sentry-android-sdk

All Skills > SDK Setup > Android SDK

Sentry Android SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your Android project and guides you through complete Sentry setup — error monitoring, tracing, profiling, session replay, logging, and more.

Invoke This Skill When

• User asks to "add Sentry to Android" or "set up Sentry" in an Android app
• User wants error monitoring, crash reporting, ANR detection, tracing, profiling, session replay, or logging in Android
• User mentions sentry-android, io.sentry:sentry-android, mobile crash tracking, or Sentry for Kotlin/Java Android
• User wants to monitor native (NDK) crashes, application not responding (ANR) events, or app startup performance

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect current Sentry docs at time of writing (io.sentry:sentry-android:8.33.0, Gradle plugin 6.1.0). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/android/ before implementing.

---

Phase 1: Detect

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

# Detect project structure and build system
ls build.gradle build.gradle.kts settings.gradle settings.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null

# Check AGP version and existing Sentry
grep -r '"com.android.application"' build.gradle* app/build.gradle* 2>/dev/null | head -3
grep -ri sentry build.gradle* app/build.gradle* 2>/dev/null | head -10

# Check app-level build file (Groovy vs KTS)
ls app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null

# Detect Gradle version catalog (libs.versions.toml) — modern AGP projects
ls gradle/libs.versions.toml 2>/dev/null

# Check for existing Sentry entries in the version catalog
grep -iE 'sentry|io\.sentry' gradle/libs.versions.toml 2>/dev/null | head -10

# Check if build files reference the catalog (alias/libs.* usage)
grep -E 'alias\(libs\.|libs\.[a-zA-Z]' build.gradle build.gradle.kts app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect Kotlin vs Java
find app/src/main -name "*.kt" 2>/dev/null | head -3
find app/src/main -name "*.java" 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Check minSdk, targetSdk
grep -E 'minSdk|targetSdk|compileSdk|minSdkVersion|targetSdkVersion' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -6

# Detect Jetpack Compose
grep -E 'compose|androidx.compose' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect OkHttp (popular HTTP client — has dedicated integration)
grep -E 'okhttp|retrofit' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Detect Room or SQLite
grep -E 'androidx.room|androidx.sqlite' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Detect Timber (logging library)
grep -E 'timber' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Detect Jetpack Navigation
grep -E 'androidx.navigation' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Detect Apollo (GraphQL)
grep -E 'apollo' app/build.gradle app/build.gradle.kts 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Check existing Sentry initialization
grep -r "SentryAndroid.init\|io.sentry.Sentry" app/src/ 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Check Application class
find app/src/main -name "*.kt" -o -name "*.java" 2>/dev/null | xargs grep -l "Application()" 2>/dev/null | head -3

# Adjacent backend (for cross-linking)
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
find .. -maxdepth 2 \( -name "go.mod" -o -name "requirements.txt" -o -name "Gemfile" \) 2>/dev/null | grep -v node_modules | head -5

What to determine:

Question	Impact
build.gradle.kts present?	Use Kotlin DSL syntax in all examples
gradle/libs.versions.toml present?	Add Sentry to the version catalog; reference via libs.* in build files
Catalog already has sentry entries?	Reuse the existing version ref; don't duplicate or hardcode versions
minSdk < 26?	Note Session Replay requires API 26+ — silent no-op below that
Compose detected?	Recommend sentry-compose-android and Compose-specific masking
OkHttp present?	Recommend sentry-okhttp interceptor or Gradle plugin bytecode auto-instrumentation
Room/SQLite present?	Recommend sentry-android-sqlite or plugin bytecode instrumentation
Timber present?	Recommend sentry-android-timber integration
Jetpack Navigation?	Recommend sentry-android-navigation for screen tracking
Already has SentryAndroid.init()?	Skip install, jump to feature config
Application subclass exists?	That's where SentryAndroid.init() goes

---

Phase 2: Recommend

Present a concrete recommendation based on what you found. Don't ask open-ended questions — lead with a proposal:

Recommended (core coverage — always set up these):

