diff --git a/gopls/doc/daemon.md b/gopls/doc/daemon.md
index d9d23d6e1e..d65a021097 100644
--- a/gopls/doc/daemon.md
+++ b/gopls/doc/daemon.md
@@ -116,11 +116,15 @@ servers and clients.
 
 ### Using logfiles
 
-The gopls daemon is started with `-logfile=auto` by default. To customize this,
-pass `-remote.logfile` to the gopls forwarder.
+The gopls daemon is started with logging disabled by default. To customize
+this, pass `-remote.logfile` to the gopls forwarder. Using
+`-remote.logfile=auto`, the daemon will log to a default location (on posix
+systems: `/tmp/gopls-daemon-<pid>.log`).
 
-By default, the gopls daemon is not started with the `-rpc.trace` flag, so its
-logfile will only contain actual debug logs from the gopls process.
+The gopls daemon does not log session-scoped messages: those are instead
+reflected back to the forwarder so that they can be accessed by the editor.
+Daemon logs will only contain global messages, for example logs when sessions
+connect and disconnect.
 
 It is recommended to start the forwarder gopls process with `-rpc.trace`, so
 that its logfile will contain rpc trace logs specific to the LSP session.
diff --git a/internal/lsp/cmd/cmd.go b/internal/lsp/cmd/cmd.go
index 15a4363ce5..e49bc6beaa 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@ func New(name, wd string, env []string, options func(*source.Options)) *Applicat
 
 		Serve: Serve{
 			RemoteListenTimeout: 1 * time.Minute,
-			RemoteLogfile:       "auto",
 		},
 	}
 	return app
diff --git a/internal/lsp/cmd/serve.go b/internal/lsp/cmd/serve.go
index 00157bd40e..92b9e4e539 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/cmd/serve.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/cmd/serve.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -62,8 +63,9 @@ func (s *Serve) Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error {
 	}
 
 	di := debug.GetInstance(ctx)
+	isDaemon := s.Address != "" || s.Port != 0
 	if di != nil {
-		closeLog, err := di.SetLogFile(s.Logfile)
+		closeLog, err := di.SetLogFile(s.Logfile, isDaemon)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -82,16 +84,21 @@ func (s *Serve) Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error {
 			lsprpc.RemoteLogfile(s.RemoteLogfile),
 		)
 	} else {
-		ss = lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, s.app.options))
+		ss = lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, s.app.options), isDaemon)
 	}
 
+	var network, addr string
 	if s.Address != "" {
-		network, addr := parseAddr(s.Address)
-		return jsonrpc2.ListenAndServe(ctx, network, addr, ss, s.IdleTimeout)
+		network, addr = parseAddr(s.Address)
 	}
 	if s.Port != 0 {
-		addr := fmt.Sprintf(":%v", s.Port)
-		return jsonrpc2.ListenAndServe(ctx, "tcp", addr, ss, s.IdleTimeout)
+		network = "tcp"
+		addr = fmt.Sprintf(":%v", s.Port)
+	}
+	if addr != "" {
+		log.Printf("Gopls daemon: listening on %s network, address %s...", network, addr)
+		defer log.Printf("Gopls daemon: exiting")
+		return jsonrpc2.ListenAndServe(ctx, network, addr, ss, s.IdleTimeout)
 	}
 	stream := jsonrpc2.NewHeaderStream(fakenet.NewConn("stdio", os.Stdin, os.Stdout))
 	if s.Trace && di != nil {
diff --git a/internal/lsp/cmd/test/cmdtest.go b/internal/lsp/cmd/test/cmdtest.go
index 5adcc1cd2c..01f3951810 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/cmd/test/cmdtest.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/cmd/test/cmdtest.go
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ func TestCommandLine(testdata string, options func(*source.Options)) func(*testi
 func NewTestServer(ctx context.Context, options func(*source.Options)) *servertest.TCPServer {
 	ctx = debug.WithInstance(ctx, "", "")
 	cache := cache.New(ctx, options)
-	ss := lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache)
+	ss := lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache, false)
 	return servertest.NewTCPServer(ctx, ss, nil)
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/lsp/debug/serve.go b/internal/lsp/debug/serve.go
index ea5a544b05..03d5c66b44 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/debug/serve.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/debug/serve.go
@@ -323,14 +323,18 @@ func WithInstance(ctx context.Context, workdir, agent string) context.Context {
 }
 
 // SetLogFile sets the logfile for use with this instance.
-func (i *Instance) SetLogFile(logfile string) (func(), error) {
+func (i *Instance) SetLogFile(logfile string, isDaemon bool) (func(), error) {
 	// TODO: probably a better solution for deferring closure to the caller would
 	// be for the debug instance to itself be closed, but this fixes the
 	// immediate bug of logs not being captured.
 	closeLog := func() {}
 	if logfile != "" {
 		if logfile == "auto" {
-			logfile = filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), fmt.Sprintf("gopls-%d.log", os.Getpid()))
+			if isDaemon {
+				logfile = filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), fmt.Sprintf("gopls-daemon-%d.log", os.Getpid()))
+			} else {
+				logfile = filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), fmt.Sprintf("gopls-%d.log", os.Getpid()))
+			}
 		}
 		f, err := os.Create(logfile)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc.go b/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc.go
index b43e6e31a2..dca983455f 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc.go
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ var serverIndex int64
 // streams as a new LSP session, using a shared cache.
 type StreamServer struct {
 	cache *cache.Cache
+	// logConnections controls whether or not to log new connections.
+	logConnections bool
 
