Sentry Policy Guardrails

Overview

Organizational governance framework that prevents Sentry configuration drift across multiple services. A shared npm package (@company/sentry-config) wraps Sentry.init() to enforce PII scrubbing, naming conventions, tagging standards, and per-tier trace rate caps. CI checks block policy violations before merge, and a monthly drift audit detects projects that have fallen out of compliance.

Prerequisites

• @sentry/node v8+ installed in target services
• Internal npm registry available (GitHub Packages, Artifactory, or similar)
• Team structure and project ownership defined in Sentry
• SENTRYAUTHTOKEN with org:read and project:read scopes
• Compliance requirements identified (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA)

Instructions

Step 1 — Build the Shared Configuration Package

Create @company/sentry-config that wraps Sentry.init() with non-negotiable defaults.

Mandatory PII scrubbing (cannot be bypassed):

// @company/sentry-config/src/scrubbers.ts
import type { Event } from '@sentry/node';

const SENSITIVE_HEADERS = [
  'authorization', 'cookie', 'set-cookie',
  'x-api-key', 'x-auth-token', 'x-csrf-token',
];

const PII_PATTERNS = [
  { pattern: /\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{1,7}\b/g, replacement: '[CC_REDACTED]' },
  { pattern: /[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}/g, replacement: '[EMAIL_REDACTED]' },
  { pattern: /\b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b/g, replacement: '[SSN_REDACTED]' },
];

export function scrubEvent(event: Event): Event | null {
  if (event.request?.headers) {
    for (const h of SENSITIVE_HEADERS) delete event.request.headers[h];
  }
  if (event.message) event.message = scrubPII(event.message);
  if (event.exception?.values) {
    for (const exc of event.exception.values) {
      if (exc.value) exc.value = scrubPII(exc.value);
    }
  }
  return event;
}

function scrubPII(str: string): string {
  for (const { pattern, replacement } of PII_PATTERNS) {
    str = str.replace(new RegExp(pattern.source, pattern.flags), replacement);
  }
  return str;
}

Governed init with naming validation, tag injection, and tier-based caps:

// @company/sentry-config/src/index.ts
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';
import { scrubEvent } from './scrubbers';

const ENFORCED: Partial<Sentry.NodeOptions> = {
  sendDefaultPii: false,
  debug: false,
  maxBreadcrumbs: 50,
  sampleRate: 1.0,
  maxValueLength: 500,
};

const VALID_ENVS = ['production', 'staging', 'development', 'canary', 'sandbox'];
const TIER_TRACE_CAPS: Record<string, number> = { critical: 0.5, standard: 0.2, internal: 0.05 };

interface PolicyOptions {
  serviceName: string;           // kebab-case, 3-40 chars
  dsn: string;
  version: string;
  tags: { service: string; team: string; tier: 'critical' | 'standard' | 'internal' };
  environment?: string;
  tracesSampleRate?: number;     // capped by tier
  beforeSend?: Sentry.NodeOptions['beforeSend'];
}

export function initSentry(opts: PolicyOptions): void {
  if (!opts.dsn) throw new Error('@company/sentry-config: dsn required');
  if (!/^[a-z][a-z0-9-]{2,39}$/.test(opts.serviceName)) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid service name "${opts.serviceName}" — use lowercase kebab-case, 3-40 chars`);
  }

  const env = (opts.environment || process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development').toLowerCase();
  if (!VALID_ENVS.includes(env)) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid environment "${env}". Allowed: ${VALID_ENVS.join(', ')}`);
  }

  const tierCap = TIER_TRACE_CAPS[opts.tags.tier] ?? 0.2;
  const sha = (process.env.GIT_SHA || process.env.COMMIT_SHA || '').substring(0, 7);
  const release = sha
    ? `${opts.serviceName}@${opts.version}+${sha}`
    : `${opts.serviceName}@${opts.version}`;

  Sentry.init({
    dsn: opts.dsn,
    environment: env,
    release,
    serverName: opts.serviceName,
    ...ENFORCED,
    debug: env !== 'production',
    tracesSampleRate: Math.min(opts.tracesSampleRate ?? 0.1, tierCap),

    beforeSend(event, hint) {
      const scrubbed = scrubEvent(event);  // Mandatory — always runs first
      if (!scrubbed) return null;
      return opts.beforeSend ? (opts.beforeSend as Function)(scrubbed, hint) : scrubbed;
    },

    initialScope: {
      tags: {
        service: opts.tags.service,
        team: opts.tags.team,
        tier: opts.tags.tier,
        deployment: process.env.DEPLOYMENT_ID || 'unknown',
        region: process.env.AWS_REGION || process.env.GCP_REGION || 'unknown',
      },
    },
  });
}

Service usage (two lines to adopt):

import { initSentry } from '@company/sentry-config';

initSentry({
  serviceName: 'payments-api',
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN!,
  version: '2.4.1',
  tags: { service: 'payments-api', team: 'payments', tier: 'critical' },
});

Step 2 — Enforce Compliance via CI

Add a GitHub Actions workflow to every service repository that blocks policy violations.

