7 ms·

Rethinking front-end error reporting

69 points by jastr 9y ago

ro-laren 9y ago
We built a similar system internally that accomplished some of these functions. Essentially data is ingested to an ELK cluster with some custom views on top. This definitely looks more polished though!
salt-licker 9y ago
I've used TrackJS in the past - they have context on the user session surrounding front-end exceptions, e.g. what the user clicked on beforehand. Is a video replay really that much more useful?
- anarchy8 9y ago
  In my opinion yes -- being able to actually see the user going through the app before they clicked on the thing that made an error can make a huge difference. Sentry's breadcrumbs are similar, but they don't provide enough context. An actual session recording provide all the context.
yomielu 9y ago
I see this will log Redux actions/state leading up to a crash- can it also log data from MobX?
- arbesfeld 9y ago
  Yep! LogRocket also supports Vuex, @ngrx/store, and mobx-state-tree (both actions + state logging)
randall 9y ago
I feel weird... like I've never heard of this before and it seems fully built out... what am I missing?
- benthehenten 9y ago
  (disclosure - I wrote this article and work at LogRocket) The product is built-out in the sense that we have many customers who use LogRocket daily to fix bugs and support their users. Of course we've only just started toward our long term goal and have lots more work to do!
bryanrasmussen 9y ago
So, we've logged everything the user has done into logrocket, and given logrocket some way of uniquely identifying the user. So anyone should ask, what is the GDPR impact here?
- pkriete 9y ago
  Note: I work at LogRocket (and also a European) I believe we fall into the same categories as any other analytics tools (or any data controller/data processor in GDPR speak). Which is to say, there are compliance boxes that need to be checked (right to object, right to be forgotten, etc), but it's possible to be compliant and we plan to be when the law takes effect in May. It's also worth noting that pretty much all frontend error reporting tools nowadays send a URL along with the exception and allow you to assign user data to the event.
  - gnud 9y ago
    Not only the right to be forgotten - but also requiring real, informed consent, up front, that can be denied. Seems simpler to try really hard to keep the data anonymous.
    - x0x0 9y ago
      I'd call it a legitimate interest (site development and debugging tools) and skip the consent. Simply say you must allow cookies and our debugging tool or don't use the site. Particularly with SPA or js framework heavy sites where more bugs occur only in the browser, this is simply a development tool. Now, if you were primarily a rails site that uses very little javascript, this would be a much more questionable call. There's no possible way to keep an app that can reconstruct screen state anonymous. The app, by necessity, records all info the user enters. I'd be more concerned about PCI.
      - bryanrasmussen 9y ago
        This would probably run into legal problems, you're essentially saying you must allow us to track everything or don't use the site, but GDPR is about granular permissions - if you assert that users must give blanket permissions I would argue that breaks GDPR right away. The legitimate interest is maybe arguable, but then people can argue hey you can develop and debug your site without these pervasive tracking tools. I think allowing this as a legitimate interest would be a big attack on the law.
simplify 9y ago
How does this compare to fullstory.com?
- arbesfeld 9y ago
  Good question- customers that have switched from FullStory generally say the logging is the reason they choose LogRocket. Network, console, and Redux logs gives support and developers crucial context for fixing bugs and understanding user issues. At larger scale (10M+ sessions), LogRocket dynamically samples sessions to help surface the most important sessions and issues from your application. Hope that's helpful. (disclosure: I work on LogRocket)
mrjaeger 9y ago
Very cool! Do you know if this product is currently HIPAA compliant or if there are plans to make it so in the future?
- arbesfeld 9y ago
  Thanks! Yep, LogRocket is HIPAA compliant though we usually suggest that clients scrub all PII before it leaves the client.
seattle_spring 9y ago
Does LogRocket easily hook up to PagerDuty?
- pkriete 9y ago
  It doesn't yet, but we did build it with reporting/monitoring tools in mind (a Slack integration is part of the beta). We think to do alerting correctly you really have to be sure that you're primarily flagging issues that actually impact the user. Nobody wants to get called in the middle of the night for a random browser quirk that didn't affect usability. Definitely get in touch if you have something specific you need alerting on!
txmjs 9y ago
Are you still planning on releasing an open source version of LogRocket, much like Sentry offers one?
- benthehenten 9y ago
  In the long term, it's definitely something we plan to do. For now, we are prioritizing building new features and improving the core product. Doing open source well requires significant resources for community management, PR review, and support. When we do release an open source version of LogRocket, we want to be sure that we can dedicate enough time to supporting our users and engaging the community. (I work at LogRocket)
  - txmjs 9y ago
    Absolutely, keep up the good work!

