diff --git a/src/main/server.rs b/src/main/server.rs
index f72b3ef3..73c06f0c 100644
--- a/src/main/server.rs
+++ b/src/main/server.rs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ impl Server {
 		#[cfg(feature = "sentry_telemetry")]
 		let sentry_guard = crate::sentry::init(&config);
 
-		let (tracing_reload_handle, tracing_flame_guard, capture) = crate::tracing::init(&config);
+		let (tracing_reload_handle, tracing_flame_guard, capture) = crate::tracing::init(&config)?;
 
 		config.check()?;
 
diff --git a/src/main/tracing.rs b/src/main/tracing.rs
index 78c35c66..31870661 100644
--- a/src/main/tracing.rs
+++ b/src/main/tracing.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use conduit::{
-	config,
 	config::Config,
 	debug_warn,
 	log::{capture, LogLevelReloadHandles},
+	Error, Result,
 };
 use tracing_subscriber::{layer::SubscriberExt, reload, EnvFilter, Layer, Registry};
 
@@ -14,26 +14,21 @@ pub(crate) type TracingFlameGuard = Option<tracing_flame::FlushGuard<std::io::Bu
 pub(crate) type TracingFlameGuard = ();
 
 #[allow(clippy::redundant_clone)]
-pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> (LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard, Arc<capture::State>) {
+pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> Result<(LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard, Arc<capture::State>)> {
 	let reload_handles = LogLevelReloadHandles::default();
 
-	let fmt_layer = tracing_subscriber::fmt::Layer::new();
-	let filter_layer = match EnvFilter::try_new(&config.log) {
-		Ok(s) => s,
-		Err(e) => {
-			eprintln!("It looks like your config is invalid. The following error occured while parsing it: {e}");
-			EnvFilter::try_new(config::default_log()).expect("failed to set default EnvFilter")
-		},
-	};
-
-	let (fmt_reload_filter, fmt_reload_handle) = reload::Layer::new(filter_layer.clone());
-	reload_handles.add("console", Box::new(fmt_reload_handle));
-
-	let subscriber = Registry::default().with(fmt_layer.with_filter(fmt_reload_filter));
+	let console_filter =
+		EnvFilter::try_new(&config.log).map_err(|e| Error::BadConfig(format!("in the 'log' setting: {e}.")))?;
+	let console_layer = tracing_subscriber::fmt::Layer::new();
+	let (console_reload_filter, console_reload_handle) = reload::Layer::new(console_filter.clone());
+	reload_handles.add("console", Box::new(console_reload_handle));
 
 	let cap_state = Arc::new(capture::State::new());
 	let cap_layer = capture::Layer::new(&cap_state);
-	let subscriber = subscriber.with(cap_layer);
+
+	let subscriber = Registry::default()
+		.with(console_layer.with_filter(console_reload_filter))
+		.with(cap_layer);
 
 	#[cfg(feature = "sentry_telemetry")]
 	let subscriber = {
@@ -46,16 +41,10 @@ pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> (LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard
 	#[cfg(feature = "perf_measurements")]
 	let (subscriber, flame_guard) = {
 		let (flame_layer, flame_guard) = if config.tracing_flame {
-			let flame_filter = match EnvFilter::try_new(&config.tracing_flame_filter) {
-				Ok(flame_filter) => flame_filter,
-				Err(e) => panic!("tracing_flame_filter config value is invalid: {e}"),
-			};
-
-			let (flame_layer, flame_guard) =
-				match tracing_flame::FlameLayer::with_file(&config.tracing_flame_output_path) {
-					Ok(ok) => ok,
-					Err(e) => panic!("failed to initialize tracing-flame: {e}"),
-				};
+			let flame_filter = EnvFilter::try_new(&config.tracing_flame_filter)
+				.map_err(|e| Error::BadConfig(format!("in the 'tracing_flame_filter' setting: {e}.")))?;
+			let (flame_layer, flame_guard) = tracing_flame::FlameLayer::with_file(&config.tracing_flame_output_path)
+				.map_err(|e| Error::BadConfig(format!("in the 'tracing_flame_output_path' setting: {e}.")))?;
 			let flame_layer = flame_layer
 				.with_empty_samples(false)
 				.with_filter(flame_filter);
@@ -64,22 +53,18 @@ pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> (LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard
 			(None, None)
 		};
 
-		let jaeger_layer = if config.allow_jaeger {
+		let jaeger_layer = config.allow_jaeger.then(|| {
 			opentelemetry::global::set_text_map_propagator(opentelemetry_jaeger::Propagator::new());
 			let tracer = opentelemetry_jaeger::new_agent_pipeline()
 				.with_auto_split_batch(true)
 				.with_service_name("conduwuit")
 				.install_batch(opentelemetry_sdk::runtime::Tokio)
-				.unwrap();
+				.expect("jaeger agent pipeline");
 			let telemetry = tracing_opentelemetry::layer().with_tracer(tracer);
-
-			let (jaeger_reload_filter, jaeger_reload_handle) = reload::Layer::new(filter_layer.clone());
+			let (jaeger_reload_filter, jaeger_reload_handle) = reload::Layer::new(console_filter.clone());
 			reload_handles.add("jaeger", Box::new(jaeger_reload_handle));
 			Some(telemetry.with_filter(jaeger_reload_filter))
-		} else {
-			None
-		};
-
+		});
 		let subscriber = subscriber.with(flame_layer).with(jaeger_layer);
 		(subscriber, flame_guard)
 	};
@@ -101,7 +86,7 @@ pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> (LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard
 			.spawn();
 
 		set_global_default(subscriber.with(console_layer));
-		return ret;
+		return Ok(ret);
 	}
 
 	set_global_default(subscriber);
@@ -112,7 +97,7 @@ pub(crate) fn init(config: &Config) -> (LogLevelReloadHandles, TracingFlameGuard
 		debug_warn!("{console_disabled_reason}");
 	}
 
-	ret
+	Ok(ret)
 }
 
 fn tokio_console_enabled(config: &Config) -> (bool, &'static str) {