Sentry Advanced Troubleshooting

Sentry Advanced Troubleshooting

Overview

This skill addresses complex Sentry issues that go beyond basic setup: events that silently drop, source maps that refuse to resolve, distributed traces with gaps between services, SDK memory leaks, conflicts with other observability libraries, and network-level DSN blocking. Each section provides a systematic diagnosis path with concrete commands and code to identify root causes.

Prerequisites

• Sentry SDK v8 installed and initialized (see sentry-install-auth skill)
• Access to application logs, Sentry dashboard, and project settings
• Sentry CLI installed (npm install -g @sentry/cli) for source map debugging
• Network diagnostic tools available (curl, dig)
• debug: true enabled in SDK init for verbose console output during troubleshooting

Instructions

Step 1 — Diagnose Silently Dropped Events

Events can vanish at multiple points between your code and the Sentry dashboard. Work through each layer systematically.

Enable debug mode to see SDK internals:

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  debug: true, // Prints all SDK decisions to console

  // Wrap transport to log every outbound envelope
  transport: (options) => {
    const transport = Sentry.makeNodeTransport(options);
    return {
      ...transport,
      send: async (envelope) => {
        const [header, items] = envelope;
        console.log('[Sentry Transport] Outbound envelope:', {
          event_id: header.event_id,
          sent_at: header.sent_at,
          item_count: items?.length,
        });
        const result = await transport.send(envelope);
        console.log('[Sentry Transport] Response:', result);
        return result;
      },
    };
  },
});

Systematic event-drop diagnosis:

async function diagnoseEventDrop(): Promise<void> {
  // Layer 1: Is the client alive?
  const client = Sentry.getClient();
  if (!client) {
    console.error('FAIL: Sentry client is null — SDK never initialized');
    console.error('Check: Is instrument.mjs loaded via --import flag?');
    return;
  }

  // Layer 2: Is the DSN valid and reachable?
  const dsn = client.getDsn();
  if (!dsn) {
    console.error('FAIL: DSN is null — check SENTRY_DSN env var');
    return;
  }
  console.log('DSN:', `${dsn.protocol}://${dsn.host}/${dsn.projectId}`);

  // Layer 3: Is beforeSend silently dropping events?
  const opts = client.getOptions();
  if (opts.beforeSend) {
    console.warn('WARN: beforeSend is configured — it may be returning null');
    console.warn('Test by temporarily removing beforeSend to isolate');
  }

  // Layer 4: Is sampling dropping events?
  console.log('sampleRate:', opts.sampleRate ?? '1.0 (default)');
  console.log('tracesSampleRate:', opts.tracesSampleRate ?? 'not set');
  if (opts.sampleRate === 0) {
    console.error('FAIL: sampleRate is 0 — ALL error events are dropped');
  }

  // Layer 5: Fire a test event and verify delivery
  const eventId = Sentry.captureMessage('Diagnostic probe — safe to ignore', 'debug');
  console.log('Test event ID:', eventId || 'NONE — event was dropped before send');

  // Layer 6: Flush the transport buffer
  const flushed = await Sentry.flush(10000);
  console.log('Flush result:', flushed ? 'SUCCESS' : 'TIMEOUT — likely network issue');
  if (!flushed) {
    console.error('Events are queued but cannot reach Sentry — check network/proxy');
  }
}

Check for tunnel misconfiguration:

If you route events through a server-side tunnel (to bypass ad blockers), verify the tunnel endpoint proxies correctly:

# Test your tunnel endpoint returns 200 and forwards to Sentry
curl -v -X POST "https://yourapp.com/api/sentry-tunnel" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-sentry-envelope" \
  -d '{"dsn":"https://key@o0.ingest.sentry.io/123"}
{"type":"event"}
{"message":"tunnel test","level":"info"}' 2>&1 | grep "< HTTP"
# Expected: HTTP/2 200 (or 202)

Step 2 — Debug Source Maps, Distributed Tracing, and Memory Leaks

Source map resolution failures:

