sentry-react-native-sdk

All Skills > SDK Setup > React Native SDK

Sentry React Native SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your React Native or Expo project and guides you through complete Sentry setup — error monitoring, tracing, profiling, session replay, logging, and more.

Invoke This Skill When

• User asks to "add Sentry to React Native" or "set up Sentry" in an RN or Expo app
• User wants error monitoring, tracing, profiling, session replay, or logging in React Native
• User mentions @sentry/react-native, mobile error tracking, or Sentry for Expo
• User wants to monitor native crashes, ANRs, or app hangs on iOS/Android

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect current Sentry docs at time of writing (@sentry/react-native ≥6.0.0, minimum recommended ≥8.0.0). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/react-native/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

Run these commands to understand the project before making any recommendations:

# Detect project type and existing Sentry
cat package.json | grep -E '"(react-native|expo|@expo|@sentry/react-native|sentry-expo)"'
 
# Distinguish Expo managed vs bare vs vanilla RN
ls app.json app.config.js

What to determine:

Phase 2: Recommend

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

Recommended (core coverage — always set up these):

• ✅ Error Monitoring — captures JS exceptions, native crashes (iOS + Android), ANRs, and app hangs
• ✅ Tracing — mobile performance is critical; auto-instruments navigation, app start, network requests
• ✅ Session Replay — mobile replay captures screenshots and touch events for debugging user issues

Optional (enhanced observability):

• ⚡ Profiling — CPU profiling on iOS (JS profiling cross-platform); low overhead in production
• ⚡ Logging — structured logs via Sentry.logger.*; links to traces for full context
• ⚡ User Feedback — collect user-submitted bug reports directly from your app

Recommendation logic:

Propose: "For your [Expo managed / bare RN] app, I recommend setting up Error Monitoring + Tracing + Session Replay. Want me to also add Profiling and Logging?"

Phase 3: Guide

Determine Your Setup Path

Path A: Wizard CLI (Recommended for all project types)

You need to run this yourself — the wizard opens a browser for login and requires interactive input that the agent can't handle. Copy-paste into your terminal:

npx @sentry/wizard@latest -i reactNative

It handles login, org/project selection, SDK installation, native config, source map upload, and Sentry.init(). Here's what it creates/modifies:

File	Action	Purpose
package.json	Installs @sentry/react-native	Core SDK
metro.config.js	Adds @sentry/react-native/metro serializer	Source map generation
app.json	Adds @sentry/react-native/expo plugin (Expo only)	Config plugin for native builds
App.tsx / _layout.tsx	Adds Sentry.init() and Sentry.wrap()	SDK initialization
ios/sentry.properties	Stores org/project/token	iOS source map + dSYM upload
android/sentry.properties	Stores org/project/token	Android source map upload
android/app/build.gradle	Adds Sentry Gradle plugin	Android source maps + proguard
ios/[AppName].xcodeproj	Wraps "Bundle RN" build phase + adds dSYM upload	iOS symbol upload
.env.local	SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN	Auth token (add to .gitignore)

Once it finishes, come back and skip to Verification.

If the user skips the wizard, proceed with Path B or C (Manual Setup) below based on their project type.

Path B: Manual — Expo Managed (SDK 50+)

Step 1 — Install

npx expo install @sentry/react-native

Step 2 — metro.config.js

const { getSentryExpoConfig } = require("@sentry/react-native/metro");
const config = getSentryExpoConfig(__dirname, {
  // Auto-wrap Expo Router ErrorBoundary exports at build time (SDK ≥8.17.0)
  autoWrapExpoRouterErrorBoundary: true,
});
module.exports = config;

If metro.config.js doesn't exist yet:

npx expo customize metro.config.js
# Then replace contents with the above

Metro config options:

Step 3 — app.json — Add Expo config plugin

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "@sentry/react-native/expo",
        {
          "url": "https://sentry.io/",
          "project": "YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG",
          "organization": "YOUR_ORG_SLUG",
          "disableAutoUpload": false
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Note: Set SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN as an environment variable for native builds — never commit it to version control.

