diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index 47f02e0..4239fbb 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@
   packages = ["."]
   revision = "7cafcd837844e784b526369c9bce262804aebc60"
 
+[[projects]]
+  name = "github.com/mattn/go-isatty"
+  packages = ["."]
+  revision = "0360b2af4f38e8d38c7fce2a9f4e702702d73a39"
+  version = "v0.0.3"
+
 [[projects]]
   branch = "master"
   name = "github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
@@ -91,9 +97,15 @@
   revision = "69483b4bd14f5845b5a1e55bca19e954e827f1d0"
   version = "v1.1.4"
 
+[[projects]]
+  branch = "master"
+  name = "golang.org/x/sys"
+  packages = ["unix"]
+  revision = "bf42f188b9bc6f2cf5b8ee5a912ef1aedd0eba4c"
+
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "d654c5e91ee04baf1a373bb241b94ab41d3838fb69a56e91fe54cc8b962eab56"
+  inputs-digest = "b2174984fa0452d4469597063f891904b70081586b239262690cf1b6477a3116"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/cmd/config_logging.go b/cmd/config_logging.go
index dfd6679..a2ade17 100644
--- a/cmd/config_logging.go
+++ b/cmd/config_logging.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package cmd
 import (
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"crypto/x509"
+	"github.com/mattn/go-isatty"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/logger"
@@ -15,14 +16,15 @@ type LoggingConfig struct {
 	Outlets logger.Outlets
 }
 
-type SetNoMetadataFormatter interface {
-	SetNoMetadata(noMetadata bool)
-}
+type MetadataFlags int64
 
-type OutletCommon struct {
-	MinLevel  logger.Level
-	Formatter EntryFormatter
-}
+const (
+	MetadataTime MetadataFlags = 1 << iota
+	MetadataLevel
+
+	MetadataNone MetadataFlags = 0
+	MetadataAll  MetadataFlags = ^0
+)
 
 func parseLogging(i interface{}) (c *LoggingConfig, err error) {
 
@@ -109,13 +111,12 @@ func parseOutlet(i interface{}) (o logger.Outlet, level logger.Level, err error)
 		return
 	}
 
-	common := &OutletCommon{}
-	common.MinLevel, err = logger.ParseLevel(in.Level)
+	minLevel, err := logger.ParseLevel(in.Level)
 	if err != nil {
 		err = errors.Wrap(err, "cannot parse 'level' field")
 		return
 	}
-	common.Formatter, err = parseLogFormat(in.Format)
+	formatter, err := parseLogFormat(in.Format)
 	if err != nil {
 		err = errors.Wrap(err, "cannot parse")
 		return
@@ -123,29 +124,45 @@ func parseOutlet(i interface{}) (o logger.Outlet, level logger.Level, err error)
 
 	switch in.Outlet {
 	case "stdout":
-		o, err = parseStdoutOutlet(i, common)
+		o, err = parseStdoutOutlet(i, formatter)
 	case "tcp":
-		o, err = parseTCPOutlet(i, common)
+		o, err = parseTCPOutlet(i, formatter)
 	case "syslog":
-		o, err = parseSyslogOutlet(i, common)
+		o, err = parseSyslogOutlet(i, formatter)
 	default:
 		err = errors.Errorf("unknown outlet type '%s'", in.Outlet)
 	}
-	return o, common.MinLevel, err
+	return o, minLevel, err
 
 }
 
-func parseStdoutOutlet(i interface{}, common *OutletCommon) (WriterOutlet, error) {
+func parseStdoutOutlet(i interface{}, formatter EntryFormatter) (WriterOutlet, error) {
+
+	var in struct {
+		Date bool
+	}
+	if err := mapstructure.Decode(i, &in); err != nil {
+		return WriterOutlet{}, errors.Wrap(err, "invalid structure for stdout outlet")
+	}
+
+	flags := MetadataAll
+	writer := os.Stdout
+	if !isatty.IsTerminal(writer.Fd()) && !in.Date {
+		flags &= ^MetadataTime
+	}
+
+	formatter.SetMetadataFlags(flags)
 	return WriterOutlet{
-		common.Formatter,
+		formatter,
 		os.Stdout,
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func parseTCPOutlet(i interface{}, common *OutletCommon) (out *TCPOutlet, err error) {
+func parseTCPOutlet(i interface{}, formatter EntryFormatter) (out *TCPOutlet, err error) {
 
 	out = &TCPOutlet{}
-	out.Formatter = common.Formatter
+	out.Formatter = formatter
+	out.Formatter.SetMetadataFlags(MetadataAll)
 
 	var in struct {
 		Net           string
@@ -206,7 +223,7 @@ func parseTCPOutlet(i interface{}, common *OutletCommon) (out *TCPOutlet, err er
 
