diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a4ba2ee0..ab4584f8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -257,6 +257,13 @@ Nimib options:
 The value of options are available in `nb.options` field which also
 tracks further options in `nb.options.other: seq[tuple[kind: CmdLineKind; name, value: string]]`.
 
+### define flags
+
+nimib's behavior can be further turned via Nim's define flags:
+
+* `-d:nimibQuiet`: Completely disables nimib's logging to stdout
+* `-d:nimibCodeFromAst`: Makes nimib capture block code from AST of body (as opposed to from file source; see next section). Available since version 0.3
+
 ### Code capture
 
 The code capture of a block like `nbCode` (or other custom blocks)
@@ -268,7 +275,6 @@ can happen in two different ways:
   is rendered from AST of body. This means that only documentation comments
   are shown (since normal comments are not part of the AST) and that the source show
   might be different from original source.
-  Since version 0.3 this is available through compile time switch `nimibCodeFromAst`.
 
 ## 🐝 API <!-- Api means bees in Italian -->
 
diff --git a/docsrc/index.nim b/docsrc/index.nim
index 687178ee..b9a4b6d0 100644
--- a/docsrc/index.nim
+++ b/docsrc/index.nim
@@ -220,6 +220,13 @@ nbText: hlMdF"""
 The value of options are available in `nb.options` field which also
 tracks further options in `nb.options.other: seq[tuple[kind: CmdLineKind; name, value: string]]`.
 
+### define flags
+
+nimib's behavior can be further turned via Nim's define flags:
+
+* `-d:nimibQuiet`: Completely disables nimib's logging to stdout
+* `-d:nimibCodeFromAst`: Makes nimib capture block code from AST of body (as opposed to from file source; see next section). Available since version 0.3
+
 ### Code capture
 
 The code capture of a block like `nbCode` (or other custom blocks)
@@ -231,7 +238,6 @@ can happen in two different ways:
   is rendered from AST of body. This means that only documentation comments
   are shown (since normal comments are not part of the AST) and that the source show
   might be different from original source.
-  Since version 0.3 this is available through compile time switch `nimibCodeFromAst`.
 
 ## :honeybee: API <!-- Api means bees in Italian -->
 
diff --git a/src/nimib.nim b/src/nimib.nim
index b2be22e5..d90fe459 100644
--- a/src/nimib.nim
+++ b/src/nimib.nim
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import std/[os, strutils, sugar, strformat, macros, macrocache, sequtils, jsonutils]
 export jsonutils
-import nimib / [types, blocks, docs, boost, config, options, capture, jsutils]
+import nimib / [types, blocks, docs, boost, config, options, capture, jsutils, logging]
 export types, blocks, docs, boost, sugar, jsutils
 # types exports mustache, tables, paths
 
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@ template nbInit*(theme = themes.useDefault, backend = renders.useHtmlBackend, th
     nb.thisFile = instantiationInfo(-1, true).filename.AbsoluteFile
   else:
     nb.thisFile = nb.srcDir / thisFileRel.RelativeFile
-    echo "[nimib] thisFile: ", nb.thisFile
+    log "thisFile: " & $nb.thisFile
 
   try:
     nb.source = read(nb.thisFile)
   except IOError:
-    echo "[nimib] cannot read source"
+    log "cannot read source"
 
   if nb.options.filename == "":
     nb.filename = nb.thisFile.string.splitFile.name & ".html"
@@ -39,12 +39,12 @@ template nbInit*(theme = themes.useDefault, backend = renders.useHtmlBackend, th
     nb.filename = nb.options.filename
 
   if nb.cfg.srcDir != "":
-    echo "[nimib] srcDir: ", nb.srcDir
+    log "srcDir: " & $nb.srcDir
     nb.filename = (nb.thisDir.relativeTo nb.srcDir).string / nb.filename
-    echo "[nimib] filename: ", nb.filename
+    log "filename: " & nb.filename
 
   if nb.cfg.homeDir != "":
-    echo "[nimib] setting current directory to nb.homeDir: ", nb.homeDir
+    log "setting current directory to nb.homeDir: " & $nb.homeDir
     setCurrentDir nb.homeDir
 