 	// serverForTest may be set to a test fake for testing.
 	serverForTest protocol.Server
@@ -46,8 +48,8 @@ type StreamServer struct {
 // NewStreamServer creates a StreamServer using the shared cache. If
 // withTelemetry is true, each session is instrumented with telemetry that
 // records RPC statistics.
-func NewStreamServer(cache *cache.Cache) *StreamServer {
-	return &StreamServer{cache: cache}
+func NewStreamServer(cache *cache.Cache, logConnections bool) *StreamServer {
+	return &StreamServer{cache: cache, logConnections: logConnections}
 }
 
 // ServeStream implements the jsonrpc2.StreamServer interface, by handling
@@ -78,6 +80,10 @@ func (s *StreamServer) ServeStream(ctx context.Context, conn jsonrpc2.Conn) erro
 			handshaker(session, executable,
 				protocol.ServerHandler(server,
 					jsonrpc2.MethodNotFound))))
+	if s.logConnections {
+		log.Printf("Session %s: connected", session.ID())
+		defer log.Printf("Session %s: exited", session.ID())
+	}
 	<-conn.Done()
 	return conn.Err()
 }
@@ -146,7 +152,6 @@ func NewForwarder(network, addr string, opts ...ForwarderOption) *Forwarder {
 		goplsPath:           gp,
 		dialTimeout:         1 * time.Second,
 		retries:             5,
-		remoteLogfile:       "auto",
 		remoteListenTimeout: 1 * time.Minute,
 	}
 	for _, opt := range opts {
@@ -295,7 +300,9 @@ func (f *Forwarder) connectToRemote(ctx context.Context) (net.Conn, error) {
 		args := []string{"serve",
 			"-listen", fmt.Sprintf(`%s;%s`, network, address),
 			"-listen.timeout", f.remoteListenTimeout.String(),
-			"-logfile", f.remoteLogfile,
+		}
+		if f.remoteLogfile != "" {
+			args = append(args, "-logfile", f.remoteLogfile)
 		}
 		if f.remoteDebug != "" {
 			args = append(args, "-debug", f.remoteDebug)
@@ -466,11 +473,16 @@ func handshaker(session *cache.Session, goplsPath string, handler jsonrpc2.Handl
 	return func(ctx context.Context, reply jsonrpc2.Replier, r jsonrpc2.Request) error {
 		switch r.Method() {
 		case handshakeMethod:
+			// We log.Printf in this handler, rather than event.Log when we want logs
+			// to go to the daemon log rather than being reflected back to the
+			// client.
 			var req handshakeRequest
 			if err := json.Unmarshal(r.Params(), &req); err != nil {
+				log.Printf("Error processing handshake for session %s: %v", session.ID(), err)
 				sendError(ctx, reply, err)
 				return nil
 			}
+			log.Printf("Session %s: got handshake. Logfile: %q, Debug addr: %q", session.ID(), req.Logfile, req.DebugAddr)
 			event.Log(ctx, "Handshake session update",
 				cache.KeyUpdateSession.Of(session),
 				tag.DebugAddress.Of(req.DebugAddr),
diff --git a/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc_test.go b/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc_test.go
index 1f0c626419..324f85b6b1 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc_test.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/lsprpc/lsprpc_test.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func TestClientLogging(t *testing.T) {
 	client := fakeClient{logs: make(chan string, 10)}
 
 	ctx = debug.WithInstance(ctx, "", "")
-	ss := NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil))
+	ss := NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil), false)
 	ss.serverForTest = server
 	ts := servertest.NewPipeServer(ctx, ss, nil)
 	defer checkClose(t, ts.Close)
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func checkClose(t *testing.T, closer func() error) {
 func setupForwarding(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, s protocol.Server) (direct, forwarded servertest.Connector, cleanup func()) {
 	t.Helper()
 	serveCtx := debug.WithInstance(ctx, "", "")
-	ss := NewStreamServer(cache.New(serveCtx, nil))
+	ss := NewStreamServer(cache.New(serveCtx, nil), false)
 	ss.serverForTest = s
 	tsDirect := servertest.NewTCPServer(serveCtx, ss, nil)
 
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ func TestDebugInfoLifecycle(t *testing.T) {
 	serverCtx := debug.WithInstance(baseCtx, "", "")
 
 	cache := cache.New(serverCtx, nil)
-	ss := NewStreamServer(cache)
+	ss := NewStreamServer(cache, false)
 	tsBackend := servertest.NewTCPServer(serverCtx, ss, nil)
 
 	forwarder := NewForwarder("tcp", tsBackend.Addr)
diff --git a/internal/lsp/regtest/runner.go b/internal/lsp/regtest/runner.go
index 7c6b8fd0fa..7a1021b786 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/regtest/runner.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/regtest/runner.go
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (s *loggingFramer) printBuffers(testname string, w io.Writer) {
 }
 
 func singletonServer(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T) jsonrpc2.StreamServer {
-	return lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil))
+	return lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil), false)
 }
 
 func (r *Runner) forwardedServer(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T) jsonrpc2.StreamServer {
@@ -245,15 +245,15 @@ func (r *Runner) forwardedServer(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T) jsonrpc2.Str
 	return lsprpc.NewForwarder("tcp", ts.Addr)
 }
 
-// getTestServer gets the test server instance to connect to, or creates one if
-// it doesn't exist.
+// getTestServer gets the shared test server instance to connect to, or creates
+// one if it doesn't exist.
 func (r *Runner) getTestServer() *servertest.TCPServer {
 	r.mu.Lock()
 	defer r.mu.Unlock()
 	if r.ts == nil {
 		ctx := context.Background()
 		ctx = debug.WithInstance(ctx, "", "")
-		ss := lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil))
+		ss := lsprpc.NewStreamServer(cache.New(ctx, nil), false)
 		r.ts = servertest.NewTCPServer(ctx, ss, nil)
 	}
 	return r.ts