diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 8f60f876b4..b4028f653d 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@ _environments:
     RCUTILS_LOGGING_BUFFERED_STREAM: "0"
     RCUTILS_LOGGING_USE_STDOUT: "0"
     DEBIAN_FRONTEND: "noninteractive"
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED: "1"
 
 executors:
   release_exec:
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 155f5aefbb..ba26fc246f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ RUN echo '\
 APT::Install-Recommends "0";\n\
 APT::Install-Suggests "0";\n\
 ' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01norecommend
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
 
 # install CI dependencies
 ARG RTI_NC_LICENSE_ACCEPTED=yes