 }
 
-func parseSyslogOutlet(i interface{}, common *OutletCommon) (out *SyslogOutlet, err error) {
+func parseSyslogOutlet(i interface{}, formatter EntryFormatter) (out *SyslogOutlet, err error) {
 
 	var in struct {
 		RetryInterval string `mapstructure:"retry_interval"`
@@ -216,10 +233,8 @@ func parseSyslogOutlet(i interface{}, common *OutletCommon) (out *SyslogOutlet,
 	}
 
 	out = &SyslogOutlet{}
-	out.Formatter = common.Formatter
-	if f, ok := out.Formatter.(SetNoMetadataFormatter); ok {
-		f.SetNoMetadata(true)
-	}
+	out.Formatter = formatter
+	out.Formatter.SetMetadataFlags(MetadataNone)
 
 	out.RetryInterval = 0 // default to 0 as we assume local syslog will just work
 	if in.RetryInterval != "" {
diff --git a/cmd/logging_formatters.go b/cmd/logging_formatters.go
index 676ae31..dc668ca 100644
--- a/cmd/logging_formatters.go
+++ b/cmd/logging_formatters.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 type EntryFormatter interface {
+	SetMetadataFlags(flags MetadataFlags)
 	Format(e *logger.Entry) ([]byte, error)
 }
 
@@ -32,25 +33,28 @@ const (
 
 type NoFormatter struct{}
 
+func (f NoFormatter) SetMetadataFlags(flags MetadataFlags) {}
+
 func (f NoFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) ([]byte, error) {
 	return []byte(e.Message), nil
 }
 
 type HumanFormatter struct {
-	NoMetadata bool
+	metadataFlags MetadataFlags
 }
 
-var _ SetNoMetadataFormatter = &HumanFormatter{}
-
-func (f *HumanFormatter) SetNoMetadata(noMetadata bool) {
-	f.NoMetadata = noMetadata
+func (f *HumanFormatter) SetMetadataFlags(flags MetadataFlags) {
+	f.metadataFlags = flags
 }
 
 func (f *HumanFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) (out []byte, err error) {
 
 	var line bytes.Buffer
 
-	if !f.NoMetadata {
+	if f.metadataFlags&MetadataTime != 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&line, "%s ", e.Time.Format(time.RFC3339))
+	}
+	if f.metadataFlags&MetadataLevel != 0 {
 		fmt.Fprintf(&line, "[%s]", e.Level.Short())
 	}
 
@@ -100,7 +104,13 @@ func (f *HumanFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) (out []byte, err error) {
 	return line.Bytes(), nil
 }
 
-type JSONFormatter struct{}
+type JSONFormatter struct {
+	metadataFlags MetadataFlags
+}
+
+func (f *JSONFormatter) SetMetadataFlags(flags MetadataFlags) {
+	f.metadataFlags = flags
+}
 
 func (f *JSONFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) ([]byte, error) {
 	data := make(logger.Fields, len(e.Fields)+3)
@@ -128,21 +138,21 @@ func (f *JSONFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 type LogfmtFormatter struct {
-	NoMetadata bool
+	metadataFlags MetadataFlags
 }
 
-var _ SetNoMetadataFormatter = &LogfmtFormatter{}
-
-func (f *LogfmtFormatter) SetNoMetadata(noMetadata bool) {
-	f.NoMetadata = noMetadata
+func (f *LogfmtFormatter) SetMetadataFlags(flags MetadataFlags) {
+	f.metadataFlags = flags
 }
 
 func (f *LogfmtFormatter) Format(e *logger.Entry) ([]byte, error) {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	enc := logfmt.NewEncoder(&buf)
 
-	if !f.NoMetadata {
+	if f.metadataFlags&MetadataTime != 0 {
 		enc.EncodeKeyval(FieldTime, e.Time)
+	}
+	if f.metadataFlags&MetadataLevel != 0 {
 		enc.EncodeKeyval(FieldLevel, e.Level)
 	}
 
diff --git a/docs/configuration/logging.rst b/docs/configuration/logging.rst
index c430ffd..4196052 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/logging.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration/logging.rst
@@ -115,8 +115,11 @@ Formats
       -  minimum  :ref:`log level <logging-levels>`
     * - ``format``
       - output :ref:`format <logging-formats>`
+    * - ``time``
+      - always include time in output (``true`` or ``false``)
 
 Writes all log entries with minimum level ``level`` formatted by ``format`` to stdout.
+If stdout is a tty, interactive usage is assumed and the current time is included in the output.
 
 Can only be specified once.