Native

The Sentry Native SDK is intended for C and C++. However, since it builds as a dynamic library and exposes C-bindings, it can be used by any language that supports interoperability with C, such as the Foreign Function Interface (FFI).

Using the sentry-native SDK in a standalone use case is currently an experimental feature. The SDK’s primary function is to fuel our other SDKs, like sentry-java or sentry-unreal. Support from our side is best effort and we do what we can to respond to issues in a timely fashion, but please understand if we won’t be able to address your issues or feature suggestions.

Sentry also offers higher-level SDKs for platforms with built-in support for native crashes:

On this page, we get you up and running with Sentry's SDK.

Don't already have an account and Sentry project established? Head over to sentry.io, then return to this page.

Sentry captures data by using an SDK within your application’s runtime.

The Native SDK currently supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. The Native SDK also acts as an Android NDK support library in downstream SDKs via the Android SDK, but currently does not directly support the platform.

To build the SDK, download the latest sources from the Releases page. The SDK is managed as a CMake project, which additionally supports several configuration options, such as the backend to use.

For example, CMake can be used like this (on macOS):

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# Configure the CMake build into the `build` directory with crashpad (the default
# backend on macOS, thus optional to specify). Specifying `RelWithDebInfo` as the
# `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE` is also optional because it is the default in sentry-native
# for all generators supporting it.
cmake -B build -D SENTRY_BACKEND=crashpad -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
# build the project
cmake --build build --parallel
# install the resulting artifacts into a specific prefix
cmake --install build --prefix install
# which will result in the following (on macOS):
exa --tree install --level 2
install
├── bin
│  └── crashpad_handler
├── include
│  └── sentry.h
└── lib
   ├── cmake
   ├── libsentry.dylib
   └── libsentry.dylib.dSYM

contrast the above with the build-steps for a typical msbuild project on Windows:

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# The msbuild generator ignores the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE because it contains all
# build-types. Here we leave out the backend specification and rely on CMake
# selecting crashpad as Windows' default backend.
cmake -B build
# The actual build step then requires we specify which build-type we want
# to apply via the `--config` parameter. Please be aware that in msbuild
# projects, the `--parallel` option has no effect.
cmake --build build --config RelWithDebInfo
# install the resulting artifacts (again requiring build-type!)
cmake --install build --prefix install --config RelWithDebInfo
# which will result in the following output (ignoring non-essential lines):
tree /f install
├───bin
│       crashpad_handler.exe
│       crashpad_handler.pdb
│       sentry.dll
│       sentry.pdb
│
├───include
│       sentry.h
│
└───lib
    │   sentry.lib

Configuration should happen as early as possible in your application's lifecycle.

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#include <sentry.h>

int main(void) {
  sentry_options_t *options = sentry_options_new();
  sentry_options_set_dsn(options, "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0");
  // This is also the default-path. For further information and recommendations:
  // https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/configuration/options/#database-path
  sentry_options_set_database_path(options, ".sentry-native");
  sentry_options_set_release(options, "my-project-name@2.3.12");
  sentry_options_set_debug(options, 1);
  sentry_init(options);

  /* ... */

  // make sure everything flushes
  sentry_close();
}

Alternatively, the DSN can be passed as SENTRY_DSN environment variable during runtime. This can be especially useful for server applications.

This snippet includes an intentional error, so you can test that everything is working as soon as you set it up.

The quickest way to verify Sentry in your Native application is by capturing a message:

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sentry_capture_event(sentry_value_new_message_event(
  /*   level */ SENTRY_LEVEL_INFO,
  /*  logger */ "custom",
  /* message */ "It works!"
));

Learn more about manually capturing an error or message in our Usage documentation.

To view and resolve the recorded error, log into sentry.io and select your project. Clicking on the error's title will open a page where you can see detailed information and mark it as resolved.

Help improve this content
Our documentation is open source and available on GitHub. Your contributions are welcome, whether fixing a typo (drat!) or suggesting an update ("yeah, this would be better").