Sentry Issue Investigation
Overview
Fetch and debug a Sentry exception from a URL with a repeatable CLI workflow.
Core principle: Use sentry-cli for auth/org/project discovery first, then fetch issue + event details. If your sentry-cli version has no api subcommand, use curl with the same auth token.
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- User gives a Sentry issue URL
- You need stacktrace, request/job context, release, and tags
- You need quick root-cause clues before changing code
Do not use this skill for generic app debugging without a Sentry issue reference.
URL Parsing
Given: https://buildrtech.sentry.io/issues/7261708580/?environment=demo&project=4510025524707328
Extract:
- org slug:
buildrtech - issue id:
7261708580 - project id:
4510025524707328 - environment:
demo(if present)
Workflow
1) Verify CLI and auth
sentry-cli --version
sentry-cli info
sentry-cli organizations list
sentry-cli projects list --org <org_slug>Capture whether sentry-cli has an api command:
sentry-cli --help2) Get high-level issue metadata
If sentry-cli supports direct issue fetching in your version, use it. Otherwise use REST API with token from your Sentry CLI config.
Token discovery pattern:
TOKEN=$(rg '^token=' ~/.sentryclirc | head -n1 | cut -d'=' -f2-)Issue metadata:
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
"https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/"This gives title, culprit, level, firstSeen, lastSeen, count, release, and status.
3) Get latest event for stacktrace + request context
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
"https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/events/latest/?environment=<env>"If env is unknown, omit the environment query.
4) List all events for pattern analysis
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
"https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/events/?environment=<env>"Then inspect each event by ID:
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
"https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/events/<event_id>/?environment=<env>"Use this to compare users, branches, params, releases, and frequency.
What to Extract
Always report:
- Issue title/type/message
- Culprit (controller/service/method)
- First/last seen, count, status
- Top in-app stack frames (file + line)
- Request/job context (route, params, identifiers)
- Environment, release, user info, request_id tags
- Recurrence pattern (same path? same branch id? same commit type?)
Debugging Standard (Root Cause First)
Before proposing fixes:
- Confirm exact throw site from in-app frame
- Trace caller chain in local code
- Match stacktrace behavior to request parameters
- Identify whether failure is expected business condition vs true system fault
- Propose fix at the boundary where error should be handled
Output Template
## Sentry Issue: <title>
- Issue ID: <id>
- Env: <env>
- Level: <level>
- Status: <status>
- First seen: <timestamp>
- Last seen: <timestamp>
- Occurrences: <count>
### Error
- Type: <exception class>
- Message: <message>
- Culprit: <culprit>
### In-app stacktrace highlights
- path/to/file.rb:123 in `method_name`
- ...
### Request/Job context
- Route/URL: <...>
- Key params: <...>
- User: <...>
- Release: <...>
### Root cause hypothesis
<why this fails based on evidence>
### Recommended fix
<where to handle and why>Common Pitfalls
- Assuming
sentry-cli apiexists in all versions (it may not) - Using issue list commands and expecting full stacktrace output
- Ignoring environment filter and mixing unrelated events
- Proposing fixes before confirming throw site and call chain
- Treating expected domain errors as 500s instead of handling paths
Quick Reference
# Auth/context
sentry-cli info
sentry-cli organizations list
sentry-cli projects list --org <org>
# Token from CLI config
TOKEN=$(rg '^token=' ~/.sentryclirc | head -n1 | cut -d'=' -f2-)
# Issue
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/"
# Latest event
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/events/latest/?environment=<env>"
# Event list
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" "https://sentry.io/api/0/issues/<issue_id>/events/?environment=<env>"