Instrument Error Tracking

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Django

Canonical URL: https://posthog.com/docs/libraries/django

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On this page

• Install with the wizard

• Installation

• Identifying users

• Django contexts middleware

• Next steps

• Supported versions

PostHog makes it easy to get data about traffic and usage of your Django app. Integrating PostHog enables analytics, custom events capture, feature flags, error tracking, and more.

This guide walks you through integrating PostHog into your Django app using the Python SDK.

Install with the wizard

Run this command in your project directory to add PostHog to your Django project. The wizard detects your framework, installs the SDK, and sets up your first events.

npx @posthog/wizard

Or set it up manually by following the rest of this guide.

These docs cover version 7.x of the Python SDK, which requires Python 3.10 or higher. On Python 3.9? See supported versions.

Installation

To start, run pip install posthog to install PostHog’s Python SDK.

Then, configure PostHog in your app config so it's initialized when Django starts:

your_app/apps.py

from django.apps import AppConfig
import posthog

class YourAppConfig(AppConfig):
    name = 'your_app_name'

    def ready(self):
        posthog.api_key = '<ph_project_token>'
        posthog.host = 'https://us.i.posthog.com'

Next, if you haven't done so already, add your AppConfig to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py:

settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'your_app_name.apps.YourAppConfig',
]

You can find your project token and instance address in your project settings.

To capture events from any file, import posthog and call the method you need. For example:

import posthog
from posthog import identify_context

def some_request(request):
    with posthog.new_context():
        # Django includes request.user for anonymous visitors too. Only identify
        # the context when the visitor is logged in.
        if request.user.is_authenticated:
            identify_context(str(request.user.pk))

        posthog.capture('event_name')

Events captured without a context or explicit distinct_id are sent as anonymous events with an auto-generated distinct_id. See the Python SDK docs for more details.

Identifying users

Identifying users is required. Backend events need a distinct_id to associate events with the correct user.

In Python, you can do this through a context. All event captures in the same context will be tagged automatically with the correct distinct_id. Typically, you would set a fresh context and identify at the top of each route.

Copy

from posthog import new_context, identify_context, capture

@app.get("/foo")
def foo(current_user: User = Depends(get_current_user)):
    with new_context(): # Set context at the top of a route
        identify_context(current_user.id)
        capture("foo_viewed")
    return {"status": "ok"}

When possible, write a small piece of middleware that resolves your authenticated user, wrap a context around the request, and identifies it. Every capture() downstream is then attributed automatically. The SDK's Django middleware does this automatically and you can replicate it when using the plain Python SDK.

Django contexts middleware

The Python SDK provides a Django middleware that automatically wraps all requests with a context. This middleware extracts session and user information from each request and adds relevant properties to events captured during that request.

Basic setup

Add the middleware to your Django settings. If your app uses Django authentication, place it after django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware so the middleware can use the authenticated Django user as a distinct ID fallback and capture the user's email.

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ... other middleware
    "posthog.integrations.django.PosthogContextMiddleware",
    # ... other middleware
]

The middleware uses the globally configured posthog client by default. If you create your own client with Posthog(...), pass it to the middleware with POSTHOG_MW_CLIENT. Otherwise the middleware sends exceptions to the unconfigured global client, and they don't reach PostHog:

# settings.py
from posthog import Posthog

POSTHOG_MW_CLIENT = Posthog(
    "<ph_project_token>",
    host="https://us.i.posthog.com",
    enable_exception_autocapture=True,
)

POSTHOG_MW_CLIENT only selects where the middleware sends the exceptions it captures. Events you capture through another client go to that client.

The middleware automatically extracts and uses:

• Session ID from the X-POSTHOG-SESSION-ID header when header capture is enabled

• Distinct ID from the authenticated Django user's pk (Django's primary-key alias, which works with custom user models), or from the X-POSTHOG-DISTINCT-ID header when header capture is enabled

• User email from the authenticated Django user's email as email

• Current URL as $current_url

• Request method as $request_method

• Request path as $request_path

• Forwarded IP address from X-Forwarded-For as $ip

• User agent from User-Agent as $user_agent

With SDK 7.71.0 or later, the middleware reads session and distinct ID headers by default. To disable header extraction, set this Django setting:

# settings.py
POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_TRACING_HEADERS = False

Don't use these headers for authentication or authorization. The middleware sanitizes header values before use. It ignores empty values, removes control characters, trims values, and caps them at 1000 characters.

All events captured during the request (including exceptions) include these properties and are associated with the extracted session and distinct ID.

Login and signup views

The middleware reads request.user once, before your view runs. On a login or signup request the visitor is still anonymous at that point, so the request's context has no distinct ID. Calling login() inside the view doesn't change that. Everything captured during that request stays anonymous, including the login event itself.

Identify the context from inside the request once you know who the user is. Django's auth signals are the natural place:

from django.contrib.auth.signals import user_logged_in
from django.dispatch import receiver
from posthog import identify_context

@receiver(user_logged_in)
def identify_posthog_user(sender, request, user, **kwargs):
    identify_context(str(user.pk))

Every capture later in that request is then attributed to the user who just logged in. Requests made after login don't need this. The middleware sees the authenticated user from the start.

If you're using PostHog JavaScript Web on the frontend, configure tracing_headers for your Django backend hostname so browser requests include the session and distinct ID headers. Header capture must be enabled in Django. It is enabled by default with SDK 7.71.0 or later.

Exception capture

By default, the middleware captures exceptions and sends them to PostHog's error tracking using POSTHOG_MW_CLIENT, or the globally configured posthog client when you leave it unset. This includes Django view exceptions that Django converts into error responses.