• ✅ Error Monitoring — captures uncaught exceptions, ANRs, and native NDK crashes automatically
• ✅ Tracing — auto-instruments Activity lifecycle, app start, HTTP requests, and database queries
• ✅ Session Replay — records screen captures and user interactions for debugging (API 26+)

Optional (enhanced observability):

• ⚡ Profiling — continuous UI profiling (recommended) or transaction-based sampling
• ⚡ Logging — structured logs via Sentry.logger(), with optional Timber bridge
• ⚡ User Feedback — collect user-submitted bug reports from inside the app

Recommendation logic:

Feature	Recommend when...
Error Monitoring	Always — non-negotiable baseline for any Android app
Tracing	Always for Android — app start time, Activity lifecycle, network latency matter
Session Replay	User-facing production app on API 26+; visual debugging of user issues
Profiling	Performance-sensitive apps, startup time investigations, production perf analysis
Logging	App uses structured logging or you want log-to-trace correlation in Sentry
User Feedback	Beta or customer-facing app where you want user-submitted bug reports

Propose: "For your [Kotlin / Java] Android app (minSdk X), I recommend setting up Error Monitoring + Tracing + Session Replay. Want me to also add Profiling and Logging?"

---

Phase 3: Guide

Determine Your Setup Path

Project type	Recommended setup	Complexity
New project, no existing Sentry	Gradle plugin (recommended)	Low — plugin handles most config
Existing project, no Sentry	Gradle plugin or manual init	Medium — add dependency + Application class
Manual full control	SentryAndroid.init() in Application	Medium — explicit config, most flexible

Option 1: Wizard (Recommended)

You need to run this yourself — the wizard opens a browser for login and requires interactive input that the agent can't handle. Copy-paste into your terminal:

npx @sentry/wizard@latest -i android

It handles login, org/project selection, Gradle plugin setup, dependency installation, DSN configuration, and ProGuard/R8 mapping upload.

Once it finishes, come back and skip to Verification.

If the user skips the wizard, proceed with Option 2 (Manual Setup) below.

---

Option 2: Manual Setup

Using a Gradle Version Catalog (gradle/libs.versions.toml)

If Phase 1 detected gradle/libs.versions.toml, add Sentry to the catalog first, then reference it from your build files. This keeps versions centralized and matches modern AGP project conventions.

Step 1 — Add entries to gradle/libs.versions.toml

[versions]
sentry = "8.33.0"
sentryGradlePlugin = "6.1.0"

[libraries]
sentry-android = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-android", version.ref = "sentry" }
sentry-bom = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-bom", version.ref = "sentry" }
# Optional integrations — add only the ones your project uses:
sentry-android-timber = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-android-timber" }
sentry-android-fragment = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-android-fragment" }
sentry-compose-android = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-compose-android" }
sentry-android-navigation = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-android-navigation" }
sentry-okhttp = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-okhttp" }
sentry-android-sqlite = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-android-sqlite" }
sentry-kotlin-extensions = { module = "io.sentry:sentry-kotlin-extensions" }

[plugins]
sentry-android-gradle = { id = "io.sentry.android.gradle", version.ref = "sentryGradlePlugin" }

Note: Optional integration entries omit version.ref — their versions come from the BOM at resolution time. Only sentry-bom needs the version ref. If the catalog already defines a sentry version, reuse it instead of adding a duplicate entry.

Step 2 — Reference the catalog from build.gradle[.kts]

Project-level build.gradle.kts:

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.sentry.android.gradle) apply false
}

App-level app/build.gradle.kts:

plugins {
    id("com.android.application")
    alias(libs.plugins.sentry.android.gradle)
}

dependencies {
    implementation(platform(libs.sentry.bom))
    implementation(libs.sentry.android)
    // implementation(libs.sentry.okhttp)
    // implementation(libs.sentry.compose.android)
}

Groovy DSL (app/build.gradle) equivalent:

plugins {
    id "com.android.application"
    alias libs.plugins.sentry.android.gradle
}

dependencies {
    implementation platform(libs.sentry.bom)
    implementation libs.sentry.android
}

Then continue with the sentry {} configuration block from Path A, Step 2 below. The rest of the setup (Application class init, manifest registration, verification) is identical.

