diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4c987698..09df2b87 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # rsconnect 0.8.30 (development version)
 
+* `deployApp()` now advertises which startup scripts are run at the normal
+  `logLevel`, and it evaluates each script in its own environment (#542).
+
 * `deployments()` now formats `when` and `lastSyncTime` as date-times (#714).
 
 * `deployApp()` now derives `appName` from `appDir` and `appPrimaryDoc`, 
diff --git a/R/deployApp.R b/R/deployApp.R
index 5c242311..5123b364 100644
--- a/R/deployApp.R
+++ b/R/deployApp.R
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ deployApp <- function(appDir = getwd(),
   displayStatus <- displayStatus(quiet)
 
   # run startup scripts to pick up any user options and establish pre/post deploy hooks
-  runStartupScripts(appDir, logLevel)
+  runStartupScripts(appDir, quiet = quiet, verbose = verbose)
 
   # at verbose log level, turn on all tracing options implicitly for the
   # duration of the call
@@ -611,22 +611,22 @@ openURL <- function(client, application, launch.browser, on.failure, deploymentS
     # or open no url if things failed
 }
 
-runStartupScripts <- function(appDir, logLevel) {
+runStartupScripts <- function(appDir, quiet = FALSE, verbose = FALSE) {
   scripts <- c(
     # the site-wide startup script
     file.path(R.home("etc"), "rsconnect.site"),
     # the user startup script
     path.expand("~/.rsconnect_profile"),
     # a startup script specific to this application
-    file.path(appDir, ".rsconnect_profile"))
+    file.path(appDir, ".rsconnect_profile")
+  )
+  scripts <- scripts[file.exists(scripts)]
 
   # iterate over the startup scripts
   for (script in scripts) {
-    if (file.exists(script)) {
-      if (logLevel == "verbose") {
-        cat("----- Sourcing startup script", script, "-----\n")
-      }
-      source(file = script, verbose = (logLevel == "verbose"))
-    }
+    taskStart(quiet, "Running {script}")
+
+    env <- new_environment(parent = globalenv())
+    source(script, verbose = verbose, local = env)
   }
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/deployApp.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/deployApp.md
index d0b1a263..306db033 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/deployApp.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/deployApp.md
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@
       Error in `deployApp()`:
       ! `appSourceDoc`, "records", does not exist.
 
+# startup scripts are logged by default
+
+    Code
+      runStartupScripts(".")
+    Message
+      i Running ./.rsconnect_profile
+
 # deployHook executes function if set
 
     Code
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-deployApp.R b/tests/testthat/test-deployApp.R
index b3d234bf..5477fd15 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-deployApp.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-deployApp.R
@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ test_that("appSourceDoc is deprecated & checks path", {
   })
 })
 
+test_that("startup scripts are logged by default", {
+  dir <- local_temp_app()
+  withr::local_dir(dir)
+  writeLines("1 + 1", file.path(dir, ".rsconnect_profile"))
+
+  expect_snapshot(runStartupScripts("."))
+})
+
 # record directory --------------------------------------------------------
 
 test_that("findRecordPath() uses recordDir, then appPrimaryDoc, then appDir", {