sentry-elixir-sdk

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Translated

Full Sentry SDK setup for Elixir. Use when asked to "add Sentry to Elixir", "install sentry for Elixir", or configure error monitoring, tracing, logging, or crons for Elixir, Phoenix, or Plug applications. Supports Phoenix, Plug, LiveView, Oban, and Quantum.

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Sourcegetsentry/sentry-for-ai

Added on2026-03-12

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add getsentry/sentry-for-ai sentry-elixir-sdk

SKILL.md Content

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All Skills > SDK Setup > Elixir SDK

Sentry Elixir SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your Elixir project and guides you through complete Sentry setup.

Invoke This Skill When

User asks to "add Sentry to Elixir" or "set up Sentry" in an Elixir or Phoenix app
User wants error monitoring, tracing, logging, or crons in Elixir or Phoenix
User mentions
```
sentry
```
hex package,
```
getsentry/sentry-elixir
```
, or Elixir Sentry SDK
User wants to monitor exceptions, Plug errors, LiveView errors, or scheduled jobs

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect Sentry docs at time of writing (sentry v12.0.2, requires Elixir ~> 1.13). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

Run these commands to understand the project before making any recommendations:

bash

# Check existing Sentry dependency
grep -i sentry mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect Elixir version
cat .tool-versions 2>/dev/null | grep elixir
grep "elixir:" mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect Phoenix or Plug
grep -E '"phoenix"|"plug"' mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect Phoenix LiveView
grep "phoenix_live_view" mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect Oban (job queue / crons)
grep "oban" mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect Quantum (cron scheduler)
grep "quantum" mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Detect OpenTelemetry usage
grep "opentelemetry" mix.exs 2>/dev/null

# Check for companion frontend
ls assets/ frontend/ web/ client/ 2>/dev/null

What to note:

Signal	Impact
`sentry` already in `mix.exs` ?	Skip install; go to Phase 2 (configure features)
Phoenix detected?	Add `Sentry.PlugCapture` , `Sentry.PlugContext` , optionally `Sentry.LiveViewHook`
LiveView detected?	Add `Sentry.LiveViewHook` to the `live_view` macro in `my_app_web.ex`
Oban detected?	Recommend Crons + error capture via Oban integration
Quantum detected?	Recommend Crons via Quantum integration
OpenTelemetry already present?	Tracing setup only needs `Sentry.OpenTelemetry.*` config
Frontend directory found?	Trigger Phase 4 cross-link suggestion

Phase 2: Recommend

Based on what you found, present a concrete recommendation. Don't ask open-ended questions — lead with a proposal:

Recommended (core coverage):

✅ Error Monitoring — always; captures exceptions and crash reports
✅ Logging —
```
Sentry.LoggerHandler
```
forwards crash reports and error logs to Sentry
✅ Tracing — if Phoenix, Plug, or Ecto detected (via OpenTelemetry)

Optional (enhanced observability):

⚡ Crons — detect silent failures in scheduled jobs (Oban, Quantum, or manual GenServer)
⚡ Sentry Logs — forward structured logs to Sentry Logs Protocol (sentry v12.0.0+)

Recommendation logic:

Feature	Recommend when...
Error Monitoring	Always — non-negotiable baseline
Logging	Always — `LoggerHandler` captures crashes that aren't explicit `capture_exception` calls
Tracing	Phoenix, Plug, Ecto, or OpenTelemetry imports detected
Crons	Oban, Quantum, or periodic `GenServer` / `Task` patterns detected
Sentry Logs	sentry v12.0.0+ in use and structured log search is needed

Propose: "I recommend setting up Error Monitoring + Logging [+ Tracing if Phoenix/Ecto detected]. Want me to also add Crons or Sentry Logs?"

Phase 3: Guide

Option 1: Igniter Installer (Recommended)

You need to run this yourself — the Igniter installer requires interactive terminal input that the agent can't handle. Copy-paste into your terminal:
bash
mix igniter.install sentry
Available since sentry v11.0.0. It auto-configures
config/config.exs
,
config/prod.exs
,
config/runtime.exs
, and
lib/my_app/application.ex
.
Once it finishes, come back and skip to Verification.

If the user skips the Igniter installer, proceed with Option 2 (Manual Setup) below.