---

Path A: Gradle Plugin (Recommended)

The Sentry Gradle plugin is the easiest setup path. It:

• Uploads ProGuard/R8 mapping files automatically on release builds
• Injects source context into stack frames
• Optionally instruments OkHttp, Room/SQLite, File I/O, Compose navigation, and android.util.Log via bytecode transforms (zero source changes)

Step 1 — Add the plugin to build.gradle[.kts] (project-level)

Groovy DSL (build.gradle):

plugins {
    id "io.sentry.android.gradle" version "6.1.0" apply false
}

Kotlin DSL (build.gradle.kts):

plugins {
    id("io.sentry.android.gradle") version "6.1.0" apply false
}

Step 2 — Apply plugin + add dependencies in app/build.gradle[.kts]

Groovy DSL:

plugins {
    id "com.android.application"
    id "io.sentry.android.gradle"
}

android {
    // ...
}

dependencies {
    // Use BOM for consistent versions across sentry modules
    implementation platform("io.sentry:sentry-bom:8.33.0")
    implementation "io.sentry:sentry-android"

    // Optional integrations (add what's relevant):
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-android-timber"     // Timber bridge
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-android-fragment"   // Fragment lifecycle tracing
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-compose-android"    // Jetpack Compose support
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-android-navigation"  // Jetpack Navigation
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-okhttp"             // OkHttp interceptor
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-android-sqlite"     // Room/SQLite tracing
    // implementation "io.sentry:sentry-kotlin-extensions"  // Coroutine context propagation
}

sentry {
    org = "YOUR_ORG_SLUG"
    projectName = "YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG"
    authToken = System.getenv("SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN")

    // Enable auto-instrumentation via bytecode transforms (no source changes needed)
    tracingInstrumentation {
        enabled = true
        features = [InstrumentationFeature.DATABASE, InstrumentationFeature.FILE_IO,
                    InstrumentationFeature.OKHTTP, InstrumentationFeature.COMPOSE]
    }

    // Upload ProGuard mapping and source context on release
    autoUploadProguardMapping = true
    includeSourceContext = true
}

Kotlin DSL (app/build.gradle.kts):

plugins {
    id("com.android.application")
    id("io.sentry.android.gradle")
}

dependencies {
    implementation(platform("io.sentry:sentry-bom:8.33.0"))
    implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android")

    // Optional integrations:
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android-timber")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android-fragment")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-compose-android")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android-navigation")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-okhttp")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android-sqlite")
    // implementation("io.sentry:sentry-kotlin-extensions")
}

sentry {
    org = "YOUR_ORG_SLUG"
    projectName = "YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG"
    authToken = System.getenv("SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN")

    tracingInstrumentation {
        enabled = true
        features = setOf(
            InstrumentationFeature.DATABASE,
            InstrumentationFeature.FILE_IO,
            InstrumentationFeature.OKHTTP,
            InstrumentationFeature.COMPOSE,
        )
    }

    autoUploadProguardMapping = true
    includeSourceContext = true
}

Step 3 — Initialize Sentry in your Application class

If you don't have an Application subclass, create one:

// MyApplication.kt
import android.app.Application
import io.sentry.SentryLevel
import io.sentry.android.core.SentryAndroid
import io.sentry.android.replay.SentryReplayOptions

class MyApplication : Application() {
    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()

        SentryAndroid.init(this) { options ->
            options.dsn = "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN"

            // Tracing — lower to 0.1–0.2 in high-traffic production
            options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0

            // Profiling — use continuous UI profiling (recommended, SDK ≥ 8.7.0)
            options.profileSessionSampleRate = 1.0

            // Session Replay (API 26+ only; silent no-op below API 26)
            options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 0.1    // 10% of all sessions
            options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0    // 100% on error

            // Structured logging
            options.logs.isEnabled = true

            // Environment
            options.environment = BuildConfig.BUILD_TYPE
        }
    }
}

Java equivalent:

// MyApplication.java
import android.app.Application;
import io.sentry.android.core.SentryAndroid;

public class MyApplication extends Application {
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        SentryAndroid.init(this, options -> {
            options.setDsn("YOUR_SENTRY_DSN");
            options.setTracesSampleRate(1.0);
            options.setProfileSessionSampleRate(1.0);
            options.getSessionReplay().setSessionSampleRate(0.1);
            options.getSessionReplay().setOnErrorSampleRate(1.0);
            options.getLogs().setEnabled(true);
            options.setEnvironment(BuildConfig.BUILD_TYPE);
        });
    }
}

Step 4 — Register Application in AndroidManifest.xml

<application
    android:name=".MyApplication"
    ... >

---

Path B: Manual Setup (No Gradle Plugin)

Use this if you can't use the Gradle plugin (e.g., non-standard build setups).