Disable this by setting:

# settings.py
POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS = False

Set POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS = None to inherit the global client's enable_exception_autocapture setting. When you omit POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS, the middleware preserves the existing Django default and captures exceptions.

Capture Django REST Framework exceptions

This integration requires version 7.69.0 or later of the Python SDK.

Django REST Framework (DRF) converts many exceptions into responses before Django middleware can observe them. Add PostHog's DRF exception handler to capture these handled errors:

# settings.py
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    # ... other DRF settings
    "EXCEPTION_HANDLER": "posthog.integrations.drf.exception_handler",
}

Keep PosthogContextMiddleware enabled. The middleware adds request properties and identity to the active context, while the DRF handler captures handled API exceptions. The handler captures responses with a 5xx status by default and ignores expected 4xx responses. If DRF doesn't handle an exception, Django re-raises it and the middleware captures it instead.

If you already use a custom DRF exception handler, wrap it in an application module:

# your_app/exception_handlers.py
from posthog.integrations.drf import create_exception_handler
from your_app.api import existing_exception_handler

exception_handler = create_exception_handler(existing_exception_handler)

Then point DRF to the wrapper:

# settings.py
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    "EXCEPTION_HANDLER": "your_app.exception_handlers.exception_handler",
}

To capture selected 4xx responses, create a handler with capture_4xx=True and an exception filter:

# your_app/exception_handlers.py
from posthog.integrations.drf import create_exception_handler


def capture_auth_errors(exception, response, context):
    return response.status_code >= 500 or response.status_code in {401, 403}


exception_handler = create_exception_handler(
    capture_4xx=True,
    exception_filter=capture_auth_errors,
)

The DRF handler follows POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS and POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER. You can also pass capture_exceptions=True or capture_exceptions=False to create_exception_handler() to override the middleware setting.

Add custom properties

Use POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_PROPERTIES to add custom properties to all requests:

# settings.py
def add_user_properties(request):
    # type: (HttpRequest) -> Dict[str, Any]
    properties = {}
    if hasattr(request, "user") and request.user.is_authenticated:
        # Use pk instead of id so this works with custom User primary keys.
        properties["user_id"] = str(request.user.pk)
        properties["email"] = request.user.email
    return properties

POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_PROPERTIES = add_user_properties

Filter requests

Skip tracking for certain requests using POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER:

# settings.py
def should_track_request(request):
    # type: (HttpRequest) -> bool
    # Don't track health checks or admin requests
    if request.path.startswith("/health") or request.path.startswith("/admin"):
        return False
    return True

POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER = should_track_request

Modify default properties

Use POSTHOG_MW_PROPERTIES_MAP to modify or remove default properties:

# settings.py
def customize_properties(properties):
    # type: (Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]
    # Remove URL for privacy
    properties.pop("$current_url", None)
    # Add custom prefix to method
    if "$request_method" in properties:
        properties["http_method"] = properties.pop("$request_method")
    return properties

POSTHOG_MW_PROPERTIES_MAP = customize_properties

Complete configuration example

# settings.py
def add_request_context(request):
    # type: (HttpRequest) -> Dict[str, Any]
    properties = {}
    if hasattr(request, "user") and request.user.is_authenticated:
        properties["user_type"] = "authenticated"
        # Use pk instead of id so this works with custom User primary keys.
        properties["user_id"] = str(request.user.pk)
    else:
        properties["user_type"] = "anonymous"

    # Add request info
    properties["user_agent"] = request.META.get("HTTP_USER_AGENT", "")
    return properties

def filter_tracking(request):
    # type: (HttpRequest) -> bool
    # Skip internal endpoints
    return not request.path.startswith(("/health", "/metrics", "/admin"))

def clean_properties(properties):
    # type: (Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]
    # Remove sensitive data
    properties.pop("user_agent", None)
    return properties

POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_PROPERTIES = add_request_context
POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER = filter_tracking
POSTHOG_MW_PROPERTIES_MAP = clean_properties
POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS = True

All events captured within the request context automatically include the configured properties. They use the authenticated Django user as the distinct ID, or the session and distinct ID from request headers when header capture is enabled.

The middleware supports both sync (WSGI) and async (ASGI) Django applications. In async mode, it uses Django's request.auser() API when available to avoid synchronous user access.

Next steps

For any technical questions for how to integrate specific PostHog features into Django (such as analytics, feature flags, A/B testing, etc.), have a look at our Python SDK docs.

Alternatively, the following tutorials can help you get started:

• Setting up Django analytics, feature flags, and more

• How to set up A/B tests in Django

Supported versions

These docs cover version 7.x of the PostHog Python SDK, which requires Python 3.10 or higher. Python 3.9 is no longer supported on 7.x.x and higher — pin to the 6.x line with pip install 'posthog<7', where 6.9.3 is the final release.

Everything on this page works the same way on 6.9.3. Event capture, the context API (new_context, identify_context, set_context_session), and PosthogContextMiddleware are identical on 6.9.3 and 7.0.0 — 7.0.0 only dropped Python 3.9 and bumped the optional LLM provider SDKs. That includes the middleware identifying the request context from the X-POSTHOG-DISTINCT-ID header and falling back to the authenticated user, which behaves the same across both lines.

Later 7.x releases add what the 6.x line does not receive, such as the Celery integration, tracing header sanitization, and set_context_device_id. They also changed the middleware's own captured properties: 7.x sends the request IP as $ip, where 6.9.3 sends it as $ip_address, and 7.x additionally captures $request_path, $raw_user_agent, and the authenticated user's email.