Plugin options:

Step 4 — Initialize Sentry

For Expo Router (app/_layout.tsx):

import { Stack } from "expo-router";
import { isRunningInExpoGo } from "expo";
import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN ?? "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
  sendDefaultPii: true,
 
  // Tracing
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0, // lower to 0.1–0.2 in production
 
  // Profiling
  profilesSampleRate: 1.0,
 
  // Session Replay
  replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysSessionSampleRate: 0.1,
 
  // Logging (SDK ≥7.0.0)
  enableLogs: true,
 
  // Session Replay
  integrations: [
    Sentry.mobileReplayIntegration(),
  ],
 
  enableNativeFramesTracking: !isRunningInExpoGo(), // slow/frozen frames
 
  environment: __DEV__ ? "development" : "production",
});
 
function RootLayout() {
  return <Stack />;
}
 
export default Sentry.wrap(RootLayout);

Note: Expo Router automatically handles navigation tracking. The Sentry.NavigationContainer wrapper is not needed for Expo Router projects — navigation spans are captured automatically.

Expo Router ErrorBoundary Setup (SDK ≥8.16.0)

Expo Router's per-route ErrorBoundary swallows render errors by default — Sentry won't see them unless you explicitly capture them. Two options:

1. Auto-wrap (recommended, SDK ≥8.17.0) — Enable autoWrapExpoRouterErrorBoundary: true in metro.config.js (shown above). The Babel plugin rewrites export { ErrorBoundary } from 'expo-router' automatically in all route files.

2. Manual wrap — Wrap the boundary yourself in each route file:

   // app/_layout.tsx (or any route file)
   import { ErrorBoundary as ExpoErrorBoundary } from 'expo-router';
   import * as Sentry from '@sentry/react-native';
    
   export const ErrorBoundary = Sentry.wrapExpoRouterErrorBoundary(ExpoErrorBoundary);

Both methods capture errors that hit the boundary with route context (route.name, route.path, route.params), tag the active navigation span as errored, and emit a breadcrumb. Concrete paths/params respect sendDefaultPii.

For standard Expo (App.tsx):

import { isRunningInExpoGo } from "expo";
import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN ?? "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
  sendDefaultPii: true,
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
  profilesSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysSessionSampleRate: 0.1,
  enableLogs: true,
  integrations: [
    Sentry.mobileReplayIntegration(),
  ],
  enableNativeFramesTracking: !isRunningInExpoGo(),
  environment: __DEV__ ? "development" : "production",
});
 
function App() {
  return (
    <Sentry.NavigationContainer>
      {/* your navigation here */}
    </Sentry.NavigationContainer>
  );
}
 
export default Sentry.wrap(App);

Path C: Manual — Bare React Native (0.69+)

Step 1 — Install

npm install @sentry/react-native --save
cd ios && pod install

Step 2 — metro.config.js

const { getDefaultConfig } = require("@react-native/metro-config");
const { withSentryConfig } = require("@sentry/react-native/metro");
 
const config = getDefaultConfig(__dirname);
module.exports = withSentryConfig(config, {
  // Set to false to exclude @sentry-internal/replay from the native bundle (web only).
  // includeWebReplay: true,
  // Set to false to exclude @sentry-internal/feedback from the native bundle (web only).
  // includeWebFeedback: true,
  // Auto-wrap Expo Router ErrorBoundary exports at build time (SDK ≥8.17.0, Expo Router only)
  // autoWrapExpoRouterErrorBoundary: true,
});

Step 3 — iOS: Modify Xcode build phase

Open ios/[AppName].xcodeproj in Xcode. Find the "Bundle React Native code and images" build phase and replace the script content with:

# RN 0.81.1+
set -e
WITH_ENVIRONMENT="../node_modules/react-native/scripts/xcode/with-environment.sh"
SENTRY_XCODE="../node_modules/@sentry/react-native/scripts/sentry-xcode.sh"
/bin/sh -c "$WITH_ENVIRONMENT $SENTRY_XCODE"

