diff --git a/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml b/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
index 7756ee0..37b64de 100644
--- a/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
+++ b/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ name = "triple-c"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
-tauri = { version = "2", features = ["image-png"] }
+tauri = { version = "2", features = ["image-png", "image-ico"] }
 tauri-plugin-store = "2"
 tauri-plugin-dialog = "2"
 tauri-plugin-opener = "2"
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ uuid = { version = "1", features = ["v4"] }
 chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
 dirs = "6"
 log = "0.4"
-env_logger = "0.11"
+fern = { version = "0.7", features = ["date-based"] }
 tar = "0.4"
 reqwest = { version = "0.12", default-features = false, features = ["json", "rustls-tls"] }
 
diff --git a/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs b/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
index 80bdcab..130aabe 100644
--- a/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
+++ b/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 mod commands;
 mod docker;
+mod logging;
 mod models;
 mod storage;
 
@@ -15,22 +16,42 @@ pub struct AppState {
 }
 
 pub fn run() {
-    env_logger::init();
+    logging::init();
+
+    let projects_store = match ProjectsStore::new() {
+        Ok(s) => s,
+        Err(e) => {
+            log::error!("Failed to initialize projects store: {}", e);
+            panic!("Failed to initialize projects store: {}", e);
+        }
+    };
+    let settings_store = match SettingsStore::new() {
+        Ok(s) => s,
+        Err(e) => {
+            log::error!("Failed to initialize settings store: {}", e);
+            panic!("Failed to initialize settings store: {}", e);
+        }
+    };
 
     tauri::Builder::default()
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_store::Builder::default().build())
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_dialog::init())
         .plugin(tauri_plugin_opener::init())
         .manage(AppState {
-            projects_store: ProjectsStore::new().expect("Failed to initialize projects store"),
-            settings_store: SettingsStore::new().expect("Failed to initialize settings store"),
+            projects_store,
+            settings_store,
             exec_manager: ExecSessionManager::new(),
         })
         .setup(|app| {
-            let icon = tauri::image::Image::from_bytes(include_bytes!("../icons/icon.ico"))
-                .expect("Failed to load window icon");
-            if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
-                let _ = window.set_icon(icon);
+            match tauri::image::Image::from_bytes(include_bytes!("../icons/icon.ico")) {
+                Ok(icon) => {
+                    if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window("main") {
+                        let _ = window.set_icon(icon);
+                    }
+                }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    log::error!("Failed to load window icon: {}", e);
+                }
             }
             Ok(())
         })
diff --git a/app/src-tauri/src/logging.rs b/app/src-tauri/src/logging.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f89bd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src-tauri/src/logging.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+use std::fs;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+/// Returns the log directory path: `<data_dir>/triple-c/logs/`
+fn log_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    dirs::data_dir().map(|d| d.join("triple-c").join("logs"))
+}
+
+/// Initialise logging to both stderr and a log file in the app data directory.
+///
+/// Logs are written to `<data_dir>/triple-c/logs/triple-c.log`.
+/// A panic hook is also installed so that unexpected crashes are captured in the
+/// same log file before the process exits.
+pub fn init() {
+    let log_file_path = log_dir().and_then(|dir| {
+        fs::create_dir_all(&dir).ok()?;
+        let path = dir.join("triple-c.log");
+        fs::OpenOptions::new()
+            .create(true)
+            .append(true)
+            .open(&path)
+            .ok()
+            .map(|file| (path, file))
+    });
+
+    let mut dispatch = fern::Dispatch::new()
+        .format(|out, message, record| {
+            out.finish(format_args!(
+                "[{} {} {}] {}",
+                chrono::Local::now().format("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"),
+                record.level(),
+                record.target(),
+                message
+            ))
+        })
+        .level(log::LevelFilter::Info)
+        .chain(std::io::stderr());
+
+    if let Some((_path, file)) = &log_file_path {
+        dispatch = dispatch.chain(fern::Dispatch::new().chain(file.try_clone().unwrap()));
+    }
+
+    if let Err(e) = dispatch.apply() {
+        eprintln!("Failed to initialise logger: {}", e);
+    }
+
+    // Install a panic hook that writes to the log file so crashes are captured.
+    let crash_log_dir = log_dir();
+    std::panic::set_hook(Box::new(move |info| {
+        let msg = format!(
+            "[{} PANIC] {}\nBacktrace:\n{:?}",
+            chrono::Local::now().format("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"),
+            info,
+            std::backtrace::Backtrace::force_capture(),
+        );
+        eprintln!("{}", msg);
+        if let Some(ref dir) = crash_log_dir {
+            let crash_path = dir.join("triple-c.log");
+            let _ = fs::OpenOptions::new()
+                .create(true)
+                .append(true)
+                .open(&crash_path)
+                .and_then(|mut f| {
+                    use std::io::Write;
+                    writeln!(f, "{}", msg)
+                });
+        }
+    }));
+
+    if let Some((ref path, _)) = log_file_path {
+        log::info!("Logging to {}", path.display());
+    }
+}