diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/config.py b/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
index d55448da4..0fb13bfd3 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ from axolotl.utils.mlflow_ import setup_mlflow_env_vars
 from axolotl.utils.trainer import prepare_opinionated_env, prepare_optim_env
 from axolotl.utils.wandb_ import setup_wandb_env_vars
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
 def check_remote_config(config: Union[str, Path]) -> Union[str, Path]:
diff --git a/src/axolotl/integrations/base.py b/src/axolotl/integrations/base.py
index 9162bc745..7d9b6a6f9 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/integrations/base.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/integrations/base.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ from transformers import PreTrainedModel, Trainer
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from axolotl.common.datasets import TrainDatasetMeta
diff --git a/src/axolotl/integrations/cut_cross_entropy/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/integrations/cut_cross_entropy/__init__.py
index a7e94e363..9b155ca8a 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/integrations/cut_cross_entropy/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/integrations/cut_cross_entropy/__init__.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 
 from .args import CutCrossEntropyArgs  # pylint: disable=unused-import. # noqa: F401
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 _CCE_INSTALL_MESSAGE = (
     "Please install cut_cross_entropy with transformers support using "
diff --git a/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/__init__.py
index 1c17ab2b5..8de94c78b 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/__init__.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 from .args import LigerArgs  # pylint: disable=unused-import. # noqa: F401
 from .utils import patch_with_compile_disable
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
 class LigerPlugin(BasePlugin):
diff --git a/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/args.py b/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/args.py
index 7c9eb23d5..d05f08f9a 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/args.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/integrations/liger/args.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 """
 Module for handling LIGER input arguments.
 """
+
 from typing import Optional
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel, model_validator
diff --git a/src/axolotl/loaders/tokenizer.py b/src/axolotl/loaders/tokenizer.py
index 4f9a60a69..9fdb7d5cc 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/loaders/tokenizer.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/loaders/tokenizer.py
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ def load_tokenizer(cfg: DictDefault) -> PreTrainedTokenizer:
             {"additional_special_tokens": additional_special_tokens}
         )
 
-    if is_main_process(use_environ=True):
+    if is_main_process():
         LOG.debug(f"EOS: {tokenizer.eos_token_id} / {tokenizer.eos_token}")
         LOG.debug(f"BOS: {tokenizer.bos_token_id} / {tokenizer.bos_token}")
         LOG.debug(f"PAD: {tokenizer.pad_token_id} / {tokenizer.pad_token}")
diff --git a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/ring_attn/patch.py b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/ring_attn/patch.py
index 7d733cfc1..d83476e5a 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/ring_attn/patch.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/ring_attn/patch.py
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ import inspect
 import accelerate
 import torch
 import torch.distributed as dist
-from accelerate.logging import get_logger
 
 from axolotl.monkeypatch.utils import get_cu_seqlens_from_pos_ids
+from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 from axolotl.utils.schemas.enums import RingAttnFunc
 
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
diff --git a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/unsloth_.py b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/unsloth_.py
index 61f4eeea0..146047e95 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/unsloth_.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/unsloth_.py
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ import inspect
 import types
 
 import torch
-from accelerate.logging import get_logger
 from peft import PeftModelForCausalLM
 from torch import nn
 from transformers.models.llama.modeling_llama import LlamaFlashAttention2
 
 from axolotl.monkeypatch.utils import detab_code
+from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
index e0eaf9ac9..745a0c8ce 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from axolotl.utils.schemas.config import (
 from axolotl.utils.schemas.config import AxolotlInputConfig as AxolotlInputConfigBase
 from axolotl.utils.schemas.datasets import DPODataset, KTODataset, SFTDataset
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
 def choose_device(cfg):
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/distributed.py b/src/axolotl/utils/distributed.py
index 0673c6e95..b509ad0ca 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/distributed.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/distributed.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-"""
-utility helpers for distributed checks
-"""
+"""Utilities for distributed functionality."""
 
 import os
 import pickle  # nosec
@@ -19,7 +17,7 @@ from transformers.utils.import_utils import (
 distributed_state = None  # pylint: disable=invalid-name
 
 
-def get_device_type():
+def get_device_type() -> torch.device:
     device = torch.device("cpu")
     if is_torch_cuda_available():
         device = torch.device("cuda")
@@ -30,7 +28,7 @@ def get_device_type():
     return device
 
 
-def get_device_count():
+def get_device_count() -> int:
     cur_device = get_device_type()
     if "cuda" in str(cur_device):
         return torch.cuda.device_count()
@@ -39,7 +37,7 @@ def get_device_count():
     return 1
 
 
-def get_current_device():
+def get_current_device() -> int:
     cur_device = get_device_type()
     if "cuda" in str(cur_device):
         return torch.cuda.current_device()
@@ -48,12 +46,14 @@ def get_current_device():
     return 0
 
 
-def is_distributed():
-    """
-    Check if distributed training is initialized.
-    """
+def get_distributed_state() -> PartialState | None:
+    return distributed_state
+
+
+def is_distributed() -> bool:
+    """Check if distributed training is initialized."""
     global distributed_state  # pylint: disable=global-statement
-    if not distributed_state:
+    if distributed_state is None:
         timeout = int(os.environ.get("AXOLOTL_NCCL_TIMEOUT", 1800))
         distributed_state = PartialState(timeout=timedelta(seconds=timeout))
 
@@ -69,31 +69,31 @@ def barrier():
         dist.barrier()
 
 
-def is_main_process(use_environ=False):
+def is_main_process() -> bool:
     """
     Check if the current process is the main process. If not in distributed mode,
     always return `True`.
 
