diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b848514cea4..f22d410c51f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/crewjam/saml v0.4.14 // @grafana/identity-access-team
 	github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v4 v4.7.0 // @grafana/grafana-search-and-storage
 	github.com/dlmiddlecote/sqlstats v1.0.2 // @grafana/grafana-backend-group
-	github.com/docker/go-connections v0.6.0 // indirect; @grafana/grafana-app-platform-squad
+	github.com/docker/go-connections v0.6.0 // @grafana/grafana-app-platform-squad
 	github.com/dolthub/go-mysql-server v0.19.1-0.20250410182021-5632d67cd46e // @grafana/grafana-datasources-core-services
 	github.com/dolthub/vitess v0.0.0-20250930230441-70c2c6a98e33 // @grafana/grafana-datasources-core-services
 	github.com/dustin/go-humanize v1.0.1 // @grafana/observability-traces-and-profiling
diff --git a/pkg/apiserver/auditing/logger.go b/pkg/apiserver/auditing/logger.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8e60d463255
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/apiserver/auditing/logger.go
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package auditing
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Sinkable is a log entry abstraction that can be sent to an audit log sink through the different implementing methods.
+type Sinkable interface {
+	json.Marshaler
+	KVPairs() []any
+	Time() time.Time
+}
+
+// Logger specifies the contract for a specific audit logger.
+type Logger interface {
+	Log(entry Sinkable) error
+	Close() error
+	Type() string
+}
+
+// Implementation inspired by https://github.com/grafana/grafana-app-sdk/blob/main/logging/logger.go
+type loggerContextKey struct{}
+
+var (
+	// DefaultLogger is the default Logger if one hasn't been provided in the context.
+	// You may use this to add arbitrary audit logging outside of an API request lifecycle.
+	DefaultLogger Logger = &NoopLogger{}
+
+	contextKey = loggerContextKey{}
+)
+
+// FromContext returns the Logger set in the context with Context(), or the DefaultLogger if no Logger is set in the context.
+// If DefaultLogger is nil, it returns a *NoopLogger so that the return is always valid to call methods on without nil-checking.
+// You may use this to add arbitrary audit logging outside of an API request lifecycle.
+func FromContext(ctx context.Context) Logger {
+	if l := ctx.Value(contextKey); l != nil {
+		if logger, ok := l.(Logger); ok {
+			return logger
+		}
+	}
+
+	if DefaultLogger != nil {
+		return DefaultLogger
+	}
+
+	return &NoopLogger{}
+}
+
+// Context returns a new context built from the provided context with the provided logger in it.
+// The Logger added with Context() can be retrieved with FromContext()
+func Context(ctx context.Context, logger Logger) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, contextKey, logger)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/apiserver/auditing/noop.go b/pkg/apiserver/auditing/noop.go
index 5a6b39a3b71..c36c3577a09 100644
--- a/pkg/apiserver/auditing/noop.go
+++ b/pkg/apiserver/auditing/noop.go
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ type NoopBackend struct{}
 
 func ProvideNoopBackend() audit.Backend { return &NoopBackend{} }
 
-func (b *NoopBackend) ProcessEvents(k8sEvents ...*auditinternal.Event) bool { return false }
+func (NoopBackend) ProcessEvents(...*auditinternal.Event) bool { return false }
 
-func (NoopBackend) Run(stopCh <-chan struct{}) error { return nil }
+func (NoopBackend) Run(<-chan struct{}) error { return nil }
 
 func (NoopBackend) Shutdown() {}
 
@@ -34,3 +34,14 @@ type NoopPolicyRuleEvaluator struct{}
 func (NoopPolicyRuleEvaluator) EvaluatePolicyRule(authorizer.Attributes) audit.RequestAuditConfig {
 	return audit.RequestAuditConfig{Level: auditinternal.LevelNone}
 }
+
+// NoopLogger is a no-op implementation of Logger
+type NoopLogger struct{}
+
+func ProvideNoopLogger() Logger { return &NoopLogger{} }
+
+func (NoopLogger) Type() string { return "noop" }
+
+func (NoopLogger) Log(Sinkable) error { return nil }
+
+func (NoopLogger) Close() error { return nil }
diff --git a/pkg/extensions/enterprise_imports.go b/pkg/extensions/enterprise_imports.go
index 113c2f8e4bb..472652cc103 100644
--- a/pkg/extensions/enterprise_imports.go
+++ b/pkg/extensions/enterprise_imports.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/blugelabs/bluge"
 	_ "github.com/blugelabs/bluge_segment_api"
 	_ "github.com/crewjam/saml"
+	_ "github.com/docker/go-connections/nat"
 	_ "github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4"
 	_ "github.com/gobwas/glob"
 	_ "github.com/googleapis/gax-go/v2"
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/spf13/cobra" // used by the standalone apiserver cli
 	_ "github.com/spyzhov/ajson"
 	_ "github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	_ "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
 	_ "gocloud.dev/secrets/awskms"
 	_ "gocloud.dev/secrets/azurekeyvault"
 	_ "gocloud.dev/secrets/gcpkms"
@@ -54,9 +56,7 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/grafana/e2e"
 	_ "github.com/grafana/gofpdf"
 	_ "github.com/grafana/gomemcache/memcache"
-	_ "github.com/grafana/tempo/pkg/traceql"
-
 	_ "github.com/grafana/grafana/apps/alerting/alertenrichment/pkg/apis/alertenrichment/v1beta1"
 	_ "github.com/grafana/grafana/apps/scope/pkg/apis/scope/v0alpha1"
-	_ "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
+	_ "github.com/grafana/tempo/pkg/traceql"
 )