fix: raise RuntimeError from get_request_logger before request instrumentation

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/).
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixed
+
+- `get_request_logger()` now raises the documented `RuntimeError` instead of `AttributeError` when called before `init_request_instrument()`.
+
 ## 1.6.0 - 2026-10-21
 
 ### Added

json_logging/__init__.py

@@ -187,7 +187,8 @@ def get_request_logger():
             "request_logger is only available if json_logging is inited with a web app, "
             "call init_<framework_name>() to do that")
 
-    instance = _current_framework['app_request_instrumentation_configurator']._instance
+    # _instance only exists once the configurator has been instantiated by init_request_instrument()
+    instance = getattr(_current_framework['app_request_instrumentation_configurator'], '_instance', None)
     if instance is None:
         raise RuntimeError("please init request instrument first, call init_request_instrument(app) to do that")
 

tests/test_get_request_logger.py

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+"""get_request_logger() error handling before request instrumentation is configured."""
+import pytest
+from helpers.imports import undo_imports_from_package
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def fresh_json_logging():
+    undo_imports_from_package("json_logging")
+    import json_logging
+    yield json_logging
+    undo_imports_from_package("json_logging")
+
+
+def test_get_request_logger_after_init_but_before_request_instrumentation_raises_runtime_error(fresh_json_logging):
+    fresh_json_logging.init_flask()
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="init request instrument first"):
+        fresh_json_logging.get_request_logger()