   # can be overriden by theme, but it is better to initialize this anyway
diff --git a/src/nimib/blocks.nim b/src/nimib/blocks.nim
index 7ba56656..ecbc662b 100644
--- a/src/nimib/blocks.nim
+++ b/src/nimib/blocks.nim
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import std / [macros, strutils, sugar]
-import types, sources
+import types, sources, logging
 
 macro toStr*(body: untyped): string =
   (body.toStrLit)
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ func nbNormalize*(text: string): string =
 # note that: '\c' == '\r' and '\l' == '\n'
 
 template newNbBlock*(cmd: string, readCode: static[bool], nbDoc, nbBlock, body, blockImpl: untyped) =
-  stdout.write "[nimib] ", nbDoc.blocks.len, " ", cmd, ": "
   nbBlock = NbBlock(command: cmd, context: newContext(searchDirs = @[], partials = nbDoc.partials))
   when readCode:
     nbBlock.code = nbNormalize:
@@ -25,9 +24,10 @@ template newNbBlock*(cmd: string, readCode: static[bool], nbDoc, nbBlock, body,
         toStr(body)
       else:
         getCodeAsInSource(nbDoc.source, cmd, body)
-  echo peekFirstLineOf(nbBlock.code)
+  log "$1 $2: $3" % [$nbDoc.blocks.len, cmd, peekFirstLineOf(nbBlock.code)]
   blockImpl
-  if len(nbBlock.output) > 0: echo "     -> ", peekFirstLineOf(nbBlock.output)
+  if nimibLog and len(nbBlock.output) > 0:
+    echo "     -> ", peekFirstLineOf(nbBlock.output)
   nbBlock.context["code"] = nbBlock.code
   nbBlock.context["output"] = nbBlock.output.dup(removeSuffix)
   nbDoc.blocks.add nbBlock
diff --git a/src/nimib/capture.nim b/src/nimib/capture.nim
index d3906761..afb3f927 100644
--- a/src/nimib/capture.nim
+++ b/src/nimib/capture.nim
@@ -3,27 +3,30 @@ import fusion/ioutils
 import std/tempfiles
 
 template captureStdout*(ident: untyped, body: untyped) =
-    ## redirect stdout to a temporary file and captures output of body in ident
-    # Duplicate stdout
-    let stdoutFileno: FileHandle = stdout.getFileHandle()
-    let stdoutDupFd: FileHandle = stdoutFileno.duplicate()
-    
-    # Create a new temporary file or attempt to open it
-    let (tmpFile, _) = createTempFile("tmp", "")
-    let tmpFileFd: FileHandle = tmpFile.getFileHandle() 
-    
-    # writing to stdoutFileno now writes to tmpFile
-    tmpFileFd.duplicateTo(stdoutFileno)
-    
-    # Execute body code
-    body
-    
-    # Flush stdout and tmpFile, read tmpFile from start to ident and then close tmpFile
-    stdout.flushFile()
-    tmpFile.flushFile()
-    tmpFile.setFilePos(0)
-    ident = tmpFile.readAll()
-    tmpFile.close()
-    
-    # Restore stdout
-    stdoutDupFd.duplicateTo(stdoutFileno)
+  ## redirect stdout to a temporary file and captures output of body in ident
+  # Duplicate stdout
+  let stdoutFileno: FileHandle = stdout.getFileHandle()
+  let stdoutDupFd: FileHandle = stdoutFileno.duplicate()
+
+  # Create a new temporary file or attempt to open it
+  let (tmpFile, _) = createTempFile("tmp", "")
+  let tmpFileFd: FileHandle = tmpFile.getFileHandle() 
+
+  # needs to be present when stdout isn't being written to by `newNbBlock` (-d:nimibQuiet)
+  stdout.flushFile()
+
+  # writing to stdoutFileno now writes to tmpFile
+  tmpFileFd.duplicateTo(stdoutFileno)
+
+  # Execute body code
+  body
+
+  # Flush stdout and tmpFile, read tmpFile from start to ident and then close tmpFile
+  stdout.flushFile()
+  tmpFile.flushFile()
+  tmpFile.setFilePos(0)
+  ident = tmpFile.readAll()
+  tmpFile.close()
+
+  # Restore stdout
+  stdoutDupFd.duplicateTo(stdoutFileno)
diff --git a/src/nimib/config.nim b/src/nimib/config.nim
index 1593b2ad..a46c1b43 100644
--- a/src/nimib/config.nim
+++ b/src/nimib/config.nim
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import types, parsetoml, jsony, std / [json, os, osproc, math, sequtils]
+import types, logging, parsetoml, jsony, std / [json, os, osproc, math, sequtils]
 
