All Skills > SDK Setup > Cocoa SDK

Sentry Cocoa SDK

Opinionated wizard that scans your Apple project and guides you through complete Sentry setup.

Invoke This Skill When

User asks to "add Sentry to iOS/macOS/tvOS" or "set up Sentry" in an Apple app
User wants error monitoring, tracing, profiling, session replay, or logging in Swift/ObjC
User mentions sentry-cocoa, SentrySDK, or the Apple/iOS Sentry SDK
User wants to monitor crashes, app hangs, watchdog terminations, or performance

Note: SDK versions and APIs below reflect Sentry docs at time of writing (sentry-cocoa 9.5.1). Always verify against docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/ before implementing.

Phase 1: Detect

Run these commands to understand the project before making any recommendations:

# Check existing Sentry dependency
grep -i sentry Package.swift Podfile Cartfile 2>/dev/null

# Detect UI framework (SwiftUI vs UIKit)
grep -rE "@main|struct.*App.*:.*App" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5
grep -rE "AppDelegate|UIApplicationMain" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect platform and deployment targets
grep -E "platforms:|\.iOS|\.macOS|\.tvOS|\.watchOS|\.visionOS" Package.swift 2>/dev/null
grep -E "platform :ios|platform :osx|platform :tvos|platform :watchos" Podfile 2>/dev/null

# Detect logging
grep -rE "import OSLog|os\.log|CocoaLumberjack|DDLog" --include="*.swift" . 2>/dev/null | head -5

# Detect companion backend
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
ls ../go.mod ../requirements.txt ../Gemfile ../package.json 2>/dev/null

What to note:

Is sentry-cocoa already in Package.swift or Podfile? If yes, skip to Phase 2 (configure features).
SwiftUI (@main App struct) or UIKit (AppDelegate)? Determines init pattern.
Which Apple platforms? (Affects which features are available — see Platform Support Matrix.)
Existing logging library? (Enables structured log capture.)
Companion backend? (Triggers Phase 4 cross-link for distributed tracing.)

Phase 2: Recommend

Based on what you found, present a concrete recommendation. Don't ask open-ended questions — lead with a proposal:

Recommended (core coverage):

✅ Error Monitoring — always; crash reporting, app hangs, watchdog terminations, NSError/Swift errors
✅ Tracing — always for apps; auto-instruments app launch, network, UIViewController, file I/O, Core Data
✅ Profiling — production apps; continuous profiling with minimal overhead

Optional (enhanced observability):

⚡ Session Replay — user-facing apps; ⚠️ disabled by default on iOS 26+ (Liquid Glass rendering)
⚡ Logging — when structured log capture is needed
⚡ User Feedback — apps that want crash/error feedback forms from users

Not available for Cocoa:

❌ Metrics — use custom spans instead
❌ Crons — backend only
❌ AI Monitoring — JS/Python only

Recommendation logic:

Feature	Recommend when...
Error Monitoring	Always — non-negotiable baseline
Tracing	Always for apps — rich auto-instrumentation out of the box
Profiling	Production apps where performance matters
Session Replay	iOS only user-facing apps (check iOS 26+ caveat; not tvOS/macOS/watchOS/visionOS)
Logging	Existing `os.log` / CocoaLumberjack usage, or structured logs needed
User Feedback	Apps wanting in-app bug reports with screenshots

Propose: "I recommend Error Monitoring + Tracing + Profiling. Want me to also add Session Replay and Logging?"

Phase 3: Guide

Install

Option 1 — Sentry Wizard (recommended):

You need to run this yourself — the wizard opens a browser for login and requires interactive input that the agent can't handle. Copy-paste into your terminal:
brew install getsentry/tools/sentry-wizard && sentry-wizard -i ios
It handles login, org/project selection, auth token setup, SDK installation, AppDelegate updates, and dSYM/debug symbol upload build phases.

Once it finishes, come back and skip to Verification.

If the user skips the wizard, proceed with Option 2 (SPM/CocoaPods) and manual setup below.

Option 2 — Swift Package Manager: File → Add Packages → enter:

https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa.git

Or in Package.swift:

.package(url: "https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa", from: "9.5.1"),

SPM Products — choose exactly one per target:

Product	Use Case
`Sentry`	Recommended — static framework, fast app start
`Sentry-Dynamic`	Dynamic framework alternative
`SentrySwiftUI`	SwiftUI view performance tracking (`SentryTracedView`)
`Sentry-WithoutUIKitOrAppKit`	watchOS, app extensions, CLI tools

⚠️ Xcode allows selecting multiple products — choose only one.

