sentry-cocoa-sdk

Sentry Cocoa SDK

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

Invoke This Skill When

• User asks to "add Sentry to iOS/macOS/tvOS" or "set up Sentry" in an Apple app
• User wants error monitoring, tracing, profiling, session replay, or logging in Swift/ObjC
• User mentions sentry-cocoa, SentrySDK, or the Apple/iOS Sentry SDK
• User wants to monitor crashes, app hangs, watchdog terminations, or performance

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect Sentry docs at time of writing (sentry-cocoa 9.5.1). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/ before implementing.

---

Phase 1: Detect

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

# Check existing Sentry dependency
grep -i sentry Package.swift Podfile Cartfile 2>/dev/null

# Detect UI framework (SwiftUI vs UIKit)
grep -rE "@main|struct.*App.*:.*App" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5
grep -rE "AppDelegate|UIApplicationMain" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect platform and deployment targets
grep -E "platforms:|\.iOS|\.macOS|\.tvOS|\.watchOS|\.visionOS" Package.swift 2>/dev/null
grep -E "platform :ios|platform :osx|platform :tvos|platform :watchos" Podfile 2>/dev/null

# Detect logging
grep -rE "import OSLog|os\.log|CocoaLumberjack|DDLog" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect companion backend
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
ls ../go.mod ../requirements.txt ../Gemfile ../package.json 2>/dev/null

What to note:

• Is sentry-cocoa already in Package.swift or Podfile? If yes, skip to Phase 2 (configure features).
• SwiftUI (@main App struct) or UIKit (AppDelegate)? Determines init pattern.
• Which Apple platforms? (Affects which features are available — see Platform Support Matrix.)
• Existing logging library? (Enables structured log capture.)
• Companion backend? (Triggers Phase 4 cross-link for distributed tracing.)

---

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; crash reporting, app hangs, watchdog terminations, NSError/Swift errors
• ✅ Tracing — always for apps; auto-instruments app launch, network, UIViewController, file I/O, Core Data
• ✅ Profiling — production apps; continuous profiling with minimal overhead

Optional (enhanced observability):

• ⚡ Session Replay — user-facing apps; ⚠️ disabled by default on iOS 26+ (Liquid Glass rendering)
• ⚡ Logging — when structured log capture is needed
• ⚡ User Feedback — apps that want crash/error feedback forms from users

Not available for Cocoa:

• ❌ Metrics — use custom spans instead
• ❌ Crons — backend only
• ❌ AI Monitoring — JS/Python only

Recommendation logic:

Feature	Recommend when...
Error Monitoring	Always — non-negotiable baseline
Tracing	Always for apps — rich auto-instrumentation out of the box
Profiling	Production apps where performance matters
Session Replay	iOS only user-facing apps (check iOS 26+ caveat; not tvOS/macOS/watchOS/visionOS)
Logging	Existing os.log / CocoaLumberjack usage, or structured logs needed
User Feedback	Apps wanting in-app bug reports with screenshots

Propose: "I recommend Error Monitoring + Tracing + Profiling. Want me to also add Session Replay and Logging?"

---

Phase 3: Guide

Install

Option 1 — Sentry Wizard (recommended): Walks you through login, org/project selection, and auth token setup interactively. Then installs the SDK, updates AppDelegate, adds dSYM/debug symbol upload build phases, and configures everything automatically.

brew install getsentry/tools/sentry-wizard && sentry-wizard -i ios

Option 2 — Swift Package Manager: File → Add Packages → enter:

https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa.git

Or in Package.swift:

.package(url: "https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa", from: "9.5.1"),

SPM Products — choose exactly one per target:

Product	Use Case
Sentry	Recommended — static framework, fast app start
Sentry-Dynamic	Dynamic framework alternative
SentrySwiftUI	SwiftUI view performance tracking (SentryTracedView)
Sentry-WithoutUIKitOrAppKit	watchOS, app extensions, CLI tools

⚠️ Xcode allows selecting multiple products — choose only one.

