Node.js Error Tracking: Complete Setup Guide

Every Node.js application throws errors. The question is whether you find out from your monitoring tool or from an angry support ticket.

Getting Started

Setting up error tracking in your Node.js project with Bugsly is straightforward. The entire process takes just a few minutes, and you'll immediately start seeing events in your dashboard.

Installation

npm install @bugsly/node

Configuration

const Bugsly = require("@bugsly/node");

Bugsly.init({
  dsn: "YOUR_BUGSLY_DSN",
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
});

app.use(Bugsly.Handlers.errorHandler());

Verification

After adding the SDK, trigger a test error to confirm everything works. Check your Bugsly dashboard — the event should appear within seconds, complete with stack trace and context data.

Best Practices for Node.js Error Tracking

Group by fingerprint. Bugsly automatically groups similar errors, but you can customize fingerprinting for Node.js-specific patterns like route-based grouping or middleware errors.

Filter noise early. Use beforeSend to drop expected errors — like 404s from bots or network errors from flaky connections — before they consume your event quota.

Track releases consistently. Bugsly correlates errors with specific releases, so always set the release version. This makes it trivial to identify which deploy introduced a regression.

Monitor performance alongside errors. With tracesSampleRate enabled, Bugsly captures transaction data too, connecting slow endpoints with their associated errors for a complete picture of your Node.js application's health.

Next Steps

Once your basic error tracking is operational, explore Bugsly's issue assignment features to route errors to the right team member automatically. Set up integrations with GitHub or GitLab to link errors directly to source code commits. Enable release tracking to see exactly which deployment introduced each issue, and use Bugsly's regression detection to catch previously-resolved bugs that resurface.