Step 4 — iOS: Add "Upload Debug Symbols to Sentry" build phase

Add a new Run Script build phase in Xcode (after the bundle phase):

/bin/sh ../node_modules/@sentry/react-native/scripts/sentry-xcode-debug-files.sh

Step 5 — iOS: ios/sentry.properties

defaults.url=https://sentry.io/
defaults.org=YOUR_ORG_SLUG
defaults.project=YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG
auth.token=YOUR_ORG_AUTH_TOKEN

Step 6 — Android: android/app/build.gradle

Add before the android {} block:

apply from: "../../node_modules/@sentry/react-native/sentry.gradle.kts"

Note: SDK ≥8.13.0 uses sentry.gradle.kts (Kotlin DSL). For older SDKs, use sentry.gradle (Groovy). Both are backward-compatible.

Step 7 — Android: android/sentry.properties

defaults.url=https://sentry.io/
defaults.org=YOUR_ORG_SLUG
defaults.project=YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG
auth.token=YOUR_ORG_AUTH_TOKEN

Step 8 — Initialize Sentry (App.tsx or entry point)

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
  sendDefaultPii: true,
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
  profilesSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysSessionSampleRate: 0.1,
  enableLogs: true,
  integrations: [
    Sentry.mobileReplayIntegration(),
  ],
  enableNativeFramesTracking: true,
  environment: __DEV__ ? "development" : "production",
});
 
function App() {
  return (
    <Sentry.NavigationContainer>
      {/* your navigation here */}
    </Sentry.NavigationContainer>
  );
}
 
export default Sentry.wrap(App);

Quick Reference: Full-Featured Sentry.init()

This is the recommended starting configuration with all features enabled:

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
  sendDefaultPii: true,
 
  // Tracing — lower to 0.1–0.2 in high-traffic production
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
 
  // Profiling — runs on a subset of traced transactions
  profilesSampleRate: 1.0,
 
  // Session Replay — always capture on error, sample 10% of all sessions
  replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysSessionSampleRate: 0.1,
 
  // Logging — enable Sentry.logger.* API
  enableLogs: true,
 
  // Integrations — mobile replay is opt-in
  integrations: [
    Sentry.mobileReplayIntegration({
      maskAllText: true,   // masks text by default for privacy
      maskAllImages: true,
    }),
  ],
 
  // Native frames tracking (disable in Expo Go)
  enableNativeFramesTracking: true,
 
  // Environment
  environment: __DEV__ ? "development" : "production",
 
  // Release — set from CI or build system
  // release: "my-app@1.0.0+1",
  // dist: "1",
});
 
// REQUIRED: Wrap root component to capture React render errors
export default Sentry.wrap(App);

App Start Accuracy — Sentry.appLoaded() (SDK ≥8.x)

If your app does significant async work after the root component mounts (e.g., fetching config, waiting for auth), call Sentry.appLoaded() once that work is complete. This signals the true end of app startup to Sentry and produces more accurate app start duration measurements.

// Call after async initialization is complete, e.g., in a useEffect or after a loading screen:
useEffect(() => {
  fetchConfig().then(() => {
    Sentry.appLoaded();  // marks the end of the app startup phase
  });
}, []);

If you don't call Sentry.appLoaded(), the SDK estimates the app start end automatically.

Navigation Setup — React Navigation (v5+)

Recommended: Use Sentry.NavigationContainer wrapper (SDK ≥8.13.0)

Drop-in replacement for NavigationContainer that automatically wires up navigation tracking:

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
 
// Replace NavigationContainer with Sentry.NavigationContainer
<Sentry.NavigationContainer>
  <Stack.Navigator>
    {/* your screens */}
  </Stack.Navigator>
</Sentry.NavigationContainer>

That's it! The wrapper automatically:

• Creates the reactNavigationIntegration
• Registers the navigation container ref
• Captures breadcrumbs for navigation events (SDK ≥8.13.0)
• Tracks Time to Initial Display (TTID) per screen

