Web error tracking installation

  1. Install the package

    Required

    Install the PostHog JavaScript library using your package manager:

    npm install posthog-js

  2. Initialize PostHog

    Required

    Import and initialize the PostHog library with your project API key and host:

    JavaScript
    import posthog from 'posthog-js'
    

    posthog.init('<ph_project_api_key>', {
        api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
        defaults: '2026-01-30'
    })

  3. Send events

    Recommended

    Once installed, PostHog will automatically start capturing events. You can also manually send events to test your integration:

    Click around and view a couple pages to generate some events. PostHog automatically captures pageviews, clicks, and other interactions for you.

    If you'd like, you can also manually capture custom events:

    JavaScript
    posthog.capture('my_custom_event', { property: 'value' })

  4. Set up exception autocapture

    Recommended

    You can enable exception autocapture for the JavaScript Web SDK in the Error tracking section of your project settings.

    When enabled, this automatically captures $exception events when errors are thrown by wrapping the window.onerror and window.onunhandledrejection listeners.

  5. Manually capture exceptions

    Optional

    It is also possible to manually capture exceptions using the captureException method:

    JavaScript
    posthog.captureException(error, additionalProperties)

    This is helpful if you've built your own error handling logic or want to capture exceptions that are handled by your application code.

  6. 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.
    Activity feed with events
    Check for exceptions in PostHog

  7. 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

Community questions

Was this page useful?

Questions about this page? or post a community question.