ExceptBot DRF

Exception Logger with AI Suggestions for Django REST Framework.

Overview

ExceptBot DRF is a Django middleware and REST API application that captures, logs, and helps resolve exceptions in Django/DRF projects. Superusers can view exceptions through REST endpoints, request AI-powered fix suggestions from OpenAI, and track resolution status.

This project is a fork of ExceptBot by Brian Risk, modified to support Django REST Framework APIs, custom user models, and enhanced request metadata.

Features

• Automatic exception capture via Django middleware
• Full stack trace with code snapshot of the offending file
• File name, line number, and exact line that raised the exception
• Request context: URL path, HTTP method, status code, IP address, user agent, and masked request body
• Source detection (backend, frontend, unknown) via the X-Client-Type header
• Smart deduplication: identical exceptions increment a count field
• AI-powered fix suggestions via OpenAI ChatGPT
• Resolution tracking with is_resolved, resolved_by, resolved_at, and resolution_note
• REST API with superuser-only access
• Singleton AppSettings model
• Works with any DRF authentication backend (JWT, Token, Session, OAuth)
• Custom user model support via AUTH_USER_MODEL

Requirements

• Python >= 3.8
• Django >= 3.2
• djangorestframework >= 3.12
• openai >= 1.3.7

Installation

pip install exceptbot-drf

Setup

1. Add to INSTALLED_APPS

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'rest_framework',
    'exceptbot',
    # ...
]

2. Add the middleware

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ...
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    # ...
    'exceptbot.middleware.ExceptBotMiddleware',
]

AuthenticationMiddleware must appear before ExceptBotMiddleware so that request.user is available. If you have custom middleware that checks request.user, place ExceptBotMiddleware before it.

3. Configure DRF authentication

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.authentication.SessionAuthentication',
        'rest_framework.authentication.TokenAuthentication',
    ],
}

4. Include the URLs

from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    # ...
    path('exceptbot/', include('exceptbot.urls', namespace='exceptbot')),
    # ...
]

5. Run migrations

python manage.py migrate exceptbot

6. Configure settings

Navigate to /admin/exceptbot/appsettings/ and set the following fields:

Field	Description
project_name	The directory name of your project (used to locate the correct file in the traceback)
base_url	Base URL of your site (e.g., https://myapp.com)
openai_api_key	OpenAI API key

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/exceptbot/api/unresolved/	List unresolved exceptions
GET	/exceptbot/api/resolved/	List resolved exceptions
GET	/exceptbot/api/<id>/	Full exception detail
GET	/exceptbot/api/<id>/error/	Error message and traceback
GET	/exceptbot/api/<id>/file/	Content of the offending file
POST	/exceptbot/api/<id>/resolve/	Mark as resolved
POST	/exceptbot/api/<id>/unresolve/	Revert to unresolved
POST	/exceptbot/api/<id>/ai/	Get or generate AI suggestion
GET	/exceptbot/api/settings/	View settings
PUT	/exceptbot/api/settings/	Update settings

All endpoints require superuser authentication.

Examples

Fetch unresolved exceptions:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/exceptbot/api/unresolved/

Mark an exception as resolved:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"resolution_note": "Fixed in commit abc123"}' \
     http://localhost:8000/exceptbot/api/1/resolve/

Request an AI suggestion:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/exceptbot/api/1/ai/

Update settings:

curl -X PUT \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "openai_api_key": "sk-...",
       "base_url": "https://myapp.com",
       "project_name": "my_project"
     }' \
     http://localhost:8000/exceptbot/api/settings/

Source Detection

To distinguish frontend errors from backend errors, include the following header in requests:

X-Client-Type: frontend

If omitted, the default value is backend.

How It Works

1. The middleware catches exceptions in process_exception and inspects the traceback.
2. It walks the traceback in reverse to find the first frame inside the project, matched by project_name.
3. It reads the offending file and stores the full source as a code snapshot.
4. It extracts HTTP method, status code, IP address, user agent, and masked request body.
5. Identical exceptions increment count instead of creating new records.
6. Superusers query the REST API to view, analyze, and resolve exceptions.

Security

• Sensitive request fields (password, token, api_key, authorization, and similar) are replaced with ***MASKED*** before being stored.
• All endpoints are protected by the IsSuperUser permission class.
• The OpenAI API key is hidden in the admin list view and only shown as a boolean.
• Only one AppSettings record can exist.

Project Structure

exceptbot/
├── migrations/
├── admin.py
├── apps.py
├── middleware.py
├── models.py
├── permissions.py
├── serializers.py
├── urls.py
└── views.py

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome at: https://github.com/tahazarei777/exceptbot-drf

Reporting Issues

Report bugs at: https://github.com/tahazarei777/exceptbot-drf/issues

License

This project is a fork of ExceptBot by Brian Risk.

Original work: Copyright © 2023-present, D.AT Analytics, LLC. All rights reserved.

Modifications: Copyright © 2025, Taha Zarei.

Licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. See LICENSE.md for details.