Step 1 — Add dependency in app/build.gradle[.kts]

dependencies {
    implementation(platform("io.sentry:sentry-bom:8.33.0"))
    implementation("io.sentry:sentry-android")
}

Step 2 — Initialize in Application class (same as Path A, Step 3)

Step 3 — Configure ProGuard/R8 manually

The Sentry SDK ships a ProGuard rules file automatically. For manual mapping upload, install sentry-cli and add to your CI:

sentry-cli releases files "my-app@1.0.0+42" upload-proguard \
  --org YOUR_ORG --project YOUR_PROJECT \
  app/build/outputs/mapping/release/mapping.txt

---

Quick Reference: Full-Featured SentryAndroid.init()

SentryAndroid.init(this) { options ->
    options.dsn = "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN"

    // Environment and release
    options.environment = BuildConfig.BUILD_TYPE     // "debug", "release", etc.
    options.release = "${BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID}@${BuildConfig.VERSION_NAME}+${BuildConfig.VERSION_CODE}"

    // Tracing — sample 100% in dev, lower to 10–20% in production
    options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0

    // Continuous UI profiling (recommended over transaction-based)
    options.profileSessionSampleRate = 1.0

    // Session Replay (API 26+; silent no-op on API 21–25)
    options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 0.1
    options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0
    options.sessionReplay.maskAllText = true         // mask text for privacy
    options.sessionReplay.maskAllImages = true       // mask images for privacy

    // Structured logging
    options.logs.isEnabled = true

    // Error enrichment
    options.isAttachScreenshot = true                // capture screenshot on error
    options.isAttachViewHierarchy = true             // attach view hierarchy JSON

    // ANR detection (5s default; watchdog + ApplicationExitInfo API 30+)
    options.isAnrEnabled = true

    // NDK native crash handling (enabled by default)
    options.isEnableNdk = true

    // Send PII: IP address, user data
    options.sendDefaultPii = true

    // Trace propagation (backend distributed tracing)
    options.tracePropagationTargets = listOf("api.yourapp.com", ".*\\.yourapp\\.com")

    // Verbose logging — disable in production
    options.isDebug = BuildConfig.DEBUG
}

---

For Each Agreed Feature

Walk through features one at a time. Load the reference file for each, follow its steps, then verify before moving on:

Feature	Reference	Load when...
Error Monitoring	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md	Always (baseline)
Tracing & Performance	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md	Always for Android (Activity lifecycle, network)
Profiling	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md	Performance-sensitive production apps
Session Replay	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/session-replay.md	User-facing apps (API 26+)
Logging	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md	Structured logging / log-to-trace correlation
Metrics	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/metrics.md	Custom metric tracking (SDK ≥ 8.30.0)
Crons	${SKILL_ROOT}/references/crons.md	Scheduled jobs, WorkManager check-ins

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

---

Integration Reference

Built-in (Auto-Enabled)

These integrations activate automatically when SentryAndroid.init() is called:

Integration	What it does
UncaughtExceptionHandlerIntegration	Captures all uncaught Java/Kotlin exceptions
AnrIntegration	ANR detection via watchdog thread (5s) + ApplicationExitInfo (API 30+)
NdkIntegration	Native (C/C++) crash capture via sentry-native
ActivityLifecycleIntegration	Auto-instruments Activity create/resume/pause for TTID/TTFD
AppStartMetrics	Measures cold/warm/hot app start time
NetworkBreadcrumbsIntegration	Records connectivity changes as breadcrumbs
SystemEventsBreadcrumbsIntegration	Records battery, screen on/off, etc.
AppLifecycleIntegration	Records foreground/background transitions
UserInteractionIntegration	Breadcrumbs for taps, swipes, input events
CurrentActivityIntegration	Tracks active Activity for context

