Error Tracking Node

Node.js error tracking installation - Docs

1. 1

   Install the package

   Required

   Install the PostHog Node.js library using your package manager:

   PostHog AI

   npm

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   npm install posthog-node

   yarn

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   yarn add posthog-node

   pnpm

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   pnpm add posthog-node

2. 2

   Initialize PostHog

   Required

   Initialize the PostHog client with your project token:

   Node.js

   PostHog AI

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   import { PostHog } from 'posthog-node'
   const client = new PostHog(
       '<ph_project_token>',
       {
           host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com'
       }
   )

3. 3

   Send an event

   Recommended

   Once installed, you can manually send events to test your integration:

   Node.js

   PostHog AI

   Copy

   client.capture({
       distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_the_user',
       event: 'event_name',
       properties: {
           property1: 'value',
           property2: 'value',
       },
   })

4. 4

   Configure exception autocapture

   Recommended

   You can enable exception autocapture when initializing the PostHog client to automatically capture uncaught exceptions and unhandled rejections in your Node app.

   Node.js

   PostHog AI

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   import { PostHog } from 'posthog-node'
   const client = new PostHog(
       '<ph_project_token>',
       { host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com', enableExceptionAutocapture: true }
   )

   If you are using the Express framework, you will need to import and call setupExpressErrorHandler with your PostHog client and Express app. This is because Express handles uncaught exceptions internally meaning exception autocapture will not work by default.

   server.ts

   PostHog AI

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   import express from 'express'
   import { PostHog, setupExpressErrorHandler } from 'posthog-node'
   const app = express()
   const posthog = new PostHog(POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN)
   setupExpressErrorHandler(posthog, app)

   Note: Error tracking requires access the file system to process stack traces. Some providers, like Cloudflare Workers, do not support Node.js runtime APIs by default and need to be included as per their documentation.

5. 5

   Manually capture exceptions

   Optional

   If you need to manually capture exceptions, you can do so by calling the captureException method:

   Node.js

   PostHog AI

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   posthog.captureException(e, 'user_distinct_id', additionalProperties)

   This is helpful if you've built your own error handling logic or want to capture exceptions normally handled by the framework.

6. Verify error tracking

   Recommended

   Confirm events are being sent to PostHog

   Before proceeding, let's make sure exception events are being captured and sent to PostHog. You should see events appear in the activity feed.

   Image: Activity feed with eventsImage: Activity feed with events

   Check for exceptions in PostHog

7. 6

   Upload source maps

   Required

   Great, you're capturing exceptions! If you serve minified bundles, the next step is to upload source maps to generate accurate stack traces.

   Let's continue to the next section.

   Upload source maps

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