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Sentry Ruby SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans the project and guides through complete Sentry setup.

Invoke This Skill When

• User asks to "add Sentry to Ruby" or "set up Sentry" in a Ruby app
• User wants error monitoring, tracing, logging, metrics, profiling, or crons in Ruby
• User mentions sentry-ruby, sentry-rails, or the Ruby Sentry SDK
• User is migrating from AppSignal, Honeybadger, Bugsnag, Rollbar, or Airbrake to Sentry
• User wants to monitor exceptions, HTTP requests, or background jobs in Rails/Sinatra

> Note: SDK APIs below reflect sentry-ruby v6.4.1. > Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/ruby/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

bash
# Existing Sentry gems
grep -i sentry Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Framework
grep -iE '\brails\b|\bsinatra\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Web server — Puma triggers queue time guidance
grep -iE '\bpuma\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Background jobs
grep -iE '\bsidekiq\b|\bresque\b|\bdelayed_job\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Yabeda metrics framework
grep -iE '\byabeda\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Competitor monitoring tools — triggers migration path if found
grep -iE '\bappsignal\b|\bhoneybadger\b|\bbugsnag\b|\brollbar\b|\bairbrake\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null

# Scheduled jobs — triggers Crons recommendation
grep -iE '\bsidekiq-cron\b|\bclockwork\b|\bwhenever\b|\brufus-scheduler\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null
grep -rn "Sidekiq::Cron\|Clockwork\|every.*do" config/ lib/ --include="*.rb" 2>/dev/null | head -10

# OpenTelemetry tracing — check for SDK + instrumentations
grep -iE '\bopentelemetry-sdk\b|\bopentelemetry-instrumentation\b' Gemfile 2>/dev/null
grep -rn "OpenTelemetry::SDK\.configure\|\.use_all\|\.in_span" config/ lib/ app/ --include="*.rb" 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Existing metric patterns (StatsD, Datadog, Prometheus)
grep -rE "(statsd|dogstatsd|prometheus|\.gauge|\.histogram|\.increment|\.timing)" \
  app/ lib/ --include="*.rb" 2>/dev/null | grep -v "_spec\|_test" | head -20

# Companion frontend
cat package.json frontend/package.json web/package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"@sentry|"sentry-'

Route from what you find:

• Competitor detected (appsignal, honeybadger, bugsnag, rollbar, airbrake) → load ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/migration.md first; delete the competitor initializer as part of migration
• Sentry already present → skip to Phase 2 to configure features
• Rails → use sentry-rails + config/initializers/sentry.rb
• Rack/Sinatra → sentry-ruby + Sentry::Rack::CaptureExceptions middleware
• Sidekiq → add sentry-sidekiq; recommend Metrics if existing metric patterns found
• Yabeda detected → add sentry-yabeda; routes Yabeda metrics to Sentry metrics
• Puma detected → queue time capture is automatic (v6.4.0+), but the reverse proxy must set X-Request-Start header; see ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md → "Request Queue Time"
• OTel tracing detected (opentelemetry-sdk + instrumentations in Gemfile, or OpenTelemetry::SDK.configure in source) → use OTLP path: config.otlp.enabled = true; do not set traces_sample_rate; Sentry links errors to OTel traces automatically

Phase 2: Recommend

Lead with a concrete proposal — don't ask open-ended questions:

| Feature | Recommend when... | |---------|------------------| | Error Monitoring | Always | | OTLP Integration | OTel tracing detected — replaces native Tracing | | Tracing | Rails / Sinatra / Rack / any HTTP framework; skip if OTel tracing detected | | Logging | Always — enable_logs: true costs nothing | | Metrics | Sidekiq present; existing metric lib (StatsD, Prometheus) detected | | Profiling | ⚠️ Beta — performance profiling requested; requires stackprof or vernier gem; skip if OTel tracing detected (requires traces_sample_rate, incompatible with OTLP) | | Crons | Scheduled jobs detected (ActiveJob, Sidekiq-Cron, Clockwork, Whenever) |

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 if applicable]. Shall I proceed?"

