Quartz 4

Error tracking - Sentry, Rollbar

2 min read

Perfect — let’s go through error tracking in Node.js using Sentry and Rollbar, which are essential for detecting, reporting, and resolving runtime errors in production applications.

1️⃣ Why Error Tracking Matters

  • Detect uncaught exceptions and runtime errors

  • Get stack traces, context, and user info for debugging

  • Alerts developers in real time

  • Reduces time to fix critical bugs

2️⃣ Sentry

  • Sentry = popular error tracking and monitoring platform

  • Supports Node.js, frontend frameworks, and serverless apps

  • Provides alerts, issue tracking, and breadcrumbs

a) Install

npm install @sentry/node

b) Basic Setup

const Sentry = require("@sentry/node");
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: "https://your_dsn_here@sentry.io/project_id",
  environment: process.env.NODE_ENV || "development",
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0, // optional for performance monitoring
});
 
// Express integration
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
 
// Request handler
app.use(Sentry.Handlers.requestHandler());
 
// Example route
app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  throw new Error("Test error for Sentry!");
});
 
// Error handler
app.use(Sentry.Handlers.errorHandler());
 
app.listen(3000, () => console.log("Server running"));
  • Errors automatically appear in Sentry dashboard with stack traces, request info, and user context

3️⃣ Rollbar

  • Rollbar = real-time error tracking and crash reporting

  • Supports Node.js, frontend, and serverless apps

  • Provides alerts, telemetry, and deployments tracking

a) Install

npm install rollbar

b) Basic Setup

const Rollbar = require("rollbar");
const rollbar = new Rollbar({
  accessToken: "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  captureUncaught: true,
  captureUnhandledRejections: true,
});
 
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
 
// Example route
app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  rollbar.info("Hello world route accessed");
  throw new Error("Test error for Rollbar!");
});
 
// Express error handler
app.use(rollbar.errorHandler());
 
app.listen(3000, () => console.log("Server running"));
  • Errors appear in Rollbar dashboard with detailed context

4️⃣ Key Features Comparison

FeatureSentryRollbar
Real-time alerts✅✅
Exception tracking✅✅
Performance monitoring✅Limited
Source maps support✅✅
Deployment tracking✅✅
Open-source SDK✅✅

5️⃣ Best Practices

  1. Capture uncaught exceptions and unhandled promise rejections

  2. Integrate with Express or other frameworks

  3. Include environment & user context

  4. Combine with logs (Winston/Pino) and metrics (Prometheus) for full observability

  5. Set alerts to notify devs of critical errors immediately

6️⃣ Key Takeaways

  • Sentry and Rollbar → detect runtime errors, unhandled exceptions, and performance issues

  • Provide real-time alerts, stack traces, and contextual info

  • Essential for production-grade Node.js applications

  • Best used together with logging and monitoring for full observability

Next, we could go through Node.js production best practices, combining performance, monitoring, logging, security, clustering, and deployment strategies for real-world applications.

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