Sentry Local Dev Loop

Overview

Configure Sentry for local development with environment-aware DSN routing, debug-mode verbosity, full-capture sample rates, beforeSend inspection, Sentry Spotlight for offline event viewing, and sentry-cli source map verification. All configuration uses environment variables so nothing leaks into commits.

Prerequisites

• @sentry/node v8+ installed (TypeScript/Node) or sentry-sdk v2+ installed (Python)
• Separate Sentry project created for development (different DSN from production)
• .env file with SENTRYDSNDEV and NODE_ENV=development
• Network access to *.ingest.sentry.io (or use Spotlight for fully offline work)

Instructions

Step 1 -- Environment-Aware Configuration

Create an initialization file that routes events to the correct Sentry project based on environment, enables debug logging in dev, and captures 100% of traces locally:

// instrument.mjs — import via: node --import ./instrument.mjs app.mjs
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
const isDev = env !== 'production';

Sentry.init({
  // Route to dev project locally, prod project in production
  dsn: isDev
    ? process.env.SENTRY_DSN_DEV
    : process.env.SENTRY_DSN,

  environment: env,
  release: isDev ? 'dev-local' : process.env.SENTRY_RELEASE,

  // Full capture in dev — you need every event for debugging
  tracesSampleRate: isDev ? 1.0 : 0.1,
  sampleRate: isDev ? 1.0 : 1.0,

  // Verbose SDK output to console in dev
  debug: isDev,

  // Include PII locally for easier debugging (never in prod)
  sendDefaultPii: isDev,

  // Sentry Spotlight — shows events in local browser UI
  // Install: npx @spotlightjs/spotlight
  spotlight: isDev,

  beforeSend(event, hint) {
    if (isDev) {
      const exc = event.exception?.values?.[0];
      const label = exc
        ? `${exc.type}: ${exc.value}`
        : event.message || 'event';
      console.log(`[Sentry Dev] ${label}`);
      console.log(`  Tags: ${JSON.stringify(event.tags || {})}`);
    }
    return event;
  },

  beforeSendTransaction(event) {
    if (isDev) {
      const duration = event.timestamp && event.start_timestamp
        ? ((event.timestamp - event.start_timestamp) * 1000).toFixed(0)
        : '?';
      console.log(`[Sentry Dev] Transaction: ${event.transaction} (${duration}ms)`);
    }
    return event;
  },
});

Set up environment files to keep DSNs out of source:

# .env.development
SENTRY_DSN_DEV=https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=development
NODE_ENV=development

# .env.production
SENTRY_DSN=https://prodPublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production
SENTRY_RELEASE=v1.2.3
NODE_ENV=production

Add DSN safety to .gitignore:

.env
.env.development
.env.production
.env.local

Step 2 -- Local Verification and Performance Debugging

Create a verification script that confirms the SDK works end-to-end and demonstrates Sentry.startSpan() for local performance profiling:

// scripts/verify-sentry.mjs — run: node --import ./instrument.mjs scripts/verify-sentry.mjs
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

async function verify() {
  const client = Sentry.getClient();
  if (!client) {
    console.error('Sentry SDK not initialized — run with --import ./instrument.mjs');
    process.exit(1);
  }
  console.log('--- Sentry Dev Loop Verification ---\n');

  // 1. Test captureMessage
  console.log('1. Sending test message...');
  Sentry.captureMessage('Dev loop verification — captureMessage', 'info');

  // 2. Test captureException
  console.log('2. Sending test exception...');
  try {
    throw new Error('Dev loop verification — captureException');
  } catch (e) {
    const eventId = Sentry.captureException(e);
    console.log(`   Event ID: ${eventId}`);
  }

  // 3. Test Sentry.startSpan for local performance profiling
  console.log('3. Testing startSpan for performance...');
  await Sentry.startSpan(
    { name: 'dev.verification.database', op: 'db.query' },
    async (span) => {
      // Simulate a slow database query
      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 150));

      // Nested span for a sub-operation
      await Sentry.startSpan(
        { name: 'dev.verification.serialize', op: 'serialize' },
        async () => {
          await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 50));
        }
      );
    }
  );

  // 4. Test breadcrumb trail
  console.log('4. Testing breadcrumbs...');
  Sentry.addBreadcrumb({
    category: 'dev',
    message: 'Verification script started',
    level: 'info',
  });
  Sentry.addBreadcrumb({
    category: 'dev',
    message: 'All checks passed',
    level: 'info',
  });
  Sentry.captureMessage('Dev verification complete with breadcrumbs', 'info');

  // 5. Flush — critical for scripts that exit immediately
  console.log('5. Flushing events...');
  const flushed = await Sentry.flush(5000);
  console.log(flushed
    ? '\nAll events sent — check Sentry dashboard or Spotlight UI'
    : '\nFlush timed out — check DSN and network'
  );
}

verify();

Use Sentry.startSpan() in your application code to profile specific operations during development:

// Profile a real endpoint handler locally
app.get('/api/search', async (req, res) => {
  const results = await Sentry.startSpan(
    { name: 'search.execute', op: 'db.query', attributes: { 'search.query': req.query.q } },
    async () => {
      return await db.search(req.query.q);
    }
  );

  const formatted = await Sentry.startSpan(
    { name: 'search.format', op: 'serialize' },
    async () => {
      return results.map(formatResult);
    }
  );

  res.json(formatted);
});

Step 3 -- Sentry Spotlight and Offline Development

Sentry Spotlight runs a local sidecar that intercepts Sentry events and displays them in a browser UI at http://localhost:8969 (Spotlight's default port) — no network required:

# Install and run Spotlight sidecar (runs alongside your dev server)
npx @spotlightjs/spotlight

The spotlight: true option in Step 1's Sentry.init() routes events to the local sidecar. This gives you a full Sentry-style event viewer without sending anything to sentry.io.

