diff --git a/simd/cmd/root.go b/simd/cmd/root.go
index dd6132095c88..847a31f21168 100644
--- a/simd/cmd/root.go
+++ b/simd/cmd/root.go
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"github.com/rs/zerolog"
 	"github.com/spf13/cast"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	tmcfg "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
 	tmcli "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/cli"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/log"
 	dbm "github.com/tendermint/tm-db"
@@ -79,7 +81,8 @@ func Execute(rootCmd *cobra.Command) error {
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, client.ClientContextKey, &client.Context{})
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, server.ServerContextKey, srvCtx)
 
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String("log_level", srvCtx.Config.LogLevel, "The logging level in the format of <module>:<level>,...")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String(flags.FlagLogLevel, zerolog.InfoLevel.String(), "The logging level (trace|debug|info|warn|error|fatal|panic)")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String(flags.FlagLogFormat, tmcfg.LogFormatJSON, "The logging format (json|plain)")
 
 	executor := tmcli.PrepareBaseCmd(rootCmd, "", simapp.DefaultNodeHome)
 	return executor.ExecuteContext(ctx)