Option 2: Manual Setup

Install

Add to

mix.exs

dependencies:

elixir

# mix.exs
defp deps do
  [
    {:sentry, "~> 12.0"},
    {:finch, "~> 0.21"}
    # Add jason if using Elixir < 1.18:
    # {:jason, "~> 1.4"},
  ]
end

bash

mix deps.get

Configure

elixir

# config/config.exs
config :sentry,
  dsn: System.get_env("SENTRY_DSN"),
  environment_name: config_env(),
  enable_source_code_context: true,
  root_source_code_paths: [File.cwd!()],
  in_app_otp_apps: [:my_app]

For runtime configuration (recommended for DSN and release):

elixir

# config/runtime.exs
import Config

config :sentry,
  dsn: System.fetch_env!("SENTRY_DSN"),
  release: System.get_env("SENTRY_RELEASE", "my-app@#{Application.spec(:my_app, :vsn)}")

Quick Start — Recommended Init Config

This config enables the most features with sensible defaults:

elixir

# config/config.exs
config :sentry,
  dsn: System.get_env("SENTRY_DSN"),
  environment_name: config_env(),
  enable_source_code_context: true,
  root_source_code_paths: [File.cwd!()],
  in_app_otp_apps: [:my_app],
  # Logger handler config — captures crash reports
  logger: [
    {:handler, :sentry_handler, Sentry.LoggerHandler, %{
      config: %{
        metadata: [:request_id],
        capture_log_messages: true,
        level: :error
      }
    }}
  ]

Activate Logger Handler

Add

Logger.add_handlers/1

Application.start/2

elixir

# lib/my_app/application.ex
def start(_type, _args) do
  Logger.add_handlers(:my_app)   # activates the :sentry_handler configured above

  children = [
    MyAppWeb.Endpoint
    # ... other children
  ]

  Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
end

Phoenix Integration

lib/my_app_web/endpoint.ex

elixir

defmodule MyAppWeb.Endpoint do
  use Sentry.PlugCapture          # Add ABOVE use Phoenix.Endpoint (Cowboy adapter only)
  use Phoenix.Endpoint, otp_app: :my_app

  # ...

  plug Plug.Parsers,
    parsers: [:urlencoded, :multipart, :json],
    pass: ["*/*"],
    json_decoder: Phoenix.json_library()

  plug Sentry.PlugContext          # Add BELOW Plug.Parsers
  # ...
end

Note:
Sentry.PlugCapture
is only needed for the Cowboy adapter. Phoenix 1.7+ defaults to Bandit, where
PlugCapture
is harmless but unnecessary.
Sentry.PlugContext
is always recommended — it enriches events with HTTP request data.

LiveView errors —
lib/my_app_web.ex

elixir

def live_view do
  quote do
    use Phoenix.LiveView

    on_mount Sentry.LiveViewHook   # captures errors in mount/handle_event/handle_info
  end
end

Plain Plug Application

elixir

defmodule MyApp.Router do
  use Plug.Router
  use Sentry.PlugCapture          # Cowboy only

  plug Plug.Parsers, parsers: [:urlencoded, :multipart]
  plug Sentry.PlugContext
  # ...
end

For Each Agreed Feature

Walk through features one at a time. Load the reference file for each, follow its steps, and verify before moving to the next:

Feature	Reference file	Load when...
Error Monitoring	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md`	Always (baseline)
Tracing	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md`	Phoenix / Ecto / OpenTelemetry detected
Logging	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md`	`LoggerHandler` or Sentry Logs setup
Crons	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md`	Oban, Quantum, or periodic jobs detected

For each feature:

Read ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/<feature>.md

, follow steps exactly, verify it works.

