Mario Brusarosco

sentry multi environment setup

In the ground since Sun Oct 26 2025

Last watered inSun Oct 26 2025

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Sentry Multi-Environment Setup

Use one Sentry project to monitor multiple environments (demo, staging, production) through environment tagging. Unified monitoring with clear separation.

Benefits

✅ Unified Dashboard - All errors in one place
✅ Easy Comparison - Compare error rates across environments
✅ Cost Effective - Save on Sentry quota
✅ Simplified Management - One project to configure
✅ Environment Filtering - Filter by environment in Sentry UI

Architecture Overview

1┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
2│       Sentry Project: "api-best-shot"       │
3├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
4│  ┌────────┐  ┌────────┐  ┌────────────┐    │
5│  │  demo  │  │staging │  │ production │    │
6│  └────────┘  └────────┘  └────────────┘    │
7│                                             │
8│  Same DSN, Different Environment Tags       │
9└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Setup

1. Create Sentry Project

  1. Visit Sentry.io
  2. Create new project → Choose Node.js
  3. Name: api-best-shot-non-production
  4. Copy the DSN

2. Configure Environment Variables

.env.demo

1NODE_ENV=demo
2SENTRY_DSN=https://your-key@o123456.ingest.sentry.io/789012

.env.staging

1NODE_ENV=staging
2SENTRY_DSN=https://your-key@o123456.ingest.sentry.io/789012

3. Initialize Sentry

1// src/services/profiling/sentry-instrument.ts
2import * as Sentry from "@sentry/node";
3
4Sentry.init({
5  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
6  environment: process.env.NODE_ENV, // 'demo', 'staging', or 'production'
7  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
8});

Filtering by Environment

In Sentry UI

  1. Navigate to Issues or Performance
  2. Use environment dropdown filter
  3. Select: demo, staging, or production
  4. Compare data across environments

Environment-Specific Alerts

1Alert Rule: High Error Rate in Staging
2Conditions:
3  - Environment: staging
4  - Error count > 10 in 5 minutes
5Actions:
6  - Send Slack notification

Deployment Configuration

GitHub Actions

1# .github/workflows/deploy-demo.yml
2- name: Deploy to Demo
3  env:
4    NODE_ENV: demo
5    SENTRY_DSN: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_DSN_NON_PROD }}

AWS Lambda

1aws lambda update-function-configuration \
2  --function-name your-demo-function \
3  --environment Variables='{
4    "NODE_ENV":"demo",
5    "SENTRY_DSN":"https://your-key@o123456.ingest.sentry.io/789012"
6  }'

Best Practices

Separate Production

  • Non-Production Project: demo + staging
  • Production Project: production only

Environment-Specific Sample Rates

Adjust sample rates based on traffic volume:

1const tracesSampleRate =
2  ENV === "production"
3    ? 0.1 // 10% in production
4    : ENV === "staging"
5    ? 0.5 // 50% in staging
6    : 1.0; // 100% in demo
7
8Sentry.init({
9  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
10  environment: ENV,
11  tracesSampleRate,
12});

Release Tracking

Track deployed versions for better debugging:

1Sentry.init({
2  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
3  environment: ENV,
4  release: `api-best-shot@${process.env.VERSION}`,
5});

Additional Context Tags

1Sentry.setTag("deployment_region", "us-east-1");
2Sentry.setTag("service_version", "1.2.3");

Troubleshooting

Errors Not Appearing

Check:

  1. ✅ SENTRY_DSN is set correctly
  2. ✅ NODE_ENV matches expected value
  3. ✅ Sentry initialization happens before app code
  4. ✅ Network connectivity to Sentry

Debug:

1// Add to initialization
2console.log("Sentry Environment:", process.env.NODE_ENV);
3console.log("Sentry DSN:", process.env.SENTRY_DSN ? "Set" : "Missing");

Wrong Environment Tag

Verify environment variable is passed correctly:

1# Test locally
2NODE_ENV=demo node your-app.js

Too Many Events

1Sentry.init({
2  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
3  environment: ENV,
4  beforeSend(event) {
5    // Filter out connection errors
6    if (event.message?.includes("ECONNREFUSED")) {
7      return null; // Don't send to Sentry
8    }
9    return event;
10  },
11});

Key Takeaways

  • Use one DSN for multiple environments
  • Set environment tag via NODE_ENV
  • Filter by environment in Sentry UI
  • Create environment-specific alerts
  • Consider separate project for production
  • Adjust sample rates per environment