Sentry Python Setup

Install and configure Sentry in Python projects.

Invoke This Skill When

User asks to "add Sentry to Python" or "install Sentry" in a Python app
User wants error monitoring, logging, or tracing in Python
User mentions "sentry-sdk" or Python frameworks (Django, Flask, FastAPI)

Important: The configuration options and code samples below are examples. Always verify against docs.sentry.io before implementing, as APIs and defaults may have changed.

Install

pip install sentry-sdk

Configure

Initialize as early as possible in your application:

import sentry_sdk

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn="YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
    send_default_pii=True,
    
    # Tracing
    traces_sample_rate=1.0,
    
    # Profiling
    profile_session_sample_rate=1.0,
    profile_lifecycle="trace",
    
    # Logs
    enable_logs=True,
)

Async Applications

For async apps, initialize inside an async function:

import asyncio
import sentry_sdk

async def main():
    sentry_sdk.init(
        dsn="YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
        send_default_pii=True,
        traces_sample_rate=1.0,
        enable_logs=True,
    )
    # ... rest of app

asyncio.run(main())

Framework Integrations

Use the same sentry_sdk.init() call shown above. Place it where it runs before your app starts:

Framework	Where to Init	Notes
Django	Top of `settings.py`	Auto-detects Django, no extra install
Flask	Before `app = Flask(__name__)`	Auto-detects Flask
FastAPI	Before `app = FastAPI()`	Auto-detects FastAPI
Celery	In Celery worker config	Auto-detects Celery
AIOHTTP	Before app creation	Auto-detects AIOHTTP

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Default	Min SDK
`dsn`	Sentry DSN	`None` (SDK no-ops without it)	—
`send_default_pii`	Include user data	`None`	—
`traces_sample_rate`	% of transactions traced	`None` (tracing disabled)	—
`profile_session_sample_rate`	% of sessions profiled	`None` (profiling disabled)	2.24.1+
`profile_lifecycle`	Profiling mode (`"trace"` or `"manual"`)	`"manual"`	2.24.1+
`enable_logs`	Send logs to Sentry	`False`	2.35.0+
`environment`	Environment name	`"production"` (or `SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT` env var)	—
`release`	Release version	Auto-detected	—

Environment Variables

The SDK auto-reads these:

SENTRY_DSN=https://xxx@o123.ingest.sentry.io/456
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production
SENTRY_RELEASE=1.0.0

For sentry-cli (source maps, releases), also set:

SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN=sntrys_xxx
SENTRY_ORG=my-org
SENTRY_PROJECT=my-project

Or pass DSN in code:

import os
import sentry_sdk

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ.get("SENTRY_DSN"),
    # ...
)

Verification

# Intentional error to test
division_by_zero = 1 / 0

Or capture manually:

sentry_sdk.capture_message("Test message from Python")

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Errors not appearing	Ensure `init()` is called early, check DSN
No traces	Set `traces_sample_rate` > 0
IPython errors not captured	Run from file, not interactive shell
Async errors missing	Initialize inside async function