Optional Integrations

Add the artifact to your dependencies {} block (versions managed by BOM):

Integration	Artifact	When to add
Timber	io.sentry:sentry-android-timber	App uses Timber for logging
Fragment	io.sentry:sentry-android-fragment	App uses Jetpack Fragments (lifecycle tracing)
Compose	io.sentry:sentry-compose-android	App uses Jetpack Compose (navigation + masking)
Navigation	io.sentry:sentry-android-navigation	App uses Jetpack Navigation Component
OkHttp	io.sentry:sentry-okhttp	App uses OkHttp or Retrofit
Room/SQLite	io.sentry:sentry-android-sqlite	App uses Room or raw SQLite
Apollo 3	io.sentry:sentry-apollo-3	App uses Apollo GraphQL v3
Apollo 4	io.sentry:sentry-apollo-4	App uses Apollo GraphQL v4
Kotlin Extensions	io.sentry:sentry-kotlin-extensions	Kotlin coroutines context propagation
Ktor Client	io.sentry:sentry-ktor-client	App uses Ktor HTTP client
LaunchDarkly	io.sentry:sentry-launchdarkly-android	App uses LaunchDarkly feature flags

Gradle Plugin Bytecode Instrumentation

The plugin can inject instrumentation automatically (no source changes):

Feature	Instruments	Enable via
DATABASE	Room DAO, SupportSQLiteOpenHelper	tracingInstrumentation.features
FILE_IO	FileInputStream, FileOutputStream	tracingInstrumentation.features
OKHTTP	OkHttpClient.Builder automatically	tracingInstrumentation.features
COMPOSE	NavHostController auto-instrumentation	tracingInstrumentation.features
LOGCAT	android.util.Log capturing	tracingInstrumentation.features

---

Configuration Reference

Core SentryOptions (via SentryAndroid.init)

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
dsn	String	—	Required. Project DSN; SDK silently disabled if empty
environment	String	—	e.g., "production", "staging". Env: SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT
release	String	—	App version, e.g., "my-app@1.0.0+42". Env: SENTRY_RELEASE
dist	String	—	Build variant / distribution identifier
sendDefaultPii	Boolean	false	Include PII: IP address, user data
sampleRate	Double	1.0	Error event sampling (0.0–1.0)
maxBreadcrumbs	Int	100	Max breadcrumbs per event
isAttachStacktrace	Boolean	true	Auto-attach stack traces to message events
isAttachScreenshot	Boolean	false	Capture screenshot on error
isAttachViewHierarchy	Boolean	false	Attach JSON view hierarchy as attachment
isDebug	Boolean	false	Verbose SDK output. Never use in production
isEnabled	Boolean	true	Disable SDK entirely (e.g., for testing)
beforeSend	SentryOptions.BeforeSendCallback	—	Modify or drop error events before sending
beforeBreadcrumb	SentryOptions.BeforeBreadcrumbCallback	—	Filter breadcrumbs before storage

Tracing Options

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
tracesSampleRate	Double	0.0	Transaction sample rate (0–1). Use 1.0 in dev
tracesSampler	TracesSamplerCallback	—	Per-transaction sampling; overrides tracesSampleRate
tracePropagationTargets	List<String>	[".*"]	Hosts/URLs to receive sentry-trace and baggage headers
isEnableAutoActivityLifecycleTracing	Boolean	true	Auto-instrument Activity lifecycle
isEnableTimeToFullDisplayTracing	Boolean	false	TTFD spans (requires Sentry.reportFullyDisplayed())
isEnableUserInteractionTracing	Boolean	false	Auto-instrument user gestures as transactions

Profiling Options

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
profileSessionSampleRate	Double	0.0	Continuous profiling sample rate (SDK ≥ 8.7.0, API 22+)
profilesSampleRate	Double	0.0	Legacy transaction profiling rate (mutually exclusive with continuous)
isProfilingStartOnAppStart	Boolean	false	Auto-start profiling session on app launch

ANR Options