sentry-python-sdk

All Skills > SDK Setup > Python SDK

Sentry Python SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your Python project and guides you through complete Sentry setup.

Invoke This Skill When

User asks to "add Sentry to Python" or "setup Sentry" in a Python app
User wants error monitoring, tracing, profiling, logging, metrics, or crons in Python
User mentions sentry-sdk, sentry_sdk, or Sentry + any Python framework
User wants to monitor Django views, Flask routes, FastAPI endpoints, Celery tasks, or scheduled jobs

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect Sentry docs at time of writing (sentry-sdk 2.x). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

Run these commands to understand the project before making recommendations:

# Check existing Sentry
grep -i sentry requirements.txt pyproject.toml

What to note:

Is sentry-sdk already in requirements? If yes, check if sentry_sdk.init() is present — may just need feature config.
Which framework? (Determines where to place sentry_sdk.init().)
Which task queue? (Celery needs dual-process init; RQ needs a settings file.)
AI libraries? (OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain are auto-instrumented.)
OpenTelemetry tracing? (Use OTLP path instead of native tracing.)
Companion frontend? (Triggers Phase 4 cross-link.)

Based on what you found, present a concrete proposal. Don't ask open-ended questions — lead with a recommendation:

Route from OTel detection:

OTel tracing detected (opentelemetry-sdk / opentelemetry-distro in requirements, or TracerProvider in source) → use OTLP path: OTLPIntegration(); do not set traces_sample_rate; Sentry links errors to OTel traces automatically

Always recommended (core coverage):

✅ Error Monitoring — captures unhandled exceptions, supports ExceptionGroup (Python 3.11+)
✅ Logging — Python logging stdlib auto-captured; enhanced if Loguru detected

Recommend when detected:

✅ Tracing — HTTP framework detected (Django/Flask/FastAPI/etc.)
✅ AI Monitoring — OpenAI/Anthropic/LangChain/etc. detected (auto-instrumented, zero config)
⚡ Profiling — production apps where performance matters; not available with OTLP path
⚡ Crons — Celery Beat, APScheduler, or cron patterns detected
⚡ Metrics — business KPIs, SLO tracking

Recommendation matrix:

Feature	Recommend when...	Reference
Error Monitoring	Always — non-negotiable baseline	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md`
OTLP Integration	OTel tracing detected — replaces native Tracing	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md`
Tracing	Django/Flask/FastAPI/AIOHTTP/etc. detected; skip if OTel tracing detected	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md`
Profiling	Production + performance-sensitive workload; skip if OTel tracing detected (requires `traces_sample_rate`, incompatible with OTLP)	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md`
Logging	Always (stdlib); enhanced for Loguru	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md`
Metrics	Business events or SLO tracking needed	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/metrics.md`
Crons	Celery Beat, APScheduler, or cron patterns	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md`
AI Monitoring	OpenAI/Anthropic/LangChain/etc. detected	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/ai-monitoring.md`

OTel tracing detected: "I see OpenTelemetry tracing in the project. I recommend Sentry's OTLP integration for tracing (via your existing OTel setup) + Error Monitoring + Sentry Logging [+ Metrics/Crons/AI Monitoring if applicable]. Shall I proceed?"

No OTel: "I recommend Error Monitoring + Tracing [+ Logging if applicable]. Want Profiling, Crons, or AI Monitoring too?"

Phase 3: Guide

Install

Extras are optional — plain sentry-sdk works for all frameworks. Extras install complementary packages.

Quick Start — Recommended Init

Full init enabling the most features with sensible defaults. Place before any app/framework code:

Where to Initialize Per Framework

Framework	Where to call `sentry_sdk.init()`	Notes
Django	Top of `settings.py`, before any imports	No middleware needed — Sentry patches Django internally
Flask	Before `app = Flask(__name__)`	Must precede app creation
FastAPI	Before `app = FastAPI()`	`StarletteIntegration` + `FastApiIntegration` auto-enabled together
Starlette	Before `app = Starlette(...)`	Same auto-integration as FastAPI
AIOHTTP	Module level, before `web.Application()`
Tornado	Module level, before app setup	No integration class needed
Quart	Before `app = Quart(__name__)`
Falcon	Module level, before `app = falcon.App()`
Pyramid	Module level, before `config = Configurator()`	WSGI framework
Sanic	Inside `@app.listener("before_server_start")`	Sanic's lifecycle requires async init
Celery	`@signals.celeryd_init.connect` in worker AND in calling process	Dual-process init required
RQ	`mysettings.py` loaded by worker via `rq worker -c mysettings`
ARQ	Both worker module and enqueuing process

Django example (settings.py):

FastAPI example (main.py):

Auto-Enabled vs Explicit Integrations

Most integrations activate automatically when their package is installed — no integrations=[...] needed:

Auto-enabled	Explicit required
Django, Flask, FastAPI, Starlette, AIOHTTP, Tornado, Quart, Falcon, Pyramid, Sanic, Bottle	`DramatiqIntegration`
Celery, RQ, Huey, ARQ	`GRPCIntegration`
SQLAlchemy, Redis, asyncpg, pymongo	`StrawberryIntegration`
Requests, HTTPX, httpx2, aiohttp-client	`AsyncioIntegration`
OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, Pydantic AI, MCP	`OpenTelemetryIntegration`
Python `logging`, Loguru	`WSGIIntegration` / `ASGIIntegration`

For Each Agreed Feature

Walk through features one at a time. Load the reference, follow its steps, verify before moving on:

Feature	Reference file	Load when...
Error Monitoring	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md`	Always (baseline)
Tracing	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md`	HTTP handlers / distributed tracing
Profiling	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md`	Performance-sensitive production
Logging	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md`	Always; enhanced for Loguru
Metrics	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/metrics.md`	Business KPIs / SLO tracking
Crons	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md`	Scheduler / cron patterns detected
AI Monitoring	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/ai-monitoring.md`	AI library detected

For each feature: Read ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/<feature>.md, follow steps exactly, verify it works.