No OTel: "I recommend Error Monitoring + Tracing + Logging [+ Metrics if applicable]. Shall I proceed?"

Phase 3: Guide

Install

Rails:

ruby
# Gemfile
gem "sentry-ruby"
gem "sentry-rails"
gem "sentry-sidekiq"      # if using Sidekiq
gem "sentry-resque"       # if using Resque
gem "sentry-delayed_job"  # if using DelayedJob
gem "sentry-yabeda"       # if using Yabeda metrics framework

Rack / Sinatra / plain Ruby:

ruby
gem "sentry-ruby"

Run bundle install.

Framework Integration

| Framework / Runtime | Gem | Init location | Auto-instruments | |---------------------|-----|---------------|-----------------| | Rails | sentry-rails | config/initializers/sentry.rb | Controllers, ActiveRecord, ActiveJob, ActionMailer | | Rack / Sinatra | sentry-ruby | Top of config.ru | Requests (via Sentry::Rack::CaptureExceptions middleware) | | Sidekiq | sentry-sidekiq | Sentry initializer or Sidekiq config | Worker execution → transactions | | Resque | sentry-resque | Sentry initializer | Worker execution → transactions | | DelayedJob | sentry-delayed_job | Sentry initializer | Job execution → transactions | | Yabeda metrics | sentry-yabeda | Sentry initializer | Yabeda metric events → Sentry metrics |

Init — Rails (config/initializers/sentry.rb)

ruby
Sentry.init do |config|
  config.dsn = ENV["SENTRY_DSN"]
  config.spotlight = Rails.env.development?  # local Spotlight UI; no DSN needed in dev
  config.breadcrumbs_logger = [:active_support_logger, :http_logger]
  config.send_default_pii = true
  config.traces_sample_rate = 1.0  # lower to 0.05–0.2 in production
  config.enable_logs = true
  # Metrics on by default; disable with: config.enable_metrics = false
end

sentry-rails auto-instruments ActionController, ActiveRecord, ActiveJob, ActionMailer.

Init — Rack / Sinatra

ruby
require "sentry-ruby"

Sentry.init do |config|
  config.dsn = ENV["SENTRY_DSN"]
  config.spotlight = ENV["RACK_ENV"] == "development"
  config.breadcrumbs_logger = [:sentry_logger, :http_logger]
  config.send_default_pii = true
  config.traces_sample_rate = 1.0
  config.enable_logs = true
end

use Sentry::Rack::CaptureExceptions  # in config.ru, before app middleware

Init — Sidekiq standalone

ruby
require "sentry-ruby"
require "sentry-sidekiq"

Sentry.init do |config|
  config.dsn = ENV["SENTRY_DSN"]
  config.spotlight = ENV.fetch("RAILS_ENV", "development") == "development"
  config.breadcrumbs_logger = [:sentry_logger]
  config.traces_sample_rate = 1.0
  config.enable_logs = true
end

Environment variables

bash
SENTRY_DSN=https://xxx@oYYY.ingest.sentry.io/ZZZ
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production   # overrides RAILS_ENV / RACK_ENV
SENTRY_RELEASE=my-app@1.0.0

Feature reference files

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

| Feature | Reference file | Load when... | |---------|---------------|-------------| | Migration | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/migration.md | Competitor gem found — load before installing Sentry | | Error Monitoring | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md | Always | | Tracing | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md | HTTP handlers / distributed tracing | | Logging | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md | Structured log capture | | Metrics | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/metrics.md | Sidekiq present; existing metric patterns | | Profiling | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md | Performance profiling requested (beta) | | Crons | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md | Scheduled jobs detected or requested |