Alternative: Manual setup (for SDK <8.13.0 or custom config)

import { reactNavigationIntegration } from "@sentry/react-native";
import { NavigationContainer, createNavigationContainerRef } from "@react-navigation/native";
 
const navigationIntegration = reactNavigationIntegration({
  enableTimeToInitialDisplay: true,   // track TTID per screen
  routeChangeTimeoutMs: 1_000,        // max wait for route change to settle
  ignoreEmptyBackNavigationTransactions: true,
});
 
// Add to Sentry.init integrations array
Sentry.init({
  integrations: [navigationIntegration],
  // ...
});
 
// In your component:
const navigationRef = createNavigationContainerRef();
 
<NavigationContainer
  ref={navigationRef}
  onReady={() => {
    navigationIntegration.registerNavigationContainer(navigationRef);
  }}
>

Navigation Setup — Wix React Native Navigation

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
import { Navigation } from "react-native-navigation";
 
Sentry.init({
  integrations: [Sentry.reactNativeNavigationIntegration({ navigation: Navigation })],
  // ...
});

Wrap Your Root Component

Always wrap your root component — this enables React error boundaries and ensures crashes at the component tree level are captured:

export default Sentry.wrap(App);

For Each Agreed Feature

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

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

Configuration Reference

Core Sentry.init() Options

Screenshot Masking Options

Passed as the screenshot key inside Sentry.init() when attachScreenshot: true:

Sentry.init({
  attachScreenshot: true,
  screenshot: {
    maskAllText: true,       // default: true — mask all text nodes
    maskAllImages: true,     // default: true — mask all images
    maskedViewClasses: ['com.mapbox.maps.MapView'],    // always mask these native view classes
    unmaskedViewClasses: ['com.example.SafeView'],     // always show these native view classes
  },
});

Tracing Options

Native / Mobile Options

Session & Release Health Options

Replay Options

Logging Options (SDK ≥7.0.0)

Hook Options

Environment Variables

Default Integrations (Auto-Enabled)

These integrations are enabled automatically — no config needed:

Opt-In Integrations

Tracking Custom TurboModules

The TurboModuleContext integration is enabled by default and automatically tracks the built-in RNSentry TurboModule. To track your own custom TurboModules, configure the integration explicitly:

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/react-native";
import { NativeModules } from "react-native";
 
Sentry.init({
  dsn: "YOUR_DSN",
  integrations: [
    Sentry.turboModuleContextIntegration({
      modules: [
        {
          name: "MyCustomModule",
          module: NativeModules.MyCustomModule,
          // Optional: skip specific methods to avoid tracking overhead
          skipMethods: ["addListener", "removeListeners"],
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
});

When a native crash occurs inside a tracked TurboModule method call, the crash report will include contexts.turbo_module with the module name and method, making it easier to identify the exact RN API call that triggered the crash.

Rage Tap Detection (TouchEventBoundary)

TouchEventBoundary (wraps your app root) includes built-in rage tap detection. When a user taps the same element 3+ times within 1 second, a ui.multiClick breadcrumb is emitted and shown on the replay timeline. Configure via props:

<Sentry.TouchEventBoundary
  enableRageTapDetection={true}   // default: true — set false to disable
  rageTapThreshold={3}            // taps required to trigger (default: 3)
  rageTapTimeWindow={1000}        // detection window in ms (default: 1000)
>
  <App />
</Sentry.TouchEventBoundary>

Production Settings

Lower sample rates and harden config before shipping to production:

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN,
  environment: __DEV__ ? "development" : "production",
 
  // Trace 10–20% of transactions in high-traffic production
  tracesSampleRate: __DEV__ ? 1.0 : 0.1,
 
  // Profile 100% of traced transactions (profiling is always a subset of tracing)
  profilesSampleRate: 1.0,
 
  // Replay all error sessions, sample 5% of normal sessions
  replaysOnErrorSampleRate: 1.0,
  replaysSessionSampleRate: __DEV__ ? 1.0 : 0.05,
 
  // Set release and dist for accurate source map lookup
  release: "my-app@" + Application.nativeApplicationVersion,
  dist: String(Application.nativeBuildVersion),
 
  // Disable debug logging in production
  debug: __DEV__,
});

Source Maps & Debug Symbols

Source maps and debug symbols are what transform minified stack traces into readable ones. When set up correctly, Sentry shows you the exact line of your source code that threw. The generic auth-token and CI setup lives in sentry-source-maps; the React Native-specific upload mechanics are below.

