---
title: "Distributed Tracing Tutorial"
description: "Follow this tutorial to set up Sentry error monitoring and distributed tracing for a sample fullstack JavaScript application. By the end, you'll be able to trigger an error and a trace and see it in Sentry.io."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/
---

# Distributed Tracing Tutorial

This step-by-step tutorial walks you through setting up Sentry in both a frontend (React) and backend (Express) sample application. After completing this tutorial you'll be able to trace the source and impact of your issues across projects and platforms. As part of this tutorial, you will:

* Configure the Sentry SDK on a sample React and Node/Express app.
* Trigger a sample front-end error that in turn triggers a sample back-end error.
* Go to the [Traces](https://sentry.io/orgredirect/organizations/:orgslug/traces/) page in Sentry and see a detailed view of your entire trace.

This tutorial uses a [sample React application](https://github.com/getsentry/tracing-tutorial-frontend) on the frontend as well as a sample [Express API](https://github.com/getsentry/tracing-tutorial-backend) on the backend. Some familiarity with JavaScript will help you follow along. If you'd prefer, you can also apply the same steps to your own project, assuming you're running React on the frontend and Express on the backend.

## [Prerequisites](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing.md#prerequisites)

* A [Sentry](https://sentry.io) account, or [sign up](https://sentry.io/signup/) for one
* A [GitHub](https://github.com/) account, or [sign up](https://github.com/join) for one
* [Node 18+](https://nodejs.org/en/download/)

## [Next](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing.md#next)

[Create your Sentry Projects](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/create-new-project.md)

## Pages in this section

- [Create Frontend and Backend Sentry Projects](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/create-new-project.md)
- [Add the Sentry SDK to Your Frontend Project](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/initialize-sentry-sdk-frontend.md)
- [Add the Sentry SDK to Your Backend Project](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/initialize-sentry-sdk-backend.md)
- [Capture Your First Distributed Tracing Error](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/distributed-tracing/generate-first-error.md)