-    Args:
-    - use_environ (bool, optional): Use environment variable to determine main process.
+    We use a simpler logic when the distributed state is not initialized: we just log
+    on the 0-th local rank.
 
     Returns:
-    - bool: `True` if the current process is the main process, `False` otherwise.
+        `True` if the current process is the main process, `False` otherwise.
     """
-    if use_environ:
+    if get_distributed_state() is None:
         return os.environ.get("LOCAL_RANK", "0") == "0"
     if not is_distributed():
         return True
     return dist.get_rank() == 0
 
 
-def is_local_main_process(use_environ=False):
-    if use_environ:
+def is_local_main_process() -> bool:
+    if get_distributed_state() is None:
         return os.environ.get("LOCAL_RANK", "0") == "0"
     return PartialState().is_local_main_process
 
 
-def get_world_size():
+def get_world_size() -> int:
     return int(os.getenv("WORLD_SIZE", "1"))
 
 
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ def cleanup_distributed():
 
 
 @contextmanager
-def zero_first(is_main):
+def zero_first(is_main: bool):
     """
     runs the wrapped context so that rank 0 runs first before other ranks
     """
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/freeze.py b/src/axolotl/utils/freeze.py
index 65ca62137..936708f04 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/freeze.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/freeze.py
@@ -5,9 +5,8 @@ module to freeze/unfreeze parameters by name
 import re
 from typing import Callable, List, Tuple, Union
 
-from accelerate.logging import get_logger
-
 from axolotl.utils.distributed import is_main_process
+from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/logging.py b/src/axolotl/utils/logging.py
index 80daab4ea..7cc3530ae 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/logging.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/logging.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-"""
-logging helpers to only log on main process
-"""
+"""Logging helpers to only log on main process."""
 
 import functools
 import logging
@@ -14,27 +12,18 @@ from axolotl.utils.distributed import is_main_process
 
 class MultiProcessAdapter(logging.LoggerAdapter):
     """
-    logger adapter for distributed logging, specifically to only log on main process
+    Logger adapter for distributed logging, specifically to only log on main process.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, logger, use_environ=False, extra=None):
-        super().__init__(logger, extra)
-        self.use_environ = use_environ
-
     @staticmethod
-    def _should_log(main_process_only, use_environ=False):
-        return not main_process_only or (
-            main_process_only and is_main_process(use_environ=use_environ)
-        )
+    def _should_log(main_process_only: bool):
+        return not main_process_only or is_main_process()
 
     def log(self, level, msg, *args, **kwargs):
-        use_environ = kwargs.pop("use_environ", self.use_environ)
         main_process_only = kwargs.pop("main_process_only", True)
         kwargs.setdefault("stacklevel", 2)
 
-        if self.isEnabledFor(level) and self._should_log(
-            main_process_only, use_environ=use_environ
-        ):
+        if self.isEnabledFor(level) and self._should_log(main_process_only):
             msg, kwargs = self.process(msg, kwargs)
             self.logger.log(level, msg, *args, **kwargs)
 
@@ -50,13 +39,11 @@ class MultiProcessAdapter(logging.LoggerAdapter):
         self.warning(*args, **kwargs)
 
 
-def get_logger(
-    name: str, log_level: str | None = None, use_environ: bool = False
-) -> MultiProcessAdapter:
+def get_logger(name: str, log_level: str | None = None) -> MultiProcessAdapter:
     if log_level is None:
         log_level = os.environ.get("AXOLOTL_LOG_LEVEL", None)
     logger = logging.getLogger(name)
     if log_level is not None:
         logger.setLevel(log_level.upper())
         logger.root.setLevel(log_level.upper())
-    return MultiProcessAdapter(logger, use_environ=use_environ, extra={})
+    return MultiProcessAdapter(logger, extra={})
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/config.py b/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/config.py
index 259daa56f..460043272 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/config.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/config.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ from axolotl.utils.schemas.trl import TRLConfig
 from axolotl.utils.schemas.validation import ValidationMixin
 from axolotl.utils.schemas.vllm import VllmConfig
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
 # pylint: disable=too-many-ancestors
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/model.py b/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/model.py
index 6f995996d..5eea11444 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/model.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/schemas/model.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from pydantic import BaseModel, Field, field_validator
 
 from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 
-LOG = get_logger(__name__, use_environ=True)
+LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
 class ModelInputConfig(BaseModel):
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
index 33ddadf78..e996cd62b 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ from typing import List, Optional
 import numpy as np
 import torch
 import torch.cuda
-from accelerate.logging import get_logger
 from datasets import IterableDataset, disable_caching, enable_caching
 from torch.utils.data import DataLoader, RandomSampler, SequentialSampler
 from transformers.utils import is_torch_bf16_gpu_available
@@ -19,6 +18,7 @@ from transformers.utils import is_torch_bf16_gpu_available
 from axolotl.monkeypatch.trainer_eval_guard import patch_evaluation_loop_for_fsdp2
 from axolotl.utils.distributed import reduce_and_broadcast
 from axolotl.utils.environment import check_cuda_p2p_ib_support
+from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
 from axolotl.utils.samplers import MultipackBatchSampler, get_dataset_lengths
 
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)