How Uploads Work

Expo: Automatic Upload

The @sentry/react-native/expo config plugin automatically sets up upload hooks for native builds. Source maps are uploaded during eas build and expo run:ios/android (release).

SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN=sntrys_... npx expo run:ios --configuration Release

Manual Upload (bare RN)

If you need to manually upload source maps:

npx sentry-cli sourcemaps upload \
  --org YOUR_ORG \
  --project YOUR_PROJECT \
  --release "my-app@1.0.0+1" \
  ./dist

EAS Build Hooks

Monitor your Expo Application Services (EAS) builds in Sentry. The SDK ships three binary hooks — sentry-eas-build-on-complete, sentry-eas-build-on-error, and sentry-eas-build-on-success — that capture build events as Sentry errors or messages.

Step 1 — Register the hook in package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "eas-build-on-complete": "sentry-eas-build-on-complete"
  }
}

Use eas-build-on-complete to capture both failures and (optionally) successes in one hook. Alternatively use eas-build-on-error or eas-build-on-success separately if you want independent control.

Step 2 — Set SENTRY_DSN in your EAS secrets

eas secret:create --name SENTRY_DSN --value "https://...@sentry.io/..."

The hook reads SENTRY_DSN from the build environment — it does not share the same .env as your app.

Optional environment variables:

How it works: The hook script is an EAS npm lifecycle hook. EAS calls package.json scripts matching eas-build-on-* at the end of the build process. The script loads env from @expo/env, .env, or .env.sentry-build-plugin — without overwriting EAS secrets already in the environment.

Verification

After setup, test that Sentry is receiving events:

// Quick test — throws and Sentry.wrap(App) catches it
<Button
  title="Test Sentry Error"
  onPress={() => {
    throw new Error("My first Sentry error!");
  }}
/>
 
// Or capture manually
<Button
  title="Test Sentry Message"
  onPress={() => {
    Sentry.captureMessage("Sentry test message", "info");
  }}
/>

Check the Sentry dashboard:

• Issues → your test error should appear within seconds
• Traces → look for a "main" transaction with child spans
• Replays → session recording visible after app interaction (native build only — not Expo Go)
• Logs → structured log entries if enableLogs: true

⚠️ Expo Go limitation: Native crashes, session replay, slow/frozen frames, TTID, and TTFD only work in native builds (eas build or expo run). Expo Go runs in a JS-only mode. Set enableNativeFramesTracking: !isRunningInExpoGo() to avoid warnings.

If nothing appears:

1. Set debug: true — SDK logs to Metro console
2. Verify DSN is correct and the Sentry project exists
3. Ensure Sentry.wrap(App) is applied to the root component
4. For native crashes, build a release build (crashes in debug mode may not forward)

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing React Native setup, check for a backend or web frontend missing Sentry coverage:

# Adjacent backend directories
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
cat ../go.mod 2>/dev/null | head -3
cat ../requirements.txt ../pyproject.toml 2>/dev/null | head -3
cat ../Gemfile 2>/dev/null | head -3
ls ../backend/package.json ../server/package.json 2>/dev/null
 
# Web frontend in same or sibling repo
ls ../web ../frontend ../dashboard 2>/dev/null
cat ../web/package.json ../frontend/package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"react"|"svelte"|"next"'
 
# Check for OpenTelemetry (for distributed tracing interop)
grep -r "opentelemetry" ../backend/go.mod ../server/requirements.txt 2>/dev/null

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

Distributed tracing setup — if the backend skill is added, configure tracePropagationTargets in React Native to propagate trace context to your API:

Sentry.init({
  tracePropagationTargets: [
    "localhost",
    /^https:\/\/api\.yourapp\.com/,
  ],
  // ...
});

This links mobile transactions to backend traces in the Sentry waterfall view.

Troubleshooting