Option 3 — CocoaPods:

platform :ios, '11.0'
use_frameworks!

target 'YourApp' do
  pod 'Sentry', :git => 'https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa.git', :tag => '9.5.1'
end

Known issue (Xcode 14+): Sandbox rsync.samba error → Target Settings → "Enable User Script Sandbox" → NO.

Quick Start — Recommended Init

Full config enabling the most features with sensible defaults. Add before any other code at app startup.

SwiftUI — App entry point:

import SwiftUI
import Sentry

@main
struct MyApp: App {
    init() {
        SentrySDK.start { options in
            options.dsn = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_DSN"]
                ?? "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0"
            options.environment = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT"]
            options.releaseName = Bundle.main.infoDictionary?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String

            // Error monitoring (on by default — explicit for clarity)
            options.enableCrashHandler = true
            options.enableAppHangTrackingV2 = true
            options.enableWatchdogTerminationTracking = true
            options.attachScreenshot = true
            options.attachViewHierarchy = true
            options.sendDefaultPii = true

            // Tracing
            options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0          // lower to 0.2 in high-traffic production

            // Profiling (SDK 9.0.0+ API)
            options.configureProfiling = {
                $0.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
                $0.lifecycle = .trace
            }

            // Session Replay (disabled on iOS 26+ by default — safe to configure)
            options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
            options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0

            // Logging (SDK 9.0.0+ top-level; use options.experimental.enableLogs in 8.x)
            options.enableLogs = true
        }
    }

    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup { ContentView() }
    }
}

UIKit — AppDelegate:

import UIKit
import Sentry

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(
        _ application: UIApplication,
        didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?
    ) -> Bool {
        SentrySDK.start { options in
            options.dsn = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_DSN"]
                ?? "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0"
            options.environment = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT"]
            options.releaseName = Bundle.main.infoDictionary?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String

            options.enableCrashHandler = true
            options.enableAppHangTrackingV2 = true
            options.enableWatchdogTerminationTracking = true
            options.attachScreenshot = true
            options.attachViewHierarchy = true
            options.sendDefaultPii = true

            options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0

            options.configureProfiling = {
                $0.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
                $0.lifecycle = .trace
            }

            options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 1.0
            options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0

            // Logging (SDK 9.0.0+ top-level; use options.experimental.enableLogs in 8.x)
            options.enableLogs = true
        }
        return true
    }
}

⚠️ SDK initialization must occur on the main thread.

For Each Agreed Feature

Walk through features one at a time. Load the reference file for each, follow its steps, and verify before moving to the next:

Feature	Reference file	Load when...
Error Monitoring	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/error-monitoring.md`	Always (baseline)
Tracing	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/tracing.md`	App launch, network, UIViewController perf
Profiling	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/profiling.md`	Production perf-sensitive apps
Session Replay	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/session-replay.md`	User-facing iOS/tvOS apps
Logging	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/logging.md`	Structured log capture needed
User Feedback	`${SKILL_ROOT}/references/user-feedback.md`	In-app bug reporting wanted

For each feature: Read ${SKILL_ROOT}/references/<feature>.md, follow steps exactly, verify it works.

Configuration Reference

Key `SentryOptions` Fields

Option	Type	Default	Purpose
`dsn`	`String`	`""`	SDK disabled if empty; reads `SENTRY_DSN` env var
`environment`	`String`	`""`	e.g., `"production"`; reads `SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`
`releaseName`	`String`	`""`	e.g., `"my-app@1.0.0"`; reads `SENTRY_RELEASE`
`debug`	`Bool`	`false`	Verbose SDK output — disable in production
`sendDefaultPii`	`Bool`	`false`	Include IP, user info from active integrations
`enableCrashHandler`	`Bool`	`true`	Master switch for crash reporting
`enableAppHangTrackingV2`	`Bool`	`true` (9.0+)	Differentiates fully/non-fully blocked hangs
`appHangTimeoutInterval`	`Double`	`2.0`	Seconds before classifying as hang
`enableWatchdogTerminationTracking`	`Bool`	`true`	Track watchdog kills (iOS, tvOS, Mac Catalyst)
`attachScreenshot`	`Bool`	`false`	Capture screenshot on error
`attachViewHierarchy`	`Bool`	`false`	Capture view hierarchy on error
`tracesSampleRate`	`NSNumber?`	`nil`	Transaction sample rate (`nil` = tracing disabled); Swift auto-boxes `Double` literals (e.g. `1.0` → `NSNumber`)
`tracesSampler`	`Closure`	`nil`	Dynamic per-transaction sampling (overrides rate)
`enableAutoPerformanceTracing`	`Bool`	`true`	Master switch for auto-instrumentation
`tracePropagationTargets`	`[String]`	`[".*"]`	Hosts/regex that receive distributed trace headers
`enableCaptureFailedRequests`	`Bool`	`true`	Auto-capture HTTP 5xx errors as events
`enableNetworkBreadcrumbs`	`Bool`	`true`	Breadcrumbs for outgoing HTTP requests
`inAppInclude`	`[String]`	`[]`	Module prefixes treated as "in-app" code
`maxBreadcrumbs`	`Int`	`100`	Max breadcrumbs per event
`sampleRate`	`Float`	`1.0`	Error event sample rate
`beforeSend`	`Closure`	`nil`	Hook to mutate/drop error events
`onCrashedLastRun`	`Closure`	`nil`	Called on next launch after a crash

