diff --git a/src/fairchem/core/_cli_hydra.py b/src/fairchem/core/_cli_hydra.py
index 6ca8b7d6f..9279c8daf 100644
--- a/src/fairchem/core/_cli_hydra.py
+++ b/src/fairchem/core/_cli_hydra.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 import hydra
+from omegaconf import OmegaConf
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     import argparse
@@ -34,21 +35,40 @@
 
 
 class Submitit(Checkpointable):
-    def __call__(self, dict_config: DictConfig, cli_args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
+    def __call__(self, dict_config: DictConfig) -> None:
         self.config = dict_config
-        self.cli_args = cli_args
         # TODO: setup_imports is not needed if we stop instantiating models with Registry.
         setup_imports()
         setup_env_vars()
-        try:
-            distutils.setup(map_cli_args_to_dist_config(cli_args))
-            self.runner: Runner = hydra.utils.instantiate(dict_config.runner)
-            self.runner.load_state()
-            self.runner.run()
-        finally:
-            distutils.cleanup()
-
-    def checkpoint(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        distutils.setup(map_cli_args_to_dist_config(dict_config.cli_args))
+        self._init_logger()
+        runner: Runner = hydra.utils.instantiate(dict_config.runner)
+        runner.load_state()
+        runner.run()
+        distutils.cleanup()
+
+    def _init_logger(self) -> None:
+        # optionally instantiate a singleton wandb logger, intentionally only supporting the new wandb logger
+        # don't start logger if in debug mode
+        if (
+            "logger" in self.config
+            and distutils.is_master()
+            and not self.config.cli_args.debug
+        ):
+            # get a partial function from the config and instantiate wandb with it
+            logger_initializer = hydra.utils.instantiate(self.config.logger)
+            simple_config = OmegaConf.to_container(
+                self.config, resolve=True, throw_on_missing=True
+            )
+            logger_initializer(
+                config=simple_config,
+                run_id=self.config.cli_args.timestamp_id,
+                run_name=self.config.cli_args.identifier,
+                log_dir=self.config.cli_args.logdir,
+            )
+
+    def checkpoint(self, *args, **kwargs) -> DelayedSubmission:
+        # TODO: this is yet to be tested properly
         logging.info("Submitit checkpointing callback is triggered")
         new_runner = Submitit()
         self.runner.save_state()
@@ -56,7 +76,7 @@ def checkpoint(self, *args, **kwargs):
         return DelayedSubmission(new_runner, self.config, self.cli_args)
 
 
-def map_cli_args_to_dist_config(cli_args: argparse.Namespace) -> dict:
+def map_cli_args_to_dist_config(cli_args: DictConfig) -> dict:
     return {
         "world_size": cli_args.num_nodes * cli_args.num_gpus,
         "distributed_backend": "gloo" if cli_args.cpu else "nccl",
@@ -78,8 +98,8 @@ def get_hydra_config_from_yaml(
     return hydra.compose(config_name=config_name, overrides=overrides_args)
 
 
-def runner_wrapper(config: DictConfig, cli_args: argparse.Namespace):
-    Submitit()(config, cli_args)
+def runner_wrapper(config: DictConfig):
+    Submitit()(config)
 
 
 # this is meant as a future replacement for the main entrypoint
@@ -93,6 +113,11 @@ def main(
     cfg = get_hydra_config_from_yaml(args.config_yml, override_args)
     timestamp_id = get_timestamp_uid()
     log_dir = os.path.join(args.run_dir, timestamp_id, "logs")
+    # override timestamp id and logdir
+    args.timestamp_id = timestamp_id
+    args.logdir = log_dir
+    os.makedirs(log_dir)
+    OmegaConf.update(cfg, "cli_args", vars(args), force_add=True)
     if args.submit:  # Run on cluster
         executor = AutoExecutor(folder=log_dir, slurm_max_num_timeout=3)
         executor.update_parameters(
@@ -107,7 +132,7 @@ def main(
             slurm_qos=args.slurm_qos,
             slurm_account=args.slurm_account,
         )
-        job = executor.submit(runner_wrapper, cfg, args)
+        job = executor.submit(runner_wrapper, cfg)
         logger.info(
             f"Submitted job id: {timestamp_id}, slurm id: {job.job_id}, logs: {log_dir}"
         )
@@ -131,8 +156,8 @@ def main(
                 rdzv_backend="c10d",
                 max_restarts=0,
             )
-            elastic_launch(launch_config, runner_wrapper)(cfg, args)
+            elastic_launch(launch_config, runner_wrapper)(cfg)
         else:
             logger.info("Running in local mode without elastic launch")
             distutils.setup_env_local()
-            runner_wrapper(cfg, args)
+            runner_wrapper(cfg)