Django Stacktrace

Install from PyPI:

pip install django-stacktrace

A reusable Django app that captures exceptions with request context and stores them in the database, similar to a lightweight Sentry. It is best suited for early-stage apps that do not yet need to invest in a full error tracking tool; for production-grade monitoring, Sentry is recommended.

Quick start

1. Add the app:
   • django_stacktrace to INSTALLED_APPS
2. Add middleware (signal fallback is disabled automatically when middleware is enabled):
   • django_stacktrace.middleware.StacktraceMiddleware in MIDDLEWARE
3. Apply migrations:
   • python manage.py migrate
4. Trigger a crash and inspect Crash events in the Django admin.

Manual capture

You can capture exceptions directly without middleware:

from django_stacktrace.event_store import store_crash_event

try:
    1 / 0
except Exception as exc:
    store_crash_event(exc=exc)

Settings

All settings live under a single STACKTRACE dictionary. Each key is optional.

STACKTRACE = {
    "ENABLED": True,
    "SAMPLE_RATE": 1.0,
    "RATE_LIMIT": 0,
    "CAPTURE_HEADERS": True,
    "CAPTURE_BODY": False,
    "MAX_PAYLOAD_BYTES": 64 * 1024,
    "REDACT_FIELDS": ["password", "token"],
    "REDACT_HEADERS": ["authorization", "cookie"],
    "USER_FIELD": "username",
}

Available keys:

• ENABLED (default True)
• SAMPLE_RATE (default 1.0, 0-1 sampling probability)
• RATE_LIMIT (default 0, per-minute cap; 0 disables)
• CAPTURE_HEADERS (default True)
• CAPTURE_BODY (default False)
• MAX_PAYLOAD_BYTES (default 65536)
• REDACT_FIELDS (request keys to mask)
• REDACT_HEADERS (header keys to mask)
• USER_FIELD (user attribute for display name)

Settings reference

ENABLED

• Type: bool
• Purpose: Enable or disable crash capturing entirely.
• Example: "ENABLED": False

SAMPLE_RATE

• Type: float between 0.0 and 1.0
• Purpose: Probabilistic sampling for high-volume apps.
• Example: "SAMPLE_RATE": 0.1

RATE_LIMIT

• Type: int
• Purpose: Per-minute cap; 0 disables rate limiting.
• Example: "RATE_LIMIT": 120

CAPTURE_HEADERS

• Type: bool
• Purpose: Include request headers in the captured event.
• Example: "CAPTURE_HEADERS": True

CAPTURE_BODY

• Type: bool
• Purpose: Include request body in the captured event.
• Example: "CAPTURE_BODY": False

MAX_PAYLOAD_BYTES

• Type: int
• Purpose: Max bytes kept from request body.
• Example: "MAX_PAYLOAD_BYTES": 65536

REDACT_FIELDS

• Type: list[str] or set[str]
• Purpose: Request data keys to mask before storage.
• Example: "REDACT_FIELDS": ["password", "token"]

REDACT_HEADERS

• Type: list[str] or set[str]
• Purpose: Header keys to mask before storage.
• Example: "REDACT_HEADERS": ["authorization", "cookie"]

USER_FIELD

• Type: str
• Purpose: User attribute used for display name in the event.
• Example: "USER_FIELD": "username"

Data model

Events are stored in django_stacktrace.CrashEvent with indexed fields like level, logger, error type, request path, user identifier, and traceback hash, plus a JSON payload for full context.

Backlog

• Async storage path (Celery/queue support)
• Logging integration for logging exceptions
• Rate-limit options (per-user/IP limits, key prefix)
• Body size controls (per-content-type limits, truncation)
• Filtering hooks (ignore exceptions or URLs)
• Admin UI improvements (grouping, search, trends)
• Export and retention tools (cleanup, CSV export)