diff --git a/changelog.rst b/changelog.rst
index 96eefd74..7b1c3a13 100644
--- a/changelog.rst
+++ b/changelog.rst
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ Internal:
   * Use github trusted publisher for pypi release
   * Update dev requirements and replace requirements-dev.txt with pyproject.toml
   * Use ruff instead of black
+* Implement daily log rotation at midnight with 30-day retention using TimedRotatingFileHandler
+* Change default log location to /var/log/pgcli/pgcli.log (with automatic fallback to ~/.config/pgcli/log if no permissions)
 
 Bug fixes:
 ----------
diff --git a/pgcli/main.py b/pgcli/main.py
index 0b4b64f5..3e62497b 100644
--- a/pgcli/main.py
+++ b/pgcli/main.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import sys
 import traceback
 import logging
+import logging.handlers
 import threading
 import shutil
 import functools
@@ -537,7 +538,18 @@ def write_to_file(self, pattern, **_):
     def initialize_logging(self):
         log_file = self.config["main"]["log_file"]
         if log_file == "default":
-            log_file = config_location() + "log"
+            # Try /var/log/pgcli first, fallback to user config dir if no permissions
+            default_system_log = "/var/log/pgcli/pgcli.log"
+            try:
+                os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(default_system_log), exist_ok=True)
+                # Test if we can write to /var/log/pgcli
+                with open(default_system_log, "a"):
+                    pass
+                log_file = default_system_log
+            except (OSError, PermissionError):
+                # Fallback to user's config directory if no system permissions
+                log_file = config_location() + "log"
+
         ensure_dir_exists(log_file)
         log_level = self.config["main"]["log_level"]
 
@@ -546,7 +558,24 @@ def initialize_logging(self):
         if log_level.upper() == "NONE":
             handler = logging.NullHandler()
         else:
-            handler = logging.FileHandler(os.path.expanduser(log_file))
+            # Use TimedRotatingFileHandler for daily log rotation
+            # Rotates at midnight, keeps 30 days of logs
+            expanded_log_file = os.path.expanduser(log_file)
+
+            # Remove .log extension if present to avoid pgcli.log.log pattern
+            base_log_file = expanded_log_file
+            if base_log_file.endswith('.log'):
+                base_log_file = base_log_file[:-4]
+
+            handler = logging.handlers.TimedRotatingFileHandler(
+                base_log_file,
+                when='midnight',
+                interval=1,
+                backupCount=30,
+                encoding='utf-8'
+            )
+            # Format: pgcli.YYYY-MM-DD.log
+            handler.suffix = ".%Y-%m-%d.log"
 
         level_map = {
             "CRITICAL": logging.CRITICAL,
diff --git a/pgcli/pgclirc b/pgcli/pgclirc
index 63ccdaf3..a789c0f1 100644
--- a/pgcli/pgclirc
+++ b/pgcli/pgclirc
@@ -66,9 +66,12 @@ generate_aliases = False
 alias_map_file =
 
 # log_file location.
-# In Unix/Linux: ~/.config/pgcli/log
-# In Windows: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\dbcli\pgcli\log
-# %USERPROFILE% is typically C:\Users\{username}
+# Default behavior:
+#   - Tries /var/log/pgcli/pgcli.log first (if running with permissions)
+#   - Falls back to ~/.config/pgcli/log (Unix/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\dbcli\pgcli\log (Windows)
+# Log rotation: Daily at midnight, keeps 30 days of logs
+# Format: pgcli.YYYY-MM-DD.log
+# You can specify a custom path here if needed
 log_file = default
 
 # keyword casing preference. Possible values: "lower", "upper", "auto"