diff --git a/src/fish.cpp b/src/fish.cpp
index 72965610f..7db3ade1d 100644
--- a/src/fish.cpp
+++ b/src/fish.cpp
@@ -136,13 +136,13 @@ static struct config_paths_t determine_config_directory_paths(const char *argv0)
     bool done = false;
     std::string exec_path = get_executable_path(argv0);
     if (get_realpath(exec_path)) {
-        debug(2, L"exec_path: '%s', argv[0]: '%s'", exec_path.c_str(), argv0);
+        FLOGF(config, L"exec_path: '%s', argv[0]: '%s'", exec_path.c_str(), argv0);
         // TODO: we should determine program_name from argv0 somewhere in this file
 
 #ifdef CMAKE_BINARY_DIR
         // Detect if we're running right out of the CMAKE build directory
         if (string_prefixes_string(CMAKE_BINARY_DIR, exec_path.c_str())) {
-            debug(2,
+            FLOGF(config,
                   "Running out of build directory, using paths relative to CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR:\n %s",
                   CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR);
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ static struct config_paths_t determine_config_directory_paths(const char *argv0)
             if (has_suffix(exec_path, installed_suffix, false)) {
                 suffix = installed_suffix;
             } else if (has_suffix(exec_path, just_a_fish, false)) {
-                debug(2, L"'fish' not in a 'bin/', trying paths relative to source tree");
+                FLOGF(config, L"'fish' not in a 'bin/', trying paths relative to source tree");
                 suffix = just_a_fish;
             }
 
@@ -194,14 +194,14 @@ static struct config_paths_t determine_config_directory_paths(const char *argv0)
 
     if (!done) {
         // Fall back to what got compiled in.
-        debug(2, L"Using compiled in paths:");
+        FLOGF(config, L"Using compiled in paths:");
         paths.data = L"" DATADIR "/fish";
         paths.sysconf = L"" SYSCONFDIR "/fish";
         paths.doc = L"" DOCDIR;
         paths.bin = L"" BINDIR;
     }
 
-    debug(2,
+    FLOGF(config,
           L"determine_config_directory_paths() results:\npaths.data: %ls\npaths.sysconf: "
           L"%ls\npaths.doc: %ls\npaths.bin: %ls",
           paths.data.c_str(), paths.sysconf.c_str(), paths.doc.c_str(), paths.bin.c_str());
@@ -221,10 +221,10 @@ static void source_config_in_directory(const wcstring &dir) {
     const wcstring escaped_dir = escape_string(dir, ESCAPE_ALL);
     const wcstring escaped_pathname = escaped_dir + L"/config.fish";
     if (waccess(config_pathname, R_OK) != 0) {
-        debug(2, L"not sourcing %ls (not readable or does not exist)", escaped_pathname.c_str());
+        FLOGF(config, L"not sourcing %ls (not readable or does not exist)", escaped_pathname.c_str());
         return;
     }
-    debug(2, L"sourcing %ls", escaped_pathname.c_str());
+    FLOGF(config, L"sourcing %ls", escaped_pathname.c_str());
 
     const wcstring cmd = L"builtin source " + escaped_pathname;
     parser_t &parser = parser_t::principal_parser();
diff --git a/src/flog.h b/src/flog.h
index 52be62a56..178016af7 100644
--- a/src/flog.h
+++ b/src/flog.h
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ class category_list_t {
 
     category_t warning{L"warning", L"Warnings (on by default)", true};
 
+    category_t config{L"config", L"Finding and reading configuration"};
+
     category_t exec_job_status{L"exec-job-status", L"Jobs changing status"};
 
     category_t exec_job_exec{L"exec-job-exec", L"Jobs being executed"};