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

Configuration Reference

Key Sentry.init Options

| Option | Type | Default | Purpose | |--------|------|---------|---------| | dsn | String | nil | SDK disabled if empty; env: SENTRY_DSN | | environment | String | nil | e.g., "production"; env: SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT | | release | String | nil | e.g., "myapp@1.0.0"; env: SENTRY_RELEASE | | spotlight | Boolean | false | Send events to Spotlight sidecar (local dev, no DSN needed) | | send_default_pii | Boolean | false | Include IP addresses and request headers | | sample_rate | Float | 1.0 | Error event sample rate (0.0–1.0) | | traces_sample_rate | Float | nil | Transaction sample rate; nil disables tracing | | profiles_sample_rate | Float | nil | Profiling rate relative to traces_sample_rate; requires stackprof or vernier | | enable_logs | Boolean | false | Enable Sentry structured Logs | | enable_metrics | Boolean | true | Enable custom metrics (on by default) | | breadcrumbs_logger | Array | [] | Loggers for automatic breadcrumbs (see logging reference) | | max_breadcrumbs | Integer | 100 | Max breadcrumbs per event | | debug | Boolean | false | Verbose SDK output to stdout | | capture_queue_time | Boolean | true | Record request queue time from X-Request-Start header (v6.4.0+, Rails fixed in v6.4.1) | | otlp.enabled | Boolean | false | Route OTel spans to Sentry via OTLP; do not combine with traces_sample_rate | | otlp.collector_url | String | nil | 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 | | org_id | String | nil | Explicit org ID; overrides DSN-extracted value; useful for self-hosted/Relay setups (v6.5.0+) | | strict_trace_continuation | Boolean | false | Only continue incoming traces when sentry-org_id baggage matches SDK's org ID; prevents trace stitching from third-party services (v6.5.0+) | | before_send | Lambda | nil | Mutate or drop error events before sending | | before_send_transaction | Lambda | nil | Mutate or drop transaction events before sending | | before_send_log | Lambda | nil | Mutate or drop log events before sending |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Maps to | Purpose | |----------|---------|---------| | SENTRY_DSN | dsn | Data Source Name | | SENTRY_RELEASE | release | App version (e.g., my-app@1.0.0) | | SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT | environment | Deployment environment |

Options set in Sentry.init override environment variables.

Verification

Local dev (no DSN needed) — Spotlight:

bash
npx @spotlightjs/spotlight          # browser UI at http://localhost:8969
# or stream events to terminal:
npx @spotlightjs/spotlight tail traces --format json

config.spotlight = Rails.env.development? (already in the init block above) routes events to the local sidecar automatically.

With a real DSN:

ruby
Sentry.capture_message("Sentry Ruby SDK test")

Nothing appears? Set config.debug = true and check stdout. Verify DSN format: https://<key>@o<org>.ingest.sentry.io/<project>.

Phase 4: Cross-Link

bash
cat package.json frontend/package.json web/package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"@sentry|"sentry-'

| Frontend detected | Suggest | |-------------------|---------| | React / Next.js | sentry-react-sdk | | Svelte / SvelteKit | sentry-svelte-sdk | | Vue | @sentry/vue — docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/vue/ |

For trace stitching between Ruby backend and JS frontend, see references/tracing.md → "Frontend trace stitching".

Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | Events not appearing | config.debug = true; verify DSN; ensure Sentry.init before first request | | Rails exceptions missing | Must use sentry-rails — sentry-ruby alone doesn't hook Rails error handlers | | No traces (native) | Set traces_sample_rate > 0; ensure sentry-rails or Sentry::Rack::CaptureExceptions | | No traces (OTLP) | Verify opentelemetry-exporter-otlp gem is installed; do not set traces_sample_rate when using otlp.enabled = true | | Sidekiq jobs not traced | Add sentry-sidekiq gem | | Missing request context | Set config.send_default_pii = true | | Logs not appearing | Set config.enable_logs = true; sentry-ruby ≥ 5.27.0 required | | Metrics not appearing | Check enable_metrics is not false; verify DSN | | Events lost on shutdown | Process.exit! skips at_exit hooks — call Sentry.flush explicitly before forced exits | | Forking server loses events | Puma/Unicorn fork workers — re-initialize in on_worker_boot or after_fork; without this, the background worker thread dies in child processes | | DSN rejected / events not delivered | Verify DSN format: https://<key>@o<org>.ingest.sentry.io/<project>; set config.debug = true to see transport errors |