---
title: "Application Metrics"
description: "Metrics allow you to send, view and query counters, gauges and measurements from your Sentry-configured apps to track application health and drill down into related traces, logs, and errors."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics/
---

# Set Up Metrics | Sentry for Native

With Sentry's [Application Metrics](https://docs.sentry.io/product/explore/metrics.md), you can send counters, gauges, and distributions from your applications to Sentry. Once in Sentry, these metrics can be viewed alongside relevant errors, and searched using their individual attributes.

## [Requirements](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#requirements)

Metrics for Native are supported in Sentry Native SDK version [0.12.6](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-native/releases/tag/0.12.6) and above.

## [Usage](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#usage)

Metrics are enabled by default. To disable metrics, set the `enable_metrics` option to `false` during SDK initialization:

```c
sentry_options_t *options = sentry_options_new();
sentry_options_set_enable_metrics(options, false);
// set other options
sentry_init(options);
```

You can send metrics using the `sentry_metrics_*()` APIs.

### [Metric Types](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#metric-types)

| Type           | Use For                                      |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `count`        | Events (orders, clicks, API calls)           |
| `gauge`        | Current values (queue depth, connections)    |
| `distribution` | Value ranges (response times, payload sizes) |

### [Counters](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#counters)

Track the number of times something happens:

```c
sentry_metrics_count("api.requests", 1, sentry_value_new_null());
```

### [Gauges](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#gauges)

Track current values that can go up or down:

```c
sentry_metrics_gauge("active_connections", 42, NULL, sentry_value_new_null());
```

### [Distributions](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#distributions)

Track a range of values (e.g., response times):

```c
sentry_metrics_distribution("response.time", 150.5, SENTRY_UNIT_MILLISECOND, sentry_value_new_null());
```

### [Custom Attributes](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#custom-attributes)

Add attributes to filter and group metrics in Sentry:

```c
sentry_value_t attributes = sentry_value_new_object();
sentry_value_set_by_key(attributes, "endpoint",
    sentry_value_new_attribute(sentry_value_new_string("/api/orders"), NULL));
sentry_value_set_by_key(attributes, "region",
    sentry_value_new_attribute(sentry_value_new_string("us-west"), NULL));

sentry_metrics_count("api.calls", 1, attributes);
```

When no custom attributes are needed, pass `sentry_value_new_null()`.

### [Units](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#units)

For `gauge` and `distribution` metrics, specify a unit to help Sentry display values in a human-readable format. The SDK provides `SENTRY_UNIT_*` constants for common units like `SENTRY_UNIT_MILLISECOND`, `SENTRY_UNIT_BYTE`, etc. Pass `NULL` when no specific unit applies.

```c
sentry_metrics_gauge("memory.usage", 1024, SENTRY_UNIT_BYTE, sentry_value_new_null());
sentry_metrics_distribution("latency", 42.5, SENTRY_UNIT_MILLISECOND, sentry_value_new_null());
```

## [Options](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#options)

### [before\_send\_metric](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#before_send_metric)

To filter metrics or modify them before they are sent to Sentry, use the `before_send_metric` option:

```c
static sentry_value_t
before_send_metric_callback(sentry_value_t metric, void *user_data)
{
    (void)user_data;

    // Drop metrics with specific attributes
    sentry_value_t attributes = sentry_value_get_by_key(metric, "attributes");
    if (!sentry_value_is_null(sentry_value_get_by_key(attributes, "debug"))) {
        sentry_value_decref(metric);
        return sentry_value_new_null();
    }

    // Return the metric to send it
    return metric;
}

sentry_options_set_before_send_metric(options, before_send_metric_callback, NULL);
```

The `before_send_metric` function receives a metric object and optional `user_data`, and should return the metric object if you want it to be sent to Sentry, or it should free the metric using `sentry_value_decref(metric)` and return a `sentry_value_new_null()` if you want to discard it.

## [Default Attributes](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#default-attributes)

The Native SDK automatically attaches the following attributes to every metric:

### [Core Attributes](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#core-attributes)

* `environment`: The environment set in the SDK if defined. This is sent from the SDK as `sentry.environment`.
* `release`: The release set in the SDK if defined. This is sent from the SDK as `sentry.release`.
* `sdk.name`: The name of the SDK that sent the metric. This is sent from the SDK as `sentry.sdk.name`.
* `sdk.version`: The version of the SDK that sent the metric. This is sent from the SDK as `sentry.sdk.version`.

### [User Attributes](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/native/metrics.md#user-attributes)

If user information is available in the current scope, the following attributes are added to the metric:

* `user.id`: The user ID.
* `user.name`: The username.
* `user.email`: The email address.