Error Tracking Go

Go error tracking installation - Docs

1. 1

   Install the Go SDK

   Required

   Install the PostHog Go SDK:

   Terminal

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   go get github.com/posthog/posthog-go

   Source context not yet supported

   The Go SDK captures stack traces with file names, line numbers, and function names, but does not yet support source context (displaying the surrounding lines of code in the error tracking UI). Symbol set uploads for Go are not currently available.

2. 2

   Initialize the client

   Required

   Go

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   package main
   import (
       "github.com/posthog/posthog-go"
   )
   func main() {
       client, _ := posthog.NewWithConfig(
           "<ph_project_token>",
           posthog.Config{
               Endpoint: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
           },
       )
       defer client.Close()
   }

3. 3

   Capture exceptions

   Required

   There are two ways to capture exceptions with the Go SDK:

   Option A: Direct capture

   Use NewDefaultException to capture errors directly. This automatically generates a UUID and stack trace for you.

   Go

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   import (
       "time"
       "github.com/posthog/posthog-go"
   )
   exception := posthog.NewDefaultException(
       time.Now(),
       "user_distinct_id",
       "DatabaseError",         // type - rendered as title in the UI
       "connection refused",    // value - rendered as description in the UI
   )
   client.Enqueue(exception)

   For more control, build the Exception struct manually:

   Go

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   import (
       "time"
       "github.com/posthog/posthog-go"
   )
   handled := true
   fingerprint := "my-custom-fingerprint"
   exception := posthog.Exception{
       DistinctId: "user_distinct_id",
       Timestamp:  time.Now(),
       ExceptionList: []posthog.ExceptionItem{
           {
               Type:  "DatabaseError",
               Value: "connection refused",
               Mechanism: &posthog.ExceptionMechanism{
                   Handled: &handled,
               },
           },
       },
       ExceptionFingerprint: &fingerprint,
   }
   client.Enqueue(exception)

   Option B: Automatic capture with slog

   The SDK provides a SlogCaptureHandler that wraps Go's standard log/slog logger and automatically captures log records as exceptions.

   By default, it captures logs at Warning level and above.

   Go

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   import (
       "context"
       "fmt"
       "log/slog"
       "os"
       "github.com/posthog/posthog-go"
   )
   client, _ := posthog.NewWithConfig(
       "<ph_project_token>",
       posthog.Config{
           Endpoint: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
       },
   )
   defer client.Close()
   baseHandler := slog.NewTextHandler(os.Stdout, &slog.HandlerOptions{
       Level: slog.LevelInfo,
   })
   logger := slog.New(posthog.NewSlogCaptureHandler(baseHandler, client,
       posthog.WithDistinctIDFn(func(ctx context.Context, r slog.Record) string {
           // Return the user ID from context or another source
           return "user_distinct_id"
       }),
   ))
   // This warning is automatically captured as an exception in PostHog
   logger.Warn("Something broke",
       "error", fmt.Errorf("connection refused"),
   )

   The handler supports several configuration options:

   Option	Description	Default
   WithMinCaptureLevel(level)	Minimum log level to capture	slog.LevelWarn
   WithDistinctIDFn(fn)	Function to extract distinct ID from context/record	Returns "" (skips capture)
   WithFingerprintFn(fn)	Custom fingerprint for error grouping	nil (PostHog assigns)
   WithSkip(n)	Stack frames to skip	5
   WithStackTraceExtractor(e)	Custom stack trace extractor	DefaultStackTraceExtractor
   WithDescriptionExtractor(e)	Custom description extractor	ErrorExtractor

   Error extraction

   The slog handler automatically extracts error descriptions from log attributes with keys err or error (case-insensitive). It also supports wrapped errors via the Unwrap() interface.

4. 4

   Verify error tracking

   Recommended

   Trigger a test exception to confirm events are being sent to PostHog. You should see them appear in the activity feed.

   Go

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   exception := posthog.NewDefaultException(
       time.Now(),
       "test_user",
       "TestError",
       "This is a test exception from Go",
   )
   client.Enqueue(exception)
   // Flush the queue before exiting
   client.Close()

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