Source maps break when the artifact URL stored in Sentry does not match the URL in the error's stack frame. Use sentry-cli sourcemaps explain to pinpoint the exact mismatch:

# List artifacts uploaded for the current release
RELEASE="${SENTRY_RELEASE:-$(node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').version)")}"
echo "Checking release: $RELEASE"
sentry-cli releases files "$RELEASE" list

# Explain why a specific event has unresolved source maps
# Get the event ID from the Sentry issue detail page
sentry-cli sourcemaps explain \
  --org "$SENTRY_ORG" \
  --project "$SENTRY_PROJECT" \
  "EVENT_ID_HERE"

# Common output: "artifact ~/static/js/main.abc123.js not found"
# This means your url-prefix does not match the deployed URL path

Validate before uploading:

# Dry-run upload to catch issues before they affect production
sentry-cli sourcemaps upload \
  --release="$RELEASE" \
  --url-prefix="~/static/js" \
  --validate \
  --dry-run \
  ./dist

# If using a bundler plugin, verify it sets the correct prefix:
# Webpack: devtool: 'source-map' (not 'eval-source-map')
# Vite: build.sourcemap: true

Check the URL matching rule: The stack frame URL (e.g., https://example.com/static/js/main.abc123.js) must match the artifact URL (e.g., ~/static/js/main.abc123.js) after the tilde prefix substitution. If your CDN rewrites paths, the prefix must account for the rewritten path.

Distributed tracing gaps:

When traces break between services (a parent service starts a trace but the downstream service creates a new unlinked trace), the issue is missing propagation headers:

// Verify propagation headers are being sent
// In your HTTP client (axios, fetch, etc.), log outbound headers:

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

// Check: does the active span exist when the outbound call happens?
const activeSpan = Sentry.getActiveSpan();
if (!activeSpan) {
  console.error('No active span at the point of outbound HTTP call');
  console.error('The call must happen INSIDE a Sentry.startSpan() callback');
}

// Manually propagate if auto-instrumentation is not working
const headers: Record<string, string> = {};
Sentry.getClient()?.getOptions().tracePropagationTargets; // check targets
console.log('tracePropagationTargets:',
  Sentry.getClient()?.getOptions().tracePropagationTargets ?? 'default (all)');

// Verify: the downstream service must extract these headers
// sentry-trace: <traceId>-<spanId>-<sampled>
// baggage: sentry-environment=production,sentry-release=1.0.0,...

// Fix: ensure tracePropagationTargets includes the downstream URL
Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
  // Only propagate to your own services — never to third-party APIs
  tracePropagationTargets: [
    'localhost',
    /^https:\/\/api\.yourapp\.com/,
    /^https:\/\/internal\./,
  ],
});

Memory leak from unbounded breadcrumbs:

The SDK stores breadcrumbs in memory. In long-running processes (workers, daemons), unbounded accumulation causes heap growth:

// Diagnosis: check breadcrumb count over time
setInterval(() => {
  const scope = Sentry.getCurrentScope();
  // @ts-expect-error — accessing internal for diagnosis only
  const breadcrumbs = scope._breadcrumbs?.length ?? 'unknown';
  const mem = process.memoryUsage();
  console.log('[Sentry Health]', {
    breadcrumbs,
    heapUsed: `${(mem.heapUsed / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1)} MB`,
    rss: `${(mem.rss / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1)} MB`,
  });
}, 60_000);

// Fix: cap breadcrumbs and disable noisy auto-breadcrumbs
Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  maxBreadcrumbs: 20, // Default is 100 — reduce for long-running processes
  integrations: [
    // Disable console breadcrumbs if they flood the buffer
    Sentry.consoleIntegration({ levels: ['error', 'warn'] }),
  ],
});

Step 3 — Resolve SDK Conflicts, Network Blocks, and Custom Transport Issues

See SDK conflicts, network blocks, and custom transport for OpenTelemetry dual-registration fixes, winston/pino conflict resolution, network proxy/firewall diagnosis (DNS, curl, raw envelope test), custom transport debugging wrappers, and a comprehensive diagnostic shell script.

