Ruby on Rails error tracking installation

Install the gems

Required

Add the posthog-ruby and posthog-rails gems to your Gemfile:

Gemfile
gem "posthog-ruby"
gem "posthog-rails"

Then run:

Terminal

bundle install

Generate the initializer

Required

Run the install generator to create the PostHog initializer:

Terminal

rails generate posthog:install

This will create config/initializers/posthog.rb with sensible defaults and documentation.

Configure PostHog

Required

Update config/initializers/posthog.rb with your project token and host:

config/initializers/posthog.rb
PostHog.init do |config|
  config.api_key = '<ph_project_token>'
  config.host = 'https://us.i.posthog.com'
end

Send events

Recommended

Once installed, you can manually send events to test your integration:

Ruby
PostHog.capture({
    distinct_id: 'user_123',
    event: 'button_clicked',
    properties: {
        button_name: 'signup'
    }
})

Configure error tracking

Required

Update config/initializers/posthog.rb to enable automatic exception capture:

config/initializers/posthog.rb
PostHog::Rails.configure do |config|
  config.auto_capture_exceptions = true
  config.report_rescued_exceptions = true
  config.auto_instrument_active_job = true
  config.capture_user_context = true
  config.current_user_method = :current_user
end

Automatic exception capture

Recommended

With auto_capture_exceptions enabled, exceptions are automatically captured from your controllers:

app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
class PostsController < ApplicationController
  def show
    @post = Post.find(params[:id])
    # Any exception here is automatically captured
  end
end

Background jobs

Optional

When auto_instrument_active_job is enabled, ActiveJob exceptions are automatically captured:

app/jobs/email_job.rb
class EmailJob < ApplicationJob
  def perform(user_id)
    user = User.find(user_id)
    UserMailer.welcome(user).deliver_now
    # Exceptions are automatically captured with job context
  end
end

Manually capture exceptions

Optional

You can also manually capture exceptions that you handle in your application:

Ruby
PostHog.capture_exception(
  exception,
  current_user.id,
  { custom_property: 'value' }
)

Verify error tracking
Recommended
Confirm events are being sent to PostHog
Before proceeding, let's make sure exception events are being captured and sent to PostHog. You should see events appear in the activity feed.
Check for exceptions in PostHog

Ruby on Rails error tracking installation

Install the gems

Generate the initializer

Configure PostHog

Send events

Configure error tracking

Automatic exception capture

Background jobs

Manually capture exceptions

Verify error tracking

Community questions

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