Configuration Reference

Key Config Options

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
`:dsn`	`string \| nil`	`nil`	SDK disabled if nil; env: `SENTRY_DSN`
`:environment_name`	`atom \| string`	`"production"`	e.g., `:prod` ; env: `SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`
`:release`	`string \| nil`	`nil`	e.g., `"my-app@1.0.0"` ; env: `SENTRY_RELEASE`
`:sample_rate`	`float`	`1.0`	Error event sample rate (0.0–1.0)
`:enable_source_code_context`	`boolean`	`false`	Include source lines around errors
`:root_source_code_paths`	`[path]`	`[]`	Required when source context is enabled
`:in_app_otp_apps`	`[atom]`	`[]`	OTP apps whose modules are "in-app" in stacktraces
`:before_send`	`(event -> event \| nil) \| {m, f}`	`nil`	Hook to mutate or drop error events
`:after_send_event`	`(event, result -> any) \| {m, f}`	`nil`	Hook called after event is sent
`:filter`	`module`	`Sentry.DefaultEventFilter`	Module implementing `Sentry.EventFilter`
`:max_breadcrumbs`	`integer`	`100`	Max breadcrumbs per process
`:dedup_events`	`boolean`	`true`	Deduplicate identical events within ~30 seconds
`:tags`	`map`	`%{}`	Global tags sent with every event
`:traces_sample_rate`	`float \| nil`	`nil`	Non-nil enables tracing (requires OTel setup)
`:traces_sampler`	`fn \| {m, f} \| nil`	`nil`	Custom per-transaction sampling
`:enable_logs`	`boolean`	`false`	Enable Sentry Logs Protocol (v12.0.0+)
`:test_mode`	`boolean`	`false`	Capture events in-memory for testing

Environment Variables

Variable	Maps to	Purpose
`SENTRY_DSN`	`:dsn`	Data Source Name
`SENTRY_RELEASE`	`:release`	App version (e.g., `my-app@1.0.0` )
`SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`	`:environment_name`	Deployment environment

Verification

Test that Sentry is receiving events:

bash

# Send a test event from your project
MIX_ENV=dev mix sentry.send_test_event

Or add a temporary call in a controller action:

elixir

# Temporary test — remove after confirming
def index(conn, _params) do
  Sentry.capture_message("Sentry Elixir SDK test event")
  text(conn, "sent")
end

Check the Sentry dashboard within a few seconds. If nothing appears:

Set
```
config :sentry, log_level: :debug
```
for verbose SDK output
Verify
```
SENTRY_DSN
```
is set and the project exists
Confirm
```
:environment_name
```
is not set to a value Sentry filters in your alert rules

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing Elixir setup, check for a companion frontend missing Sentry coverage:

bash

ls assets/ frontend/ web/ client/ ui/ 2>/dev/null
cat assets/package.json frontend/package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"react"|"svelte"|"vue"|"next"'

If a frontend directory exists without Sentry configured, suggest the matching skill:

Frontend detected	Suggest skill
React / Next.js	`sentry-react-sdk` or `sentry-nextjs-sdk`
Svelte / SvelteKit	`sentry-svelte-sdk`
Vue	See docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/vue/
Other JS/TS	`sentry-browser-sdk`

Connecting Phoenix backend and JavaScript frontend with linked Sentry projects enables distributed tracing — stack traces that span the browser, Phoenix HTTP server, and downstream services in a single trace view.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Events not appearing	Verify `SENTRY_DSN` is set; run `mix sentry.send_test_event` ; set `log_level: :debug`
Missing stack traces on captured exceptions	Pass `stacktrace: __STACKTRACE__` in the `rescue` block: `Sentry.capture_exception(e, stacktrace: __STACKTRACE__)`
`PlugCapture` not working on Bandit	`Sentry.PlugCapture` is Cowboy-only; with Bandit errors surface via `LoggerHandler`
Source code context missing in production	Run `mix sentry.package_source_code` before building your OTP release
Context not appearing on async events	`Sentry.Context.*` is process-scoped; pass values explicitly or propagate Logger metadata across processes
Oban integration not reporting crons	Requires Oban v2.17.6+ or Oban Pro; cron jobs must have `"cron" => true` in job meta
Duplicate events from Cowboy crashes	Set `excluded_domains: [:cowboy]` in `LoggerHandler` config (this is the default)
`finch` not starting	Ensure `{:finch, "~> 0.21"}` is in deps; Finch is the default HTTP client since v12.0.0
JSON encoding error	Add `{:jason, "~> 1.4"}` and set `json_library: Jason` for Elixir < 1.18

sentry-elixir-sdk

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Sentry Elixir SDK

Invoke This Skill When

Phase 1: Detect

Phase 2: Recommend

Phase 3: Guide

Option 1: Igniter Installer (Recommended)

Option 2: Manual Setup

Install

Configure

Quick Start — Recommended Init Config

Activate Logger Handler

Phoenix Integration

Plain Plug Application

For Each Agreed Feature

Configuration Reference

Key Config Options

Environment Variables

Verification

Phase 4: Cross-Link

Troubleshooting