Output

• Root cause identified for silently dropped events (beforeSend, sampling, transport, tunnel)
• Source map resolution verified or mismatch pinpointed with sourcemaps explain
• Distributed tracing continuity confirmed across service boundaries
• Memory leak from breadcrumb accumulation diagnosed and capped
• SDK conflicts with OpenTelemetry or logging libraries resolved
• Network connectivity to Sentry ingest endpoint verified or proxy identified
• Custom transport instrumented with timing and error logging

Error Handling

Examples

TypeScript — Full diagnostic init for a production Node.js service:

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  environment: process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development',
  release: process.env.SENTRY_RELEASE,
  debug: process.env.SENTRY_DEBUG === 'true',
  maxBreadcrumbs: 30,
  tracesSampleRate: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? 0.2 : 1.0,
  tracePropagationTargets: [
    'localhost',
    /^https:\/\/api\.yourapp\.com/,
    /^https:\/\/internal\./,
  ],
  beforeSend(event, hint) {
    // Log every event decision for troubleshooting
    if (process.env.SENTRY_DEBUG === 'true') {
      console.log('[Sentry beforeSend]', {
        type: event.type,
        message: event.message,
        exception: hint?.originalException?.constructor?.name,
      });
    }
    return event;
  },
  integrations: (defaults) => [
    ...defaults,
    Sentry.consoleIntegration({ levels: ['error', 'warn'] }),
  ],
});

// Verify and log SDK state at startup
const client = Sentry.getClient();
if (client) {
  const dsn = client.getDsn();
  console.log('[Sentry] Initialized:', {
    host: dsn?.host,
    project: dsn?.projectId,
    release: client.getOptions().release,
    integrations: client.getOptions().integrations?.map((i) => i.name),
  });
} else {
  console.error('[Sentry] CRITICAL: Client failed to initialize');
}

Python — Diagnostic init with event logging:

import sentry_sdk
import os
import logging

logger = logging.getLogger("sentry_debug")

def before_send_debug(event, hint):
    """Log every event decision for troubleshooting."""
    exc = hint.get("exc_info")
    logger.info(
        "[Sentry beforeSend] type=%s exception=%s message=%s",
        event.get("type", "error"),
        exc[0].__name__ if exc else "none",
        event.get("message", ""),
    )
    return event

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ.get("SENTRY_DSN"),
    environment=os.environ.get("SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT", "development"),
    release=os.environ.get("SENTRY_RELEASE"),
    traces_sample_rate=0.2,
    max_breadcrumbs=30,
    debug=os.environ.get("SENTRY_DEBUG", "").lower() == "true",
    before_send=before_send_debug,
    # Propagate traces only to your own services
    trace_propagation_targets=[
        r"^https://api\.yourapp\.com",
        r"^https://internal\.",
        "localhost",
    ],
)

# Verify initialization
client = sentry_sdk.get_client()
if client.is_active():
    logger.info("[Sentry] SDK active — DSN project: %s", client.dsn.split("/")[-1])
    # Fire test event
    event_id = sentry_sdk.capture_message("Diagnostic probe", level="debug")
    logger.info("[Sentry] Test event: %s", event_id)
    sentry_sdk.flush(timeout=5)
else:
    logger.error("[Sentry] SDK is NOT active — check DSN and init order")

Resources

• Troubleshooting Guide
• Source Maps Troubleshooting
• Source Maps Explain Command
• Distributed Tracing
• Transport Configuration
• OpenTelemetry Integration
• Python SDK Troubleshooting

Next Steps

• sentry-performance-tracing — Deep dive into span instrumentation and custom transactions
• sentry-release-management — Automate release tracking and source map uploads in CI
• sentry-ci-integration — Wire Sentry into your CI pipeline for deploy notifications
• sentry-common-errors — Quick reference for the most frequent Sentry SDK error messages