diff --git a/openhands/core/logger.py b/openhands/core/logger.py
index 2e719557ac..6778e9ec86 100644
--- a/openhands/core/logger.py
+++ b/openhands/core/logger.py
@@ -165,7 +165,10 @@ LOG_DIR = os.path.join(
     'logs',
 )
 
-if LOG_TO_FILE:
+if DEBUG:
+    openhands_logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+
+if LOG_TO_FILE or DEBUG:
     # default log to project root
     openhands_logger.debug('Logging to file is enabled. Logging to %s', LOG_DIR)
     openhands_logger.addHandler(get_file_handler(LOG_DIR))
@@ -175,6 +178,10 @@ openhands_logger.addFilter(SensitiveDataFilter(openhands_logger.name))
 openhands_logger.propagate = False
 openhands_logger.debug('Logging initialized')
 
+if LOG_TO_FILE or DEBUG:
+    openhands_logger.info('Logging to file is enabled. Logging to %s', LOG_DIR)
+    if DEBUG:
+        openhands_logger.info('DEBUG mode enabled')
 
 # Exclude LiteLLM from logging output
 logging.getLogger('LiteLLM').disabled = True