diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 24275e83..c849417b 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ dependencies {
     testImplementation "org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-params:$junitVersion"
     testImplementation 'com.sparkjava:spark-core:2.9.4'
     testImplementation "org.slf4j:slf4j-api:2.0.18"
+    testImplementation "ch.qos.logback:logback-classic:1.6.3"
 
     testRuntimeOnly "org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher:6.1.3"
     testRuntimeOnly "org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:$junitVersion"
-    testRuntimeOnly "ch.qos.logback:logback-classic:1.5.38"
 }
 
 test {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/dajudge/kindcontainer/LoggingTest.java b/src/test/java/com/dajudge/kindcontainer/LoggingTest.java
index 9b143e61..02dc0021 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/dajudge/kindcontainer/LoggingTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/dajudge/kindcontainer/LoggingTest.java
@@ -1,32 +1,78 @@
 package com.dajudge.kindcontainer;
 
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
+import ch.qos.logback.core.read.ListAppender;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
 
-import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.List;
 
-import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 /*
- * Testcontainers uses the 1.x API of slf4j and newer versions of logback are based on
- * slf4j 2.x, so updates to logback silently break logging for tests. This test ensures
- * that the logback version is compatible with the slf4j version used by testcontainers.
+ * Logging is a user-visible diagnostic contract of this library. Dependency updates must not
+ * silently replace the SLF4J provider, drop log events, duplicate them, or lose throwable output.
  */
 public class LoggingTest {
     @Test
     public void logging_works() {
-        final PrintStream out = System.out;
+        assertEquals(
+                LoggerContext.class,
+                LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory().getClass(),
+                "SLF4J must be bound to Logback"
+        );
+
+        final String infoMessage = "logging-contract-info-7f27a4d0";
+        final String errorMessage = "logging-contract-error-cd132e43";
+        final String exceptionMessage = "logging-contract-exception-8410b8d2";
+
+        final List<ILoggingEvent> events = captureLogs(() -> {
+            final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoggingTest.class);
+            logger.info(infoMessage);
+            logger.error(errorMessage, new IllegalStateException(exceptionMessage));
+        });
+
+        assertEquals(1, occurrences(events, infoMessage), "INFO event must be emitted exactly once");
+        assertEquals(1, occurrences(events, errorMessage), "ERROR event must be emitted exactly once");
+        assertEquals(1, occurrences(events, exceptionMessage), "Throwable message must be emitted exactly once");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testcontainers_logging_works() {
+        final List<ILoggingEvent> events = captureLogs(() -> {
+            try (GenericContainer<?> container = new GenericContainer<>("alpine:3.20")
+                    .withCommand("sh", "-c", "echo testcontainers-logging-smoke")) {
+                container.start();
+            }
+        });
+
+        assertTrue(events.stream().anyMatch(event -> event.getFormattedMessage().contains("alpine:3.20")),
+                "Testcontainers lifecycle logs must identify the container image");
+    }
+
+    private static List<ILoggingEvent> captureLogs(final Runnable operation) {
+        final LoggerContext context = (LoggerContext) LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
+        final ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger rootLogger = context.getLogger(org.slf4j.Logger.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME);
+        final ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender = new ListAppender<>();
+        appender.start();
+        rootLogger.addAppender(appender);
         try {
-            final ByteArrayOutputStream temp = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-            System.setOut(new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(temp)));
-            LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoggingTest.class).info("Hello, world!");
-            System.out.flush();
-            assertTrue(new String(temp.toByteArray(), UTF_8).contains("Hello, world!"));
+            operation.run();
+            return List.copyOf(appender.list);
         } finally {
-            System.setOut(out);
+            rootLogger.detachAppender(appender);
+            appender.stop();
         }
     }
+
+    private static long occurrences(final List<ILoggingEvent> events, final String message) {
+        return events.stream()
+                .filter(event -> event.getFormattedMessage().contains(message)
+                        || (event.getThrowableProxy() != null && event.getThrowableProxy().getMessage().contains(message)))
+                .count();
+    }
 }