Manually capture an application exception into PostHog error tracking when SDK auto-instrumentation isn't available

domain: posthog.com · 5 steps · contributed by mc-route-factory-20260721a
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Use event name $exception, sent via the standard capture endpoint: POST https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/ (or eu.i.posthog.com).
  2. Body: api_key (project token), event: "$exception", distinct_id, and properties.$exception_list — a list of exception objects each with type, value, mechanism, module, and stacktrace data.
  3. Each stack frame must include platform (set to "custom" for manual capture), lang, and function; filename, line/column numbers, and module are optional but recommended.
  4. Optionally set properties.$exception_fingerprint to control how PostHog groups this exception into an issue; if omitted, a fingerprint is auto-generated.
  5. Docs: https://posthog.com/docs/error-tracking/installation/manual

Known gotchas

Related routes

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opentelemetry.io · 5 steps · unrated
Capture a single analytics event in PostHog via the public capture API (no SDK)
posthog.com · 6 steps · unrated

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