# .github/workflows/sentry-policy.yml
name: Sentry Policy Check
on: [pull_request]

jobs:
  sentry-compliance:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Block hardcoded DSNs
        run: |
          if grep -rn "https://[a-f0-9]*@.*ingest.*sentry" \
            --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" \
            --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=dist src/; then
            echo "::error::Hardcoded Sentry DSN — use SENTRY_DSN env var"
            exit 1
          fi

      - name: Block sendDefaultPii true
        run: |
          if grep -rn "sendDefaultPii.*true" \
            --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" \
            --exclude-dir=node_modules src/; then
            echo "::error::sendDefaultPii must be false"
            exit 1
          fi

      - name: Block direct Sentry.init calls
        run: |
          HITS=$(grep -rn "Sentry\.init(" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" \
            --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude="*sentry-config*" src/ || true)
          if [ -n "$HITS" ]; then
            echo "::error::Use initSentry() from @company/sentry-config"
            echo "$HITS"
            exit 1
          fi

      - name: Verify shared config dependency
        run: |
          if ! grep -q "@company/sentry-config" package.json; then
            echo "::warning::Not using shared Sentry config package"
          fi

Optional ESLint rule for IDE feedback:

// eslint-rules/no-direct-sentry-init.js
module.exports = {
  meta: { type: 'problem', messages: { bad: 'Use initSentry() from @company/sentry-config' } },
  create(ctx) {
    return {
      CallExpression(node) {
        if (node.callee.type === 'MemberExpression' &&
            node.callee.object.name === 'Sentry' &&
            node.callee.property.name === 'init' &&
            !ctx.getFilename().includes('sentry-config')) {
          ctx.report({ node, messageId: 'bad' });
        }
      },
    };
  },
};

Step 3 — Drift Detection and Cost Governance

Monthly drift audit across all Sentry projects:

#!/bin/bash
# scripts/audit-sentry-drift.sh
set -euo pipefail

ORG="${SENTRY_ORG:?required}" TOKEN="${SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN:?required}"
API="https://sentry.io/api/0"
VIOLATIONS=0

echo "=== Sentry Drift Audit — $(date -u +%Y-%m-%d) ==="

PROJECTS=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "$API/organizations/$ORG/projects/?all_projects=1" \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys; [print(p['slug']) for p in json.load(sys.stdin)]")

for P in $PROJECTS; do
  echo "--- $P ---"
  curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "$API/projects/$ORG/$P/" \
    | python3 -c "
import json, sys, re
p = json.load(sys.stdin)
fails = 0
for label, val in [
    ('Data Scrubber', p.get('dataScrubber', False)),
    ('IP Scrubbing', p.get('scrubIPAddresses', False)),
    ('Naming', bool(re.match(r'^[a-z]+-[a-z0-9]+-[a-z]+$', p['slug']))),
]:
    status = 'PASS' if val else 'FAIL'
    print(f'  [{status}] {label}')
    if not val: fails += 1
missing = [f for f in ['password','ssn','credit_card','api_key','secret']
           if f not in p.get('sensitiveFields', [])]
if missing:
    print(f'  [FAIL] Sensitive Fields: missing {missing}')
    fails += 1
else:
    print(f'  [PASS] Sensitive Fields')
sys.exit(1 if fails else 0)
" || VIOLATIONS=$((VIOLATIONS + 1))
done

echo ""
echo "Projects with violations: $VIOLATIONS / $(echo "$PROJECTS" | wc -l)"
[ "$VIOLATIONS" -eq 0 ] && echo "STATUS: ALL COMPLIANT" || { echo "STATUS: DRIFT DETECTED"; exit 1; }

Per-team cost quotas (run weekly):

