---
title: "Logs & Process Crashes"
description: "Learn more about how to configure the SDK. These options are set when the SDK is first initialized, passed to the init function."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging/
---

# Logs & Process Crashes | Sentry for Elixir

##### Looking for Structured Logs?

This page covers **error and crash reporting** through Erlang's logger system. To send structured log events to Sentry's Logs product, see [Set Up Logs](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/logs.md).

Elixir and Erlang automatically log process crashes. To capture these errors in Sentry, you'll want to enable the Elixir SDK's built-in [`:logger`](https://www.erlang.org/doc/man/logger.html) handler. The most common way to do this is by adding the handler in your application's configuration, and then calling `Logger.add_handlers/1` in the [`Application.start/2` callback](https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Application.html#start/2) of your application.

First, add the Sentry handler to your application's configuration. (You can use any handler identifier instead of `:my_sentry_handler`. ):

`config/prod.exs`

```elixir
config :my_app, :logger, [
  {:handler, :my_sentry_handler, Sentry.LoggerHandler, %{
    config: %{
      metadata: [:file, :line],
      rate_limiting: [max_events: 10, interval: _1_second = 1_000],
      capture_log_messages: true
    }
  }}
]
```

Next, add the handler to the logger in your application's `Application.start/2` callback:

`my_app/lib/application.ex`

```elixir
@impl Application
def start(_type, _args) do
  children = [
    # ...
  ]

  Logger.add_handlers(:my_app)
end
```

### [Capturing Logged Messages](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#capturing-logged-messages)

If you also want to capture **logged messages** above a specific log level (and not just process crashes), you'll need to set `:capture_log_messages`. Then you can use the `:level` option in the handler configuration:

`config/prod.exs`

```elixir
config :my_app, :logger, [
  {:handler, :my_sentry_handler, Sentry.LoggerHandler, %{
    config: %{capture_log_messages: true, level: :error}
  }}
]
```

Now messages will be reported to Sentry even if logged with `Logger.error/1`, for example:

```elixir
Logger.error("This will be reported to Sentry")
```

## [Logger Handler Configuration](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#logger-handler-configuration)

You can configure the `:logger` handler under the `:config` key, as shown above. The configuration options are shown below.

### [capture\_log\_messages](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#capture_log_messages)

| Type    | `bool`  |
| ------- | ------- |
| Default | `false` |

This is set to `false` by default and will only send crash reports (which are messages with metadata that look like an exit reason and a stacktrace). When set to `true`, the handler will report all logged messages to Sentry (provided they're not filtered by `:excluded_domains` and `:level`).

### [level](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#level)

| Type    | `atom`   |
| ------- | -------- |
| Default | `:error` |

This is the minimum [`Logger` level](https://hexdocs.pm/logger/Logger.html#module-levels) to send events for and is set to `:error` by default. You can lower it to `:warning`, for example, to also report `Logger.warning/1` calls.

### [metadata](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#metadata)

| Type    | `list` |
| ------- | ------ |
| Default | `[]`   |

Use this to include non-Sentry logger metadata in reports. It's set to to `[]` by default. If it's a list of keys, metadata in those keys will be added in the `:extra` context under the `:logger_metadata` key. If it's set to `:all`, all metadata will be included.

### [excluded\_domains](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#excluded_domains)

| Type    | `list`      |
| ------- | ----------- |
| Default | `[:cowboy]` |

This configuration option makes it so that messages with a domain in the configured list will not be sent. It's set to `[:cowboy]` by default to avoid double-reporting events from `Sentry.PlugCapture`.

### [rate\_limiting](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/elixir/configuration/logging.md#rate_limiting)

| Type | `map` |
| ---- | ----- |

This configures rate-limiting for reported logged messages to Sentry and is disabled by default. It can help limit the number of messages being reported in a short period of time.