Agent Skills: Sentry Go SDK

Sentry Go SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your Go project and guides you through complete Sentry setup.

Invoke This Skill When

• User asks to "add Sentry to Go" or "setup Sentry" in a Go app
• User wants error monitoring, tracing, logging, metrics, or crons in Go
• User mentions sentry-go, github.com/getsentry/sentry-go, or Go Sentry SDK
• User wants to monitor panics, HTTP handlers, or scheduled jobs in Go

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect Sentry docs at time of writing (sentry-go v0.43.0). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/go/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

Run these commands to understand the project before making any recommendations:

# Check existing Sentry dependency
grep -i sentry go.mod 2>/dev/null

# Detect web framework
grep -E "gin-gonic/gin|labstack/echo|gofiber/fiber|valyala/fasthttp|kataras/iris|urfave/negroni" go.mod 2>/dev/null

# Detect logging libraries
grep -E "sirupsen/logrus|go.uber.org/zap|rs/zerolog|log/slog" go.mod go.sum 2>/dev/null

# Detect cron / scheduler patterns
grep -E "robfig/cron|go-co-op/gocron|jasonlvhit/gocron" go.mod 2>/dev/null

# Detect OpenTelemetry usage
grep "go.opentelemetry.io" go.mod 2>/dev/null

# Check for companion frontend
ls frontend/ web/ client/ ui/ 2>/dev/null

What to note:

• Is sentry-go already in go.mod? If yes, skip to Phase 2 (configure features).
• Which framework is used? (Determines which sub-package and middleware to install.)
• Which logging library? (Enables automatic log capture.)
• Are cron/scheduler patterns present? (Triggers Crons recommendation.)
• Is there a companion frontend directory? (Triggers Phase 4 cross-link.)

Phase 2: Recommend

Based on what you found, present a concrete recommendation. Don't ask open-ended questions — lead with a proposal:

Recommended (core coverage):

• ✅ Error Monitoring — always; captures panics and unhandled errors
• ✅ Tracing — if HTTP handlers, gRPC, or DB calls are detected
• ✅ Logging — if logrus, zap, zerolog, or slog is detected

Optional (enhanced observability):

• ⚡ Metrics — custom counters and gauges for business KPIs / SLOs
• ⚡ Crons — detect silent failures in scheduled jobs
• ⚠️ Profiling — removed in sentry-go v0.31.0; see references/profiling.md for alternatives

Recommendation logic:

| Feature | Recommend when... | |---------|------------------| | Error Monitoring | Always — non-negotiable baseline | | Tracing | net/http, gin, echo, fiber, or gRPC imports detected | | Logging | logrus, zap, zerolog, or log/slog imports detected | | Metrics | Business events, SLO tracking, or counters needed | | Crons | robfig/cron, gocron, or scheduled job patterns detected | | Profiling | ⚠️ Removed in v0.31.0 — do not recommend; see references/profiling.md |

Propose: "I recommend setting up Error Monitoring + Tracing [+ Logging if applicable]. Want me to also add Metrics or Crons?"

Phase 3: Guide

Install

# Core SDK (always required)
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go

# Framework sub-package — install only what matches detected framework:
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/http      # net/http
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/gin       # Gin
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/echo      # Echo
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/fiber     # Fiber
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/fasthttp  # FastHTTP

# Logging sub-packages — install only what matches detected logging lib:
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/logrus    # Logrus
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/slog      # slog (stdlib, Go 1.21+)
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/zap       # Zap
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/zerolog   # Zerolog

# OpenTelemetry bridge (only if OTel is already in use):
go get github.com/getsentry/sentry-go/otel

Quick Start — Recommended Init

Add to main() before any other code. This config enables the most features with sensible defaults:

import (
    "log"
    "os"
    "time"
    "github.com/getsentry/sentry-go"
)

err := sentry.Init(sentry.ClientOptions{
    Dsn:              os.Getenv("SENTRY_DSN"),
    Environment:      os.Getenv("SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT"), // "production", "staging", etc.
    Release:          release,                          // inject via -ldflags at build time
    SendDefaultPII:   true,
    AttachStacktrace: true,

    // Tracing (adjust sample rate for production)
    EnableTracing:    true,
    TracesSampleRate: 1.0, // lower to 0.1–0.2 in high-traffic production

    // Logs
    EnableLogs: true,
})
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("sentry.Init: %s", err)
}
defer sentry.Flush(2 * time.Second)

Injecting Release at build time (recommended):

var release string // set by -ldflags

// go build -ldflags="-X main.release=my-app@$(git describe --tags)"

Framework Middleware

After sentry.Init, register the Sentry middleware for your framework:

| Framework | Import path | Middleware call | Repanic | WaitForDelivery | |-----------|------------|----------------|-----------|-------------------| | net/http | .../sentry-go/http | sentryhttp.New(opts).Handle(h) | true | false | | Gin | .../sentry-go/gin | router.Use(sentrygin.New(opts)) | true | false | | Echo | .../sentry-go/echo | e.Use(sentryecho.New(opts)) | true | false | | Fiber | .../sentry-go/fiber | app.Use(sentryfiber.New(opts)) | false | true | | FastHTTP | .../sentry-go/fasthttp | sentryfasthttp.New(opts).Handle(h) | false | true | | Iris | .../sentry-go/iris | app.Use(sentryiris.New(opts)) | true | false | | Negroni | .../sentry-go/negroni | n.Use(sentrynegroni.New(opts)) | true | false |

Note: Fiber and FastHTTP are built on valyala/fasthttp which has no built-in recovery. Use Repanic: false, WaitForDelivery: true for those.

