---
title: "Breadcrumbs"
description: "Learn more about what Sentry uses to create a trail of events (breadcrumbs) that happened prior to an issue."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/enriching-events/breadcrumbs/
---

# Breadcrumbs | Sentry for Dart

##### Hey... did you mean Logs? Sentry has them now!

Manual breadcrumbs had a good run, but [Sentry's got logs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/logs.md). Structured, searchable, and way easier to alert or query on. Check them out!

Sentry uses *breadcrumbs* to create a trail of events that happened prior to an issue. These events are very similar to traditional logs, but can record more rich structured data.

This page provides an overview of manual breadcrumb recording and customization. Learn more about the information that displays on the **Issue Details** page and how you can filter breadcrumbs to quickly resolve issues in [Using Breadcrumbs](https://docs.sentry.io/product/error-monitoring/breadcrumbs.md).

##### Learn about SDK usage

Developers who want to modify the breadcrumbs interface can learn more in our [developer documentation about the Breadcrumbs Interface](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/foundations/transport/event-payloads/breadcrumbs/).

## [Manual Breadcrumbs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/enriching-events/breadcrumbs.md#manual-breadcrumbs)

You can manually add breadcrumbs whenever something interesting happens. For example, you might manually record a breadcrumb if the user authenticates or another state change occurs.

Manually record a breadcrumb:

```dart
import 'package:sentry/sentry.dart';

Sentry.addBreadcrumb(Breadcrumb(message: 'Authenticated user'));
```

## [Automatic Breadcrumbs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/enriching-events/breadcrumbs.md#automatic-breadcrumbs)

To track automatic [Breadcrumbs for HTTP requests](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/foundations/transport/event-payloads/breadcrumbs/#breadcrumb-types), you can add a Sentry wrapper that does it automatically for you.

The following code applies if you are using the [http.Client](https://pub.dev/documentation/http/latest/http/Client-class.html) class from the [http](https://pub.dev/packages/http) library. If you're using package `Dio`, please refer to our [`sentry_dio`](https://pub.dev/packages/sentry_dio) integration.

The `SentryHttpClient` can be used as a standalone client like this:

```dart
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:sentry/sentry.dart';

final client = SentryHttpClient();
try {
  final url = 'https://example.com/whatsit/create';
  final response = await client.post(url, body: {
    'name': 'doodle',
    'color': 'blue',
  });
  print('Response body: ${response.body}');
} finally {
  client.close();
}
```

The `SentryHttpClient` can also be used as a wrapper for your own `HTTP Client`:

```dart
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:sentry/sentry.dart';

final myClient = http.Client();
final client = SentryHttpClient(client: myClient);
try {
  final url = 'https://example.com/whatsit/create';
  final response = await client.post(url, body: {
    'name': 'doodle',
    'color': 'blue',
  });
  print('Response body: ${response.body}');
} finally {
  client.close();
}
```

## [Customize Breadcrumbs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/enriching-events/breadcrumbs.md#customize-breadcrumbs)

SDKs allow you to customize breadcrumbs through the `beforeBreadcrumb` hook.

This hook is passed an already assembled breadcrumb and, in some SDKs, an optional hint. The function can modify the breadcrumb or decide to discard it entirely by returning `null`:

```dart
await Sentry.init((options) {
  options.beforeBreadcrumb = (breadcrumb, hint) {

    return 'a.spammy.Logger' == breadcrumb.category ? null : breadcrumb;

  };
});
```

For information about what can be done with the hint, see [Filtering Events](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/dart/configuration/filtering.md#using-hints).