For fully offline development or CI environments with no Sentry access:

// Offline mode — SDK loads but sends nothing
Sentry.init({
  dsn: '',        // Empty DSN = all capture calls become no-ops
  debug: false,   // No debug output since nothing is sent
});

// All Sentry.captureException() and captureMessage() calls still work
// without throwing — your code runs without modification

Test source maps locally before deploying with sentry-cli:

# Install sentry-cli
npm install -g @sentry/cli

# Verify authentication
sentry-cli info

# Upload source maps for a test release
sentry-cli sourcemaps upload \
  --org your-org \
  --project your-dev-project \
  --release dev-local \
  ./dist

# Verify source maps are correctly linked
sentry-cli sourcemaps explain \
  --org your-org \
  --project your-dev-project \
  --release dev-local

Add a git pre-push hook to prevent hardcoded DSNs from leaking into the repo:

#!/bin/bash
set -e
# .git/hooks/pre-push — block commits with hardcoded DSNs
if grep -rn "ingest\.sentry\.io" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" \
   --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=dist src/ lib/; then
  echo "ERROR: Hardcoded Sentry DSN found in source. Use environment variables."
  exit 1
fi

Output

• Environment-aware Sentry.init() routing dev events to a separate Sentry project
• Debug logging printing captured events and transaction durations to the console
• Verification script confirming captureMessage, captureException, and startSpan work
• Sentry Spotlight integration for browsing events locally without network
• Source map upload and verification workflow with sentry-cli
• Pre-push hook preventing hardcoded DSNs from entering version control

Error Handling

Examples

TypeScript — Conditional Init Helper

// lib/sentry.ts — reusable initialization for any Node.js app
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

export function initSentry() {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
  const isDev = env !== 'production';

  // Option A: Skip Sentry entirely if no dev DSN is configured
  if (isDev && !process.env.SENTRY_DSN_DEV) {
    console.log('[Sentry] Skipped — no SENTRY_DSN_DEV configured');
    return;
  }

  Sentry.init({
    dsn: isDev ? process.env.SENTRY_DSN_DEV : process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
    environment: env,
    debug: isDev,
    tracesSampleRate: isDev ? 1.0 : 0.1,
    spotlight: isDev,
    sendDefaultPii: isDev,

    beforeSend(event) {
      if (isDev) {
        const exc = event.exception?.values?.[0];
        console.log(`[Sentry] ${exc?.type || 'Event'}: ${exc?.value || event.message}`);
      }
      return event;
    },
  });

  console.log(`[Sentry] Initialized for ${env}`);
}

Python — Environment-Aware Setup

# sentry_config.py — environment-aware initialization
import os
import sentry_sdk

def init_sentry():
    env = os.getenv("SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT", "development")
    is_dev = env != "production"

    dsn = (
        os.getenv("SENTRY_DSN_DEV")
        if is_dev
        else os.getenv("SENTRY_DSN")
    )

    if is_dev and not dsn:
        print("[Sentry] Skipped — no SENTRY_DSN_DEV configured")
        return

    sentry_sdk.init(
        dsn=dsn,
        environment=env,
        release="dev-local" if is_dev else os.getenv("SENTRY_RELEASE"),

        # Full capture in dev
        traces_sample_rate=1.0 if is_dev else 0.1,
        sample_rate=1.0,

        # Verbose SDK logging in dev
        debug=is_dev,

        # Sentry Spotlight for local event viewing
        spotlight=True if is_dev else False,

        # Inspect events before they are sent
        before_send=_before_send_dev if is_dev else None,
    )

    print(f"[Sentry] Initialized for {env}")


def _before_send_dev(event, hint):
    """Log events to console during local development."""
    exc_info = hint.get("exc_info")
    if exc_info:
        exc_type, exc_value, _ = exc_info
        print(f"[Sentry Dev] {exc_type.__name__}: {exc_value}")
    elif event.get("message"):
        print(f"[Sentry Dev] Message: {event['message']}")
    return event

# verify_sentry.py — verification script
import os
import sentry_sdk

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.getenv("SENTRY_DSN_DEV"),
    debug=True,
    environment="verification",
    spotlight=True,
)

# Test captureMessage
sentry_sdk.capture_message("Dev verification — Python", "info")

# Test captureException
try:
    raise ValueError("Dev verification error — Python")
except Exception as e:
    event_id = sentry_sdk.capture_exception(e)
    print(f"Event ID: {event_id}")

# Test performance span
with sentry_sdk.start_span(op="test", description="verification span"):
    import time
    time.sleep(0.1)

sentry_sdk.flush()
print("Verification complete — check Sentry dashboard or Spotlight")

Resources

• Configuration Options -- all Sentry.init() options reference
• Environments -- environment tagging
• Debug Mode -- verbose SDK logging
• Sentry Spotlight -- local event viewer
• Source Maps with sentry-cli -- upload and verify source maps
• Performance Instrumentation -- startSpan() API
• Python SDK Configuration -- Python sentry_sdk.init() options

Next Steps

• sentry-multi-env-setup -- Extend to staging, canary, and multi-region environment routing
• sentry-performance-tracing -- Production-grade tracing with custom spans and distributed traces
• sentry-debug-bundle -- Advanced debugging with session replay and profiling
• sentry-ci-integration -- Automate source map uploads and release creation in CI/CD