diff --git a/src/cortex-cli/src/logs_cmd.rs b/src/cortex-cli/src/logs_cmd.rs
index f525efc3..e2f49824 100644
--- a/src/cortex-cli/src/logs_cmd.rs
+++ b/src/cortex-cli/src/logs_cmd.rs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ pub struct LogsCli {
     pub follow: bool,
 
     /// Filter by log level (error, warn, info, debug, trace)
-    #[arg(long, short = 'l')]
+    #[arg(long, short = 'l', value_parser = parse_log_level)]
     pub level: Option<String>,
 
     /// Show logs from a specific session
@@ -81,6 +81,16 @@ fn format_size(bytes: u64) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+fn parse_log_level(level: &str) -> std::result::Result<String, String> {
+    let normalized = level.to_ascii_lowercase();
+    match normalized.as_str() {
+        "error" | "warn" | "info" | "debug" | "trace" => Ok(normalized),
+        _ => Err(format!(
+            "invalid log level '{level}'; expected one of: error, warn, info, debug, trace"
+        )),
+    }
+}
+
 impl LogsCli {
     /// Run the logs command.
     pub async fn run(self) -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/src/cortex-cli/tests/logs_level.rs b/src/cortex-cli/tests/logs_level.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c2fcc38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cortex-cli/tests/logs_level.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+use clap::Parser;
+use cortex_cli::logs_cmd::LogsCli;
+
+#[test]
+fn accepts_valid_log_level_filter() {
+    let cli = LogsCli::try_parse_from(["logs", "--level", "debug"])
+        .expect("valid log level should be accepted");
+
+    assert_eq!(cli.level.as_deref(), Some("debug"));
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn rejects_invalid_log_level_filter() {
+    let err = LogsCli::try_parse_from(["logs", "--level", "rr"])
+        .expect_err("invalid log level should be rejected");
+
+    assert!(
+        err.to_string().contains("invalid log level"),
+        "error should explain that the log level is invalid"
+    );
+}