Node.js error tracking installation

Install the package

Required

Install the PostHog Node.js library using your package manager:

npm install posthog-node
yarn add posthog-node
pnpm add posthog-node

Initialize PostHog

Required

Initialize the PostHog client with your project API key:

Node.js
import { PostHog } from 'posthog-node'

const client = new PostHog(
    '<ph_project_api_key>',
    {
        host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com'
    }
)

Send an event

Recommended

Once installed, you can manually send events to test your integration:

Node.js
client.capture({
    distinctId: 'distinct_id_of_the_user',
    event: 'event_name',
    properties: {
        property1: 'value',
        property2: 'value',
    },
})

Configure exception autocapture

Recommended

You can enable exception autocapture when initializing the PostHog client to automatically capture uncaught exceptions and unhandled rejections in your Node app.

Node.js
import { PostHog } from 'posthog-node'
const client = new PostHog(
    '<ph_project_api_key>',
    { host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com', enableExceptionAutocapture: true }
)

If you are using the Express framework, you will need to import and call setupExpressErrorHandler with your PostHog client and Express app. This is because Express handles uncaught exceptions internally meaning exception autocapture will not work by default.

server.ts
import express from 'express'
import { PostHog, setupExpressErrorHandler } from 'posthog-node'
const app = express()
const posthog = new PostHog(PH_API_KEY)
setupExpressErrorHandler(posthog, app)

Note: Error tracking requires access the file system to process stack traces. Some providers, like Cloudflare Workers, do not support Node.js runtime APIs by default and need to be included as per their documentation.

5
Manually capture exceptions
Optional
If you need to manually capture exceptions, you can do so by calling the captureException method:
Node.js
posthog.captureException(e, 'user_distinct_id', additionalProperties)
This is helpful if you've built your own error handling logic or want to capture exceptions normally handled by the framework.
Verify error tracking
Recommended
Confirm events are being sent to PostHog
Before proceeding, let's make sure exception events are being captured and sent to PostHog. You should see events appear in the activity feed.
Check for exceptions in PostHog
6
Upload source maps
Required
Great, you're capturing exceptions! If you serve minified bundles, the next step is to upload source maps to generate accurate stack traces.
Let's continue to the next section.
Upload source maps

Node.js error tracking installation

Install the package

Initialize PostHog

Send an event

Configure exception autocapture

Manually capture exceptions

Verify error tracking

Upload source maps

Community questions

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