Option 3 — CocoaPods:

platform :ios, '11.0'
use_frameworks!

target 'YourApp' do
  pod 'Sentry', :git => 'https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa.git', :tag => '9.5.1'
end

Known issue (Xcode 14+): Sandbox rsync.samba error → Target Settings → "Enable User Script Sandbox" → NO.

---

Quick Start — Recommended Init

Full config enabling the most features with sensible defaults. Add before any other code at app startup.

SwiftUI — App entry point:

import SwiftUI
import Sentry

@main
struct MyApp: App {
    init() {
        SentrySDK.start { options in
            options.dsn = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_DSN"]
                ?? "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0"
            options.environment = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT"]
            options.releaseName = Bundle.main.infoDictionary?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String

            // Error monitoring (on by default — explicit for clarity)
            options.enableCrashHandler = true
            options.enableAppHangTrackingV2 = true
            options.enableWatchdogTerminationTracking = true
            options.attachScreenshot = true
            options.attachViewHierarchy = true
            options.sendDefaultPii = true

            // Tracing
            options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0          // lower to 0.2 in high-traffic production

            // Profiling (SDK 9.0.0+ API)
            options.configureProfiling = {
                $0.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
                $0.lifecycle = .trace
            }

            // Session Replay (disabled on iOS 26+ by default — safe to configure)
            options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
            options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0

            // Logging (SDK 9.0.0+ top-level; use options.experimental.enableLogs in 8.x)
            options.enableLogs = true
        }
    }

    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup { ContentView() }
    }
}

UIKit — AppDelegate:

import UIKit
import Sentry

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(
        _ application: UIApplication,
        didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?
    ) -> Bool {
        SentrySDK.start { options in
            options.dsn = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_DSN"]
                ?? "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0"
            options.environment = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT"]
            options.releaseName = Bundle.main.infoDictionary?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String

            options.enableCrashHandler = true
            options.enableAppHangTrackingV2 = true
            options.enableWatchdogTerminationTracking = true
            options.attachScreenshot = true
            options.attachViewHierarchy = true
            options.sendDefaultPii = true

            options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0

            options.configureProfiling = {
                $0.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
                $0.lifecycle = .trace
            }

            options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
            options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0

            // Logging (SDK 9.0.0+ top-level; use options.experimental.enableLogs in 8.x)
            options.enableLogs = true
        }
        return true
    }
}

⚠️ SDK initialization must occur on the main thread.

---

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	App launch, network, UIViewController perf
Profiling	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md	Production perf-sensitive apps
Session Replay	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/session-replay.md	User-facing iOS/tvOS apps
Logging	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md	Structured log capture needed
User Feedback	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/user-feedback.md	In-app bug reporting wanted

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

---

Configuration Reference

Key SentryOptions Fields

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
dsn	String	""	SDK disabled if empty; reads SENTRY_DSN env var
environment	String	""	e.g., "production"; reads SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT
releaseName	String	""	e.g., "my-app@1.0.0"; reads SENTRY_RELEASE
debug	Bool	false	Verbose SDK output — disable in production
sendDefaultPii	Bool	false	Include IP, user info from active integrations
enableCrashHandler	Bool	true	Master switch for crash reporting
enableAppHangTrackingV2	Bool	true (9.0+)	Differentiates fully/non-fully blocked hangs
appHangTimeoutInterval	Double	2.0	Seconds before classifying as hang
enableWatchdogTerminationTracking	Bool	true	Track watchdog kills (iOS, tvOS, Mac Catalyst)
attachScreenshot	Bool	false	Capture screenshot on error
attachViewHierarchy	Bool	false	Capture view hierarchy on error
tracesSampleRate	NSNumber?	nil	Transaction sample rate (nil = tracing disabled); Swift auto-boxes Double literals (e.g. 1.0 → NSNumber)
tracesSampler	Closure	nil	Dynamic per-transaction sampling (overrides rate)
enableAutoPerformanceTracing	Bool	true	Master switch for auto-instrumentation
tracePropagationTargets	[String]	[".*"]	Hosts/regex that receive distributed trace headers
enableCaptureFailedRequests	Bool	true	Auto-capture HTTP 5xx errors as events
enableNetworkBreadcrumbs	Bool	true	Breadcrumbs for outgoing HTTP requests
inAppInclude	[String]	[]	Module prefixes treated as "in-app" code
maxBreadcrumbs	Int	100	Max breadcrumbs per event
sampleRate	Float	1.0	Error event sample rate
beforeSend	Closure	nil	Hook to mutate/drop error events
onCrashedLastRun	Closure	nil	Called on next launch after a crash