 proc getNimibVersion*(): string = 
   var dir = currentSourcePath().parentDir().parentDir()
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ proc loadNimibCfg*(cfgName: string): tuple[found: bool, dir: AbsoluteDir, raw: s
   for dir in parentDirs(getCurrentDir()):
     if fileExists(dir / cfgName):
       result.dir = dir.AbsoluteDir
-      echo "[nimib] config file found: ", dir / cfgName
+      log "config file found: " & dir / cfgName
       result.found = true
       break
   if result.found:
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ proc loadCfg*(doc: var NbDoc) =
     doc.rawCfg = cfg.raw
     doc.cfg = cfg.nb
   if not doc.hasCfg:
-    echo "[nimib] using default config"
+    log "using default config"
     doc.useDefaultCfg
   doc.optOverride
 
diff --git a/src/nimib/docs.nim b/src/nimib/docs.nim
index d1b5a85d..49b2f6a6 100644
--- a/src/nimib/docs.nim
+++ b/src/nimib/docs.nim
@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
 import std/os
 import browsers
-import types
-import nimib / renders
+import types, logging, renders
 
 proc write*(doc: var NbDoc) =
-  echo "[nimib] current directory: ", getCurrentDir()
+  log "current directory: " & getCurrentDir()
   let dir = doc.filename.splitFile().dir
   if not dir.dirExists:
-    echo "[nimib] creating directory: ", dir
+    log "creating directory: " & dir
     createDir(dir)
-  echo "[nimib] saving file: ", doc.filename
+  log "saving file: " & doc.filename
   writeFile(doc.filename, render(doc))
 
 proc open*(doc: NbDoc) =
diff --git a/src/nimib/logging.nim b/src/nimib/logging.nim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..06a2a860
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/nimib/logging.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import std/strformat
+
+const nimibLog* = not defined(nimibQuiet)
+
+proc log*(label: string, message: string) =
+  when nimibLog:
+    if label.len > 0:
+      echo fmt"[nimib.{label}] {message}"
+    else:
+      echo fmt"[nimib] {message}"
+
+proc log*(message: string) =
+  log("", message)
+
+proc info*(message: string) =
+  log("info", message)
+
+proc error*(message: string) =
+  log("error", message)
+
+proc warning*(message: string) =
+  log("warning", message)
diff --git a/src/nimib/renders.nim b/src/nimib/renders.nim
index cbcd9b79..4b6688ba 100644
--- a/src/nimib/renders.nim
+++ b/src/nimib/renders.nim
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import std / [strutils, tables, sugar, os, strformat, sequtils]
-import ./types, ./jsutils, markdown, mustache
+import ./types, ./jsutils, ./logging, markdown, mustache
 
 import highlight
 import mustachepkg/values
@@ -109,12 +109,12 @@ proc useMdBackend*(doc: var NbDoc) =
 
 template debugRender(message: string) =
   when defined(nimibDebugRender):
-    echo "[nimib.debugRender] ", message
+    log "debugRender", message
 
 proc render*(nb: var NbDoc, blk: var NbBlock): string =
   debugRender "rendering block " & blk.command
   if blk.command not_in nb.partials:
-    echo "[nimib.warning] no partial found for block ", blk.command
+    warning "no partial found for block " & blk.command
     return
   else:
     if blk.command in nb.renderPlans: