diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index dc317ef..74c7972 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ set (SF_DAQ_BUFFER_VERSION "1.0.0")
 
 set (CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
 
-# Download and unpack googletest at configure time
+set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG} -DDEBUG_OUTPUT")
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG} -DDEBUG_OUTPUT")
 
+# Download and unpack googletest at configure time
 configure_file(googletest.in googletest-download/CMakeLists.txt)
 
 execute_process(
diff --git a/core-buffer/src/BufferUtils.cpp b/core-buffer/src/BufferUtils.cpp
index a3ba89b..81b3ece 100644
--- a/core-buffer/src/BufferUtils.cpp
+++ b/core-buffer/src/BufferUtils.cpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include <rapidjson/istreamwrapper.h>
 #include <rapidjson/document.h>
 #include <rapidjson/stringbuffer.h>
+#include <iostream>
 
 using namespace std;
 using namespace buffer_config;
@@ -96,6 +97,10 @@ void* BufferUtils::connect_socket(
     string ipc_address = BUFFER_LIVE_IPC_URL +
                          detector_name + "-" +
                          stream_name;
+#ifdef DEBUG_OUTPUT
+    cout << "[BufferUtils::connect_socket]";
+    cout << " IPC address: " << ipc_address << endl;
+#endif
 
     void* socket = zmq_socket(ctx, ZMQ_SUB);
     if (socket == nullptr) {
diff --git a/jf-live-writer/README.md b/jf-live-writer/README.md
index 27286b8..95e1139 100644
--- a/jf-live-writer/README.md
+++ b/jf-live-writer/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ docker build -f jf-live-writer/debug.Dockerfile -t jf-live-writer .
 (Running this command from the project root is mandatory as the entire project 
 folder needs to be part of the build context.)
 
+# Build on your local machine
+
 ## Building
 In order to build this executable you need to specify the cmake variable
 ```
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ cmake3 -DBUILD_JF_LIVE_WRITER=ON
 The project will not build if you do not have installed the PHDF5 library.
 Please follow instructions below on how to do that manually.
 
-## Install PHDF5 manually 
+## Install PHDF5
 ```
 wget https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.12/hdf5-1.12.0/src/hdf5-1.12.0.tar.gz
 tar -xzf hdf5-1.12.0.tar.gz
diff --git a/jf-live-writer/src/JFH5Writer.cpp b/jf-live-writer/src/JFH5Writer.cpp
index 7209d39..08ec2a9 100644
--- a/jf-live-writer/src/JFH5Writer.cpp
+++ b/jf-live-writer/src/JFH5Writer.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <H5version.h>
+#include <iostream>
 
 
 #include "live_writer_config.hpp"
@@ -62,11 +63,27 @@ void JFH5Writer::open_run(const int64_t run_id,
     bits_per_pixel_ = bits_per_pixel;
     image_n_bytes_ = (image_y_size_ * image_x_size_ * bits_per_pixel_) / 8;
 
+#ifdef DEBUG_OUTPUT
+    cout << "[JFH5Writer::open_run]";
+    cout << " run_id:" << current_run_id_;
+    cout << " output_file:" << output_file;
+    cout << " bits_per_pixel:" << bits_per_pixel_;
+    cout << " image_y_size:" << image_y_size_;
+    cout << " image_x_size:" << image_x_size_;
+    cout << " image_n_bytes:" << image_n_bytes_;
+    cout << endl;
+#endif
+
     open_file(output_file, n_images);
 }
 
 void JFH5Writer::close_run()
 {
+
+#ifdef DEBUG_OUTPUT
+    cout << "[JFH5Writer::close_run] run_id:" << current_run_id_ << endl;
+#endif
+
     close_file();
 
     current_run_id_ = NO_RUN_ID;
diff --git a/jf-live-writer/src/main.cpp b/jf-live-writer/src/main.cpp
index f379356..6a57521 100644
--- a/jf-live-writer/src/main.cpp
+++ b/jf-live-writer/src/main.cpp
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ using namespace live_writer_config;
 
 int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {
-    if (argc != 3) {
+    if (argc != 2) {
         cout << endl;
         cout << "Usage: jf_live_writer [detector_json_filename]" << endl;
         cout << "\tdetector_json_filename: detector config file path." << endl;
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
     auto ctx = zmq_ctx_new();
     zmq_ctx_set(ctx, ZMQ_IO_THREADS, LIVE_ZMQ_IO_THREADS);
     auto receiver = BufferUtils::connect_socket(
-            ctx, config.detector_name, "broker-agent");
+            ctx, config.detector_name, "writer-agent");
 
     RamBuffer ram_buffer(config.detector_name, config.n_modules);