Hub access in handlers:

// net/http, Negroni:
hub := sentry.GetHubFromContext(r.Context())

// Gin:
hub := sentrygin.GetHubFromContext(c)

// Echo:
hub := sentryecho.GetHubFromContext(c)

// Fiber:
hub := sentryfiber.GetHubFromContext(c)

For Each Agreed Feature

Walk through features one at a time. Load the reference file for each, follow its steps, and verify before moving to the next:

| Feature | Reference file | Load when... | |---------|---------------|-------------| | Error Monitoring | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md | Always (baseline) | | Tracing | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md | HTTP handlers / distributed tracing | | Profiling | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md | Performance-sensitive production apps | | Logging | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md | logrus / zap / zerolog / slog detected | | Metrics | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/metrics.md | Business KPIs / SLO tracking | | Crons | ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md | Scheduler / cron job patterns detected |

For each feature: Read ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/<feature>.md, follow steps exactly, verify it works.

Configuration Reference

Key ClientOptions Fields

| Option | Type | Default | Purpose | |--------|------|---------|---------| | Dsn | string | "" | SDK disabled if empty; env: SENTRY_DSN | | Environment | string | "" | e.g., "production"; env: SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT | | Release | string | "" | e.g., "my-app@1.0.0"; env: SENTRY_RELEASE | | SendDefaultPII | bool | false | Include IP, request headers | | AttachStacktrace | bool | false | Stack traces on CaptureMessage calls | | SampleRate | float64 | 1.0 | Error event sample rate (0.0 treated as 1.0) | | EnableTracing | bool | false | Enable performance tracing | | TracesSampleRate | float64 | 0.0 | Transaction sample rate | | TracesSampler | TracesSampler | nil | Custom per-transaction sampling (overrides rate) | | EnableLogs | bool | false | Enable Sentry Logs feature | | MaxBreadcrumbs | int | 100 | Max breadcrumbs per event | | MaxErrorDepth | int | 100 | Max depth for unwrapping error chains | | Debug | bool | false | Verbose SDK debug output | | BeforeSend | func | nil | Hook to mutate/drop error events | | BeforeSendTransaction | func | nil | Hook to mutate/drop transaction events | | IgnoreErrors | []string | nil | Regex patterns for errors to drop | | IgnoreTransactions | []string | nil | Regex patterns for transactions to drop |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Maps to | Purpose | |----------|---------|---------| | SENTRY_DSN | Dsn | Data Source Name | | SENTRY_RELEASE | Release | App version (e.g., my-app@1.0.0) | | SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT | Environment | Deployment environment | | HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY | HTTPProxy / HTTPSProxy | Outbound proxy |

Options set in ClientOptions override environment variables.

Verification

Test that Sentry is receiving events:

// In a handler or test — triggers a real error event:
sentry.CaptureMessage("Sentry Go SDK test")

// Or trigger a captured panic (with recovery middleware in place):
panic("sentry test panic")

Check the Sentry dashboard within a few seconds. If nothing appears:

1. Set Debug: true in ClientOptions — prints SDK internals to stdout
2. Verify the DSN is correct and the project exists
3. Ensure sentry.Flush(2 * time.Second) is called (events are async by default)

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing Go setup, check for a companion frontend missing Sentry coverage:

ls frontend/ web/ client/ ui/ 2>/dev/null
cat frontend/package.json web/package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"react"|"svelte"|"vue"|"next"'

If a frontend directory exists without Sentry configured, suggest the matching skill:

| Frontend detected | Suggest skill | |-------------------|--------------| | React / Next.js | sentry-react-sdk | | Svelte / SvelteKit | sentry-svelte-sdk | | Vue | Use @sentry/vue — see docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/vue/ | | Other JS/TS | sentry-react-sdk (covers generic browser JS patterns) |

Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | Events not appearing | Set Debug: true, check DSN, verify sentry.Flush() is called | | sentry.Init returns error | Malformed DSN — check format: https://<key>@o<org>.ingest.sentry.io/<project> | | Panics not captured | Ensure framework middleware is registered before handlers | | defer sentry.Flush not running | os.Exit() skips defer — call sentry.Flush() explicitly before os.Exit() | | Missing stack traces | Set AttachStacktrace: true for CaptureMessage; works automatically for CaptureException | | Goroutine events missing context | Clone hub before spawning goroutine: hub := sentry.CurrentHub().Clone() | | Too many transactions | Lower TracesSampleRate or use TracesSampler to drop health checks / metrics endpoints | | Fiber/FastHTTP not recovering | Use Repanic: false, WaitForDelivery: true for fasthttp-based frameworks | | SampleRate: 0.0 sending all events | 0.0 is treated as 1.0; to drop all, set Dsn: "" instead |