// scripts/check-team-quotas.ts
const QUOTAS = [
  { team: 'payments',       errors: 10_000, transactions: 50_000 },
  { team: 'platform',       errors: 20_000, transactions: 100_000 },
  { team: 'growth',         errors: 15_000, transactions: 200_000 },
  { team: 'infrastructure', errors: 8_000,  transactions: 20_000 },
];

async function main() {
  const org = process.env.SENTRY_ORG!, token = process.env.SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN!;
  const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` };

  // Fetch 30-day usage grouped by project and category
  const stats = await fetch(
    `https://sentry.io/api/0/organizations/${org}/stats_v2/?` +
    'field=sum(quantity)&groupBy=project&groupBy=category&interval=1d&statsPeriod=30d',
    { headers },
  ).then(r => r.json()) as any;

  // Map projects to teams
  const projects = await fetch(
    `https://sentry.io/api/0/organizations/${org}/projects/?all_projects=1`,
    { headers },
  ).then(r => r.json()) as any[];

  const teamOf = new Map(projects.map((p: any) => [p.slug, p.teams?.[0]?.slug || 'unknown']));
  const usage = new Map<string, { errors: number; txns: number }>();

  for (const g of stats.groups || []) {
    const team = teamOf.get(g.by.project) || 'unknown';
    if (!usage.has(team)) usage.set(team, { errors: 0, txns: 0 });
    const u = usage.get(team)!;
    if (g.by.category === 'error') u.errors += g.totals['sum(quantity)'];
    if (g.by.category === 'transaction') u.txns += g.totals['sum(quantity)'];
  }

  let overBudget = false;
  for (const q of QUOTAS) {
    const u = usage.get(q.team) || { errors: 0, txns: 0 };
    const ePct = ((u.errors / q.errors) * 100).toFixed(0);
    const tPct = ((u.txns / q.transactions) * 100).toFixed(0);
    const flag = u.errors > q.errors || u.txns > q.transactions ? 'OVER' : 'OK';
    console.log(`[${q.team}] errors=${u.errors}/${q.errors} (${ePct}%) txns=${u.txns}/${q.transactions} (${tPct}%) [${flag}]`);
    if (flag === 'OVER') overBudget = true;
  }
  if (overBudget) { console.error('ACTION REQUIRED: budget exceeded'); process.exit(1); }
}
main();

Schedule both in CI:

# .github/workflows/sentry-audit.yml
name: Sentry Monthly Audit
on:
  schedule: [{ cron: '0 9 1 * *' }]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  drift:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: bash scripts/audit-sentry-drift.sh
        env:
          SENTRY_ORG: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_ORG }}
          SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN }}

  cost:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '20' }
      - run: npx tsx scripts/check-team-quotas.ts
        env:
          SENTRY_ORG: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_ORG }}
          SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN }}

Output

• @company/sentry-config shared package with enforced PII scrubbing, naming validation, and tier-based trace rate caps
• Mandatory beforeSend chain: headers, credit cards, emails, and SSNs scrubbed before any custom logic
• Naming standards enforced at init: release format, validated environments, kebab-case service names
• Required tags injected: service, team, tier, deployment, region
• CI workflow blocking hardcoded DSNs, PII collection, and direct Sentry.init() calls
• Monthly drift audit checking data scrubber, IP scrubbing, sensitive fields, and naming compliance
• Per-team cost quota enforcement with weekly budget checks

Error Handling

Examples

Minimal compliant init:

import { initSentry } from '@company/sentry-config';

initSentry({
  serviceName: 'user-service',
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN!,
  version: '1.0.0',
  tags: { service: 'user-service', team: 'platform', tier: 'standard' },
});

Critical service with custom filtering:

import { initSentry } from '@company/sentry-config';

initSentry({
  serviceName: 'checkout-api',
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN!,
  version: '3.2.0',
  tags: { service: 'checkout-api', team: 'payments', tier: 'critical' },
  tracesSampleRate: 0.4,  // capped to 0.5 for critical tier
  beforeSend(event) {
    if (event.exception?.values?.some(e => e.value?.includes('PaymentTimeout'))) {
      return null;  // drop known timeout noise from payment processor
    }
    return event;
  },
});

Resources

• Sentry Organization Settings
• Data Scrubbing
• Sentry API Reference
• Quotas and Rate Limits
• Security Policy

Next Steps

• Publish @company/sentry-config to internal registry and onboard first two services
• Add the CI policy workflow to all service repositories via shared workflow or template
• Schedule the drift audit as a monthly cron and cost check as weekly
• Communicate per-team quotas to engineering leads with Slack budget alerts