Configuration Reference

Key `sentry_sdk.init()` Options

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
`dsn`	`str`	`None`	SDK disabled if empty; env: `SENTRY_DSN`
`environment`	`str`	`"production"`	e.g., `"staging"`; env: `SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`
`release`	`str`	`None`	e.g., `"myapp@1.0.0"`; env: `SENTRY_RELEASE`
`send_default_pii`	`bool`	`False`	Include IP, headers, cookies, auth user, query strings (ASGI frameworks)
`traces_sample_rate`	`float`	`None`	Transaction sample rate; `None` disables tracing
`traces_sampler`	`Callable`	`None`	Custom per-transaction sampling (overrides rate)
`profile_session_sample_rate`	`float`	`None`	Continuous profiling session rate
`profile_lifecycle`	`str`	`"manual"`	`"trace"` = auto-start profiler with spans
`profiles_sample_rate`	`float`	`None`	Transaction-based profiling rate
`enable_logs`	`bool`	`False`	Send logs to Sentry (SDK ≥ 2.35.0)
`sample_rate`	`float`	`1.0`	Error event sample rate
`attach_stacktrace`	`bool`	`False`	Stack traces on `capture_message()`
`max_breadcrumbs`	`int`	`100`	Max breadcrumbs per event
`debug`	`bool`	`False`	Verbose SDK debug output
`before_send`	`Callable`	`None`	Hook to mutate/drop error events
`before_send_transaction`	`Callable`	`None`	Hook to mutate/drop transaction events
`ignore_errors`	`list`	`[]`	Exception types or regex patterns to suppress
`auto_enabling_integrations`	`bool`	`True`	Set `False` to disable all auto-detection

`OTLPIntegration` Options (pass to constructor)

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
`setup_otlp_traces_exporter`	`bool`	`True`	Auto-configure OTLP exporter; set `False` if you send to your own Collector
`collector_url`	`str`	`None`	OTLP HTTP endpoint of an OTel Collector (e.g., `http://localhost:4318/v1/traces`); when set, spans are sent to the collector instead of directly to Sentry
`setup_propagator`	`bool`	`True`	Auto-configure Sentry propagator for distributed tracing
`capture_exceptions`	`bool`	`False`	Intercept exceptions recorded via OTel `Span.record_exception`

Environment Variables

Variable	Maps to	Notes
`SENTRY_DSN`	`dsn`
`SENTRY_RELEASE`	`release`	Also auto-detected from git SHA, Heroku, CircleCI, CodeBuild, GAE
`SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`	`environment`
`SENTRY_DEBUG`	`debug`

Verification

Test that Sentry is receiving events:

Or for a non-crashing check:

If nothing appears:

Set debug=True in sentry_sdk.init() — prints SDK internals to stdout
Verify the DSN is correct
Check SENTRY_DSN env var is set in the running process
For Celery/RQ: ensure init runs in the worker process, not just the calling process

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing Python setup, check for a companion frontend missing Sentry:

If a frontend exists without Sentry, suggest the matching skill:

Frontend detected	Suggest skill
React / Next.js	`sentry-react-sdk`
Svelte / SvelteKit	`sentry-svelte-sdk`
Vue / Nuxt	Use `@sentry/vue` — see docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/vue/
Other JS/TS	`sentry-react-sdk` (covers generic browser JS patterns)

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Events not appearing	Set `debug=True`, verify DSN, check env vars in the running process
Malformed DSN error	Format: `https://<key>@o<org>.ingest.sentry.io/<project>`
Django exceptions not captured	Ensure `sentry_sdk.init()` is at the top of `settings.py` before other imports
Flask exceptions not captured	Init must happen before `app = Flask(__name__)`
FastAPI exceptions not captured	Init before `app = FastAPI()`; both `StarletteIntegration` and `FastApiIntegration` auto-enabled
ASGI chained exceptions suppressed	By default, Sentry's ASGI middleware strips exception chains (`raise exc from None`). To preserve chained exceptions, set `_experiments={"suppress_asgi_chained_exceptions": False}` in `sentry_sdk.init()`
Celery task errors not captured	Must call `sentry_sdk.init()` in the worker process via `celeryd_init` signal
Sanic init not working	Init must be inside `@app.listener("before_server_start")`, not module level
uWSGI not capturing	Add `--enable-threads --py-call-uwsgi-fork-hooks` to uWSGI command
No traces appearing (native)	Verify `traces_sample_rate` is set (not `None`); check that the integration is auto-enabled
No traces appearing (OTLP)	Verify `sentry-sdk[opentelemetry-otlp]` is installed; do not set `traces_sample_rate` when using `OTLPIntegration`
Profiling not starting	Requires `traces_sample_rate > 0` + either `profile_session_sample_rate` or `profiles_sample_rate`; not compatible with OTLP path
`enable_logs` not working	Requires SDK ≥ 2.35.0; for direct structured logs use `sentry_sdk.logger`; for stdlib bridging use `LoggingIntegration(sentry_logs_level=...)`
Too many transactions	Lower `traces_sample_rate` or use `traces_sampler` to drop health checks
Cross-request data leaking	Don't use `get_global_scope()` for per-request data — use `get_isolation_scope()`
Query strings not captured (ASGI)	Query strings and client IP in ASGI frameworks (FastAPI, Starlette, etc.) require `send_default_pii=True`
RQ worker not reporting	Pass `--sentry-dsn=""` to disable RQ's own Sentry shortcut; init via settings file instead

All Skills > SDK Setup > Python SDK