Environment Variables

Variable	Maps to	Purpose
`SENTRY_DSN`	`dsn`	Data Source Name
`SENTRY_RELEASE`	`releaseName`	App version (e.g., `my-app@1.0.0`)
`SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`	`environment`	Deployment environment

Platform Feature Support Matrix

Feature	iOS	tvOS	macOS	watchOS	visionOS
Crash Reporting	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
App Hangs V2	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Watchdog Termination	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
App Start Tracing	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
UIViewController Tracing	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
SwiftUI Tracing	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Network Tracking	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Profiling	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Session Replay	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
MetricKit	✅ (15+)	❌	✅ (12+)	❌	❌

Verification

Test that Sentry is receiving events:

// Trigger a test error event:
SentrySDK.capture(message: "Sentry Cocoa SDK test")

// Or test crash reporting (without debugger — crashes are intercepted by debugger):
// SentrySDK.crash()  // uncomment, run without debugger, relaunch to see crash report

Check the Sentry dashboard within a few seconds. If nothing appears:

Set options.debug = true — prints SDK internals to Xcode console
Verify the DSN is correct and the project exists
Ensure initialization is on the main thread

Production Settings

Lower sample rates for production to control volume and cost:

options.tracesSampleRate = 0.2          // 20% of transactions

options.configureProfiling = {
    $0.sessionSampleRate = 0.1          // 10% of sessions
    $0.lifecycle = .trace
}

options.sessionReplay.sessionSampleRate = 0.1   // 10% continuous
options.sessionReplay.onErrorSampleRate = 1.0   // 100% on error (keep high)

options.debug = false                   // never in production

Phase 4: Cross-Link

After completing Apple setup, check for a companion backend missing Sentry coverage:

# Detect companion backend
ls ../backend ../server ../api 2>/dev/null
cat ../go.mod 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../requirements.txt ../Pipfile 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../Gemfile 2>/dev/null | head -5
cat ../package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"name"|"dependencies"' | head -5

If a backend is found, configure tracePropagationTargets to enable distributed tracing end-to-end, and suggest the matching skill:

Backend detected	Suggest skill	Trace header support
Go (`go.mod`)	`sentry-go-sdk`	✅ automatic
Python (`requirements.txt`)	`sentry-python-sdk`	✅ automatic
Ruby (`Gemfile`)	`sentry-ruby-sdk`	✅ automatic
Node.js backend (`package.json`)	`sentry-node-sdk` (or `sentry-express-sdk`)	✅ automatic

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Events not appearing	Set `debug: true`, verify DSN format, ensure init is on main thread
Crashes not captured	Run without debugger attached — debugger intercepts signals
App hangs not reported	Auto-disabled when debugger attached; check `appHangTimeoutInterval`
Session Replay not recording	Check iOS version — disabled by default on iOS 26+ (Liquid Glass); verify `sessionSampleRate > 0`
Tracing data missing	Confirm `tracesSampleRate > 0`; check `enableAutoPerformanceTracing = true`
Profiling data missing	Verify `sessionSampleRate > 0` in `configureProfiling`; for `.trace` lifecycle, tracing must be enabled
`rsync.samba` build error (CocoaPods)	Target Settings → "Enable User Script Sandbox" → `NO`
Multiple SPM products selected	Choose only one of `Sentry`, `Sentry-Dynamic`, `SentrySwiftUI`, `Sentry-WithoutUIKitOrAppKit`
`inAppExclude` compile error	Removed in SDK 9.0.0 — use `inAppInclude` only
Watchdog termination not tracked	Requires `enableCrashHandler = true` (it is by default)
Network breadcrumbs missing	Requires `enableSwizzling = true` (it is by default)
`profilesSampleRate` compile error	Removed in SDK 9.0.0 — use `configureProfiling` closure instead

sentry-cocoa-sdk