this.entityExists(entity)) {
-                  console.log("not found", entity, definedEntities);
+                  console.warn("not found:", entity, definedEntities);
                   return c.notFound();
                }
                const options = c.req.valid("query") as RepoQuery;