Environment Variables

Variable	Maps to	Purpose
SENTRY_DSN	dsn	Data Source Name
SENTRY_RELEASE	releaseName	App version (e.g., my-app@1.0.0)
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT	environment	Deployment environment

Platform Feature Support Matrix

Feature	iOS	tvOS	macOS	watchOS	visionOS
Crash Reporting	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
App Hangs V2	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Watchdog Termination	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
App Start Tracing	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
UIViewController Tracing	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
SwiftUI Tracing	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Network Tracking	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Profiling	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Session Replay	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
MetricKit	✅ (15+)	❌	✅ (12+)	❌	❌

---

Verification

Test that Sentry is receiving events:

// Trigger a test error event:
SentrySDK.capture(message: "Sentry Cocoa SDK test")

// Or test crash reporting (without debugger — crashes are intercepted by debugger):
// SentrySDK.crash()  // uncomment, run without debugger, relaunch to see crash report

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

1. Set options.debug = true — prints SDK internals to Xcode console
2. Verify the DSN is correct and the project exists
3. Ensure initialization is on the main thread

---

Production Settings

Lower sample rates for production to control volume and cost:

options.tracesSampleRate = 0.2          // 20% of transactions

options.configureProfiling = {
    $0.sessionSampleRate = 0.1          // 10% of sessions
    $0.lifecycle = .trace
}

options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 0.1   // 10% continuous
options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0   // 100% on error (keep high)

options.debug = false                   // never in production

---

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing Apple setup, check for a companion backend missing Sentry coverage:

# Detect companion backend
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
cat ../go.mod 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../requirements.txt ../Pipfile 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../Gemfile 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"name"|"dependencies"' | head -5

If a backend is found, configure tracePropagationTargets to enable distributed tracing end-to-end, and suggest the matching skill:

Backend detected	Suggest skill	Trace header support
Go (go.mod)	sentry-go-sdk	✅ automatic
Python (requirements.txt)	sentry-python-sdk	✅ automatic
Ruby (Gemfile)	sentry-ruby-sdk	✅ automatic
Node.js backend (package.json)	sentry-node-sdk (or sentry-express-sdk)	✅ automatic

---

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Events not appearing	Set debug: true, verify DSN format, ensure init is on main thread
Crashes not captured	Run without debugger attached — debugger intercepts signals
App hangs not reported	Auto-disabled when debugger attached; check appHangTimeoutInterval
Session Replay not recording	Check iOS version — disabled by default on iOS 26+ (Liquid Glass); verify sessionSampleRate > 0
Tracing data missing	Confirm tracesSampleRate > 0; check enableAutoPerformanceTracing = true
Profiling data missing	Verify sessionSampleRate > 0 in configureProfiling; for .trace lifecycle, tracing must be enabled
rsync.samba build error (CocoaPods)	Target Settings → "Enable User Script Sandbox" → NO
Multiple SPM products selected	Choose only one of Sentry, Sentry-Dynamic, SentrySwiftUI, Sentry-WithoutUIKitOrAppKit
inAppExclude compile error	Removed in SDK 9.0.0 — use inAppInclude only
Watchdog termination not tracked	Requires enableCrashHandler = true (it is by default)
Network breadcrumbs missing	Requires enableSwizzling = true (it is by default)
profilesSampleRate compile error	Removed in SDK 9.0.0 — use configureProfiling closure instead