diff --git a/py/requirements.txt b/py/requirements.txt
index ddf155b..c6bcb4a 100644
--- a/py/requirements.txt
+++ b/py/requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 semver >= 3.0
-jsonlogic-py == 0.2.1
\ No newline at end of file
+jsonlogic-py == 0.2.1
diff --git a/py/src/clippy/backends/fs/__init__.py b/py/src/clippy/backends/fs/__init__.py
index e49b2b7..2cfde7d 100644
--- a/py/src/clippy/backends/fs/__init__.py
+++ b/py/src/clippy/backends/fs/__init__.py
@@ -202,6 +202,12 @@ def m(self, *args, **kwargs):
         # .. add state
         # argdict[STATE_KEY] = self._state
         argdict[clippy_constants.STATE_KEY] = getattr(self, clippy_constants.STATE_KEY)
+
+        # explicitly add loglevel to state if it doesn't already exist.
+        argdict[clippy_constants.STATE_KEY][clippy_constants.LOGLEVEL_KEY] = self.logger.getEffectiveLevel()
+        # Returns python integer that gets converted by cpp
+
+
         # ~ for key in statedesc:
         #     ~ statej[key] = getattr(self, key)
 
diff --git a/py/src/clippy/constants.py b/py/src/clippy/constants.py
index acdc4e7..5bdbc49 100644
--- a/py/src/clippy/constants.py
+++ b/py/src/clippy/constants.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 REFERENCE_KEY = "references"
 # key to json entry that holds return data from backend functions.
 RETURN_KEY = "returns"
-
+# key inside STATE_KEY that provides state information for the loglevel
+LOGLEVEL_KEY = "loglevel"
 
 # these keys are returned from the _help output when creating methods
 # for classes.
diff --git a/test/run_ipython.sh b/test/run_ipython.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..849661c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/run_ipython.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+PROJ_ROOT_DIR=$(pwd)/..
+CPP_BUILD_DIR=$PROJ_ROOT_DIR/cpp/build
+export PYTHONPATH=$PROJ_ROOT_DIR/py/src:$PYTHONPATH
+export CLIPPY_BACKEND_PATH=$CPP_BUILD_DIR/examples
+CLIPPY_LOGLEVEL=DEBUG ipython