Instrument Node.js apps for Error Reporting

You can send error reports to Error Reporting from Node.js applications by using the Error Reporting library for Node.js.

Error Reporting is integrated with some Google Cloud services, such as Cloud Functions and App Engine, Compute Engine, and Google Kubernetes Engine. Error Reporting displays the errors that are logged to Cloud Logging by applications running on those services. For more information, go to Running on Google Cloud Platform on this page.

You can also send error data to Error Reporting using Logging. For information on the data formatting requirements, read Formatting error messages in Logging.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

4. Enable the Error Reporting API .

   Enable the API

5. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

6. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

7. Enable the Error Reporting API .

   Enable the API

8. Prepare your environment for Node.js development.

   Go to the Node.js setup guide

Installing the client library

Error Reporting library for Node.js lets you monitor and view errors reported by Node.js applications running nearly anywhere.

1. Use npm to install the package:

   npm install --save @google-cloud/error-reporting

2. Import the library and instantiate a client in order to begin reporting errors:

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   // Imports the Google Cloud client library
   const {ErrorReporting} = require('@google-cloud/error-reporting');
   
   // Instantiates a client
   const errors = new ErrorReporting();
   
   // Reports a simple error
   errors.report('Something broke!');

For more information on installation, read the documentation for the Error Reporting library for Node.js. You can also report issues using the issue tracker.

Configuring the client library

You can customize the behavior of the Error Reporting library for Node.js. See the library's configuration for a list of possible configuration options. These options can be passed in the options object passed to the library's constructor.

Reporting errors

You can manually report an error by calling the report method, as seen in the following example:

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// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {ErrorReporting} = require('@google-cloud/error-reporting');

// Instantiates a client
const errors = new ErrorReporting();

// Use the error message builder to customize all fields ...
const errorEvent = errors.event();

// Add error information
errorEvent.setMessage('My error message');
errorEvent.setUser('root@nexus');

// Report the error event
errors.report(errorEvent, () => {
  console.log('Done reporting error event!');
});

// Report an Error object
errors.report(new Error('My error message'), () => {
  console.log('Done reporting Error object!');
});

// Report an error by provided just a string
errors.report('My error message', () => {
  console.log('Done reporting error string!');
});

Reporting errors with Express.js

The Error Reporting library for Node.js can integrate Error Reporting into popular Node.js web frameworks such as Express.js:

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const express = require('express');

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {ErrorReporting} = require('@google-cloud/error-reporting');

// Instantiates a client
const errors = new ErrorReporting();

const app = express();

app.get('/error', (req, res, next) => {
  res.send('Something broke!');
  next(new Error('Custom error message'));
});

app.get('/exception', () => {
  JSON.parse('{"malformedJson": true');
});

// Note that express error handling middleware should be attached after all
// the other routes and use() calls. See the Express.js docs.
app.use(errors.express);

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`App listening on port ${PORT}`);
  console.log('Press Ctrl+C to quit.');
});

Other integrations

For more information on integrations between the Error Reporting library for Node.js and other Node.js web frameworks, see the library's repository on GitHub.

Running on Google Cloud

Using the Error Reporting library for Node.js requires the Identity and Access Management Error Reporting Writer role. Most Google Cloud computing platforms provide this role by default.

You can configure Error Reporting for Node.js on the following Google Cloud environments.

App Engine flexible environment

App Engine grants the Error Reporting Writer role by default.

The Error Reporting library for Node.js can be used without needing to explicitly provide credentials.

Error Reporting is automatically enabled for App Engine flexible environment applications. No additional setup is required.

Note: Error logs written to stderr are processed automatically by Error Reporting, without needing to use the Error Reporting library for Node.js directly.

Google Kubernetes Engine

On GKE, you must add the cloud-platform access scope when creating the cluster, as the following example command shows:

gcloud container clusters create example-cluster-name --scopes https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform

Compute Engine

When using Compute Engine VM instances, add the cloud-platform access scope to each instance. When creating a new instance through the Google Cloud console, you can do this in the Identity and API access section of the Create Instance panel. Use the Compute Engine default service account or another service account of your choice, and select Allow full access to all Cloud APIs in the Identity and API access section. Whichever service account you select, ensure that it has been granted the Error Reporting Writer role in the IAM & admin section of the Google Cloud console.

Cloud Functions

Cloud Functions grants the Error Reporting Writer role by default.

The Error Reporting library for Node.js can be used without needing to explicitly provide credentials.

Cloud Functions is configured to use Error Reporting automatically. Unhandled JavaScript exceptions will appear in Logging and be processed by Error Reporting without needing to use the Error Reporting library for Node.js.

Note: Log entries are processed automatically if they contain a stack trace and they specify either no log severity or a log severity of at least ERROR, without needing to use the Error Reporting library for Node.js.

Running locally and elsewhere

To use the Error Reporting library for Node.js outside of Google Cloud, including running the library on your own workstation, on your data center's computers, or on the VM instances of another cloud provider, you must supply your Google Cloud project ID and appropriate service account credentials directly to the Error Reporting library for Node.js.

You can create and obtain service account credentials manually. When specifying the Role field, use the Error Reporting Writer role. For more information on Identity and Access Management roles, go to Access control guide.

Example:

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// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {ErrorReporting} = require('@google-cloud/error-reporting');

// Instantiates a client
const errors = new ErrorReporting({
  projectId: 'your-project-id',
  keyFilename: '/path/to/key.json',
});

// Reports a simple error
errors.report('Something broke!');

Viewing error reports

After deployment, you can view error reports in the Google Cloud console Error Reporting dashboard.

Go to the Error Reporting dashboard

For more information, see Viewing Errors.