69 points by jastr 9y ago

We built a similar system internally that accomplished some of these functions. Essentially data is ingested to an ELK cluster with some custom views on top. This definitely looks more polished though!

salt-licker 9y ago

I've used TrackJS in the past - they have context on the user session surrounding front-end exceptions, e.g. what the user clicked on beforehand. Is a video replay really that much more useful?

anarchy8 9y ago
In my opinion yes -- being able to actually see the user going through the app before they clicked on the thing that made an error can make a huge difference. Sentry's breadcrumbs are similar, but they don't provide enough context. An actual session recording provide all the context.

yomielu 9y ago

I see this will log Redux actions/state leading up to a crash- can it also log data from MobX?

arbesfeld 9y ago
Yep! LogRocket also supports Vuex, @ngrx/store, and mobx-state-tree (both actions + state logging)

randall 9y ago

I feel weird... like I've never heard of this before and it seems fully built out... what am I missing?

benthehenten 9y ago
(disclosure - I wrote this article and work at LogRocket) The product is built-out in the sense that we have many customers who use LogRocket daily to fix bugs and support their users. Of course we've only just started toward our long term goal and have lots more work to do!

bryanrasmussen 9y ago

So, we've logged everything the user has done into logrocket, and given logrocket some way of uniquely identifying the user. So anyone should ask, what is the GDPR impact here?

pkriete 9y ago
Note: I work at LogRocket (and also a European) I believe we fall into the same categories as any other analytics tools (or any data controller/data processor in GDPR speak). Which is to say, there are compliance boxes that need to be checked (right to object, right to be forgotten, etc), but it's possible to be compliant and we plan to be when the law takes effect in May. It's also worth noting that pretty much all frontend error reporting tools nowadays send a URL along with the exception and allow you to assign user data to the event.
- gnud 9y ago
  Not only the right to be forgotten - but also requiring real, informed consent, up front, that can be denied. Seems simpler to try really hard to keep the data anonymous.
  - x0x0 9y ago
    I'd call it a legitimate interest (site development and debugging tools) and skip the consent. Simply say you must allow cookies and our debugging tool or don't use the site. Particularly with SPA or js framework heavy sites where more bugs occur only in the browser, this is simply a development tool. Now, if you were primarily a rails site that uses very little javascript, this would be a much more questionable call. There's no possible way to keep an app that can reconstruct screen state anonymous. The app, by necessity, records all info the user enters. I'd be more concerned about PCI.
    - bryanrasmussen 9y ago
      This would probably run into legal problems, you're essentially saying you must allow us to track everything or don't use the site, but GDPR is about granular permissions - if you assert that users must give blanket permissions I would argue that breaks GDPR right away. The legitimate interest is maybe arguable, but then people can argue hey you can develop and debug your site without these pervasive tracking tools. I think allowing this as a legitimate interest would be a big attack on the law.

simplify 9y ago

How does this compare to fullstory.com?

arbesfeld 9y ago
Good question- customers that have switched from FullStory generally say the logging is the reason they choose LogRocket. Network, console, and Redux logs gives support and developers crucial context for fixing bugs and understanding user issues. At larger scale (10M+ sessions), LogRocket dynamically samples sessions to help surface the most important sessions and issues from your application. Hope that's helpful. (disclosure: I work on LogRocket)

mrjaeger 9y ago

Very cool! Do you know if this product is currently HIPAA compliant or if there are plans to make it so in the future?

arbesfeld 9y ago
Thanks! Yep, LogRocket is HIPAA compliant though we usually suggest that clients scrub all PII before it leaves the client.

seattle_spring 9y ago

Does LogRocket easily hook up to PagerDuty?

pkriete 9y ago
It doesn't yet, but we did build it with reporting/monitoring tools in mind (a Slack integration is part of the beta). We think to do alerting correctly you really have to be sure that you're primarily flagging issues that actually impact the user. Nobody wants to get called in the middle of the night for a random browser quirk that didn't affect usability. Definitely get in touch if you have something specific you need alerting on!

txmjs 9y ago

Are you still planning on releasing an open source version of LogRocket, much like Sentry offers one?

benthehenten 9y ago
In the long term, it's definitely something we plan to do. For now, we are prioritizing building new features and improving the core product. Doing open source well requires significant resources for community management, PR review, and support. When we do release an open source version of LogRocket, we want to be sure that we can dedicate enough time to supporting our users and engaging the community. (I work at LogRocket)
- txmjs 9y ago
  Absolutely, keep up the good work!