sentry-javascript: startTransaction method no longer returning transaction

Is there an existing issue for this?

I have checked for existing issues https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/issues
I have reviewed the documentation https://docs.sentry.io/
I am using the latest SDK release https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/releases

How do you use Sentry?

Saas (sentry.io)

Which package are you using?

@sentry/node

SDK Version

6.18.2

Framework Version

No response

Link to Sentry event

No response

Steps to Reproduce

We are using Nestjs and create spanned transactions for logging. Recently upgraded from 6.11.0 to 6.18.2 and began seeing the issue. Here’s just a bit of sample usage:

const { method, headers, url } = this.request;
    const transaction = Sentry.startTransaction({
      name: `Route: ${method} ${url}`,
      op: 'transaction'
    });

    Sentry.getCurrentHub().configureScope((scope) => {
      scope.setSpan(transaction);
      scope.setContext('http', {
        method,
        url,
        headers
      });
    });

Transaction is undefined in this instance so a scope is never configured. I have tested the startTransaction method in two separate projects and both are experiencing the same issue. Downgrading library back to 6.11.0 fixes the issue.

Expected Result

startTransaction method should return an instance of transaction so it can be used for proper scoping.

Actual Result

When pulling the scoped span via Sentry.getCurrentHub().getScope()?.getSpan(); I am receiving undefined as the span was never created properly due to the transaction being undefined.

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 2 years ago
Reactions: 14
Comments: 24 (6 by maintainers)

Commits related to this issue

Bugfix: make Transaction great again! https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/issues/4731 — committed to coffeacloudberry/galleria by coffeacloudberry 2 years ago
fix: explicitely import @sentry/tracing see https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/issues/4731 — committed to andipaetzold/zwiftmap by andipaetzold 2 years ago

Most upvoted comments

You can use: import "@sentry/tracing" when importing @sentry/node as a temporary workaround while we’re working on this.

Name-space imports such as: import * as Tracing from "@sentry/tracing" currently don’t inject relevant functionality unless you specifically use Tracing somewhere in your project.

+16

onurtemizkan on Mar 22, 2022

@JVMartin just checked back with the rest of the team. In short: The way you’ve set up things right now is the intended and correct way. We have updated the docs to list import '@sentry/tracing'; as a required import statement.

For anyone stumbling onto this issue, please import as follows for tracing to work:

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/node";
import "@sentry/tracing";

+14

lforst on May 13, 2022

Importing the @sentry/tracing package before calling Sentry.startTransaction() fixed the issue for me.

+10

danizord on Mar 22, 2022

This repo is not mine, but is affected with the same issue

If you were to update the sentry SDK to current in the project, you’ll see the error being thrown.

crice88 on Mar 18, 2022

I am also getting the undefined transaction issue for a Nest JS API. In my case it only happens on windows, I tested on a Macbook Air with an M1 chip and transactions where working properly but tested on two PCs (Windows 10 and 11) and I am not able to create transactions. I also got the idea of trying with version 6.11.0 of @sentry/node and transactions started working

geraldosalazar16 on Mar 21, 2022

Thanks @crice88, saw your message on StackOverflow. I am the owner of the Nest.js example. I can reproduce the bug on my side as well. I am not sure what’s happening so far. It seems I have another error in my log:

Sentry Logger [Warn]: Extension method startTransaction couldn't be found, doing nothing.

As you said this started after upgrading from 6.11. My repo hasn’t changed since Aug 18, 2021.

ericjeker on Mar 19, 2022

Encountered the same problem. Confirming that import "@sentry/tracing" as a workaround fixes the issue.

niieani on Mar 25, 2022

@lforst Even tho it’s documented like that, given all the comments and confusion in this ticket, it’s rather unexpected.

How about something like this:

import { NodeTracing } "@sentry/tracing";

Sentry.init({
    // ...
    integrations: [new NodeTracing()],
});

Even if its useless and does nothing, but it adds the syntactic sugar to avoid confusion.

MichaelSp on Nov 21, 2022

Still facing this issue with version "@sentry/node": "7.14.2",. Any update on this?

raoulus on Oct 12, 2022

In 6.19.6 having a import "@sentry/tracing"; statement is still mandatory for a normal (unbundled) Node.js application. 😕

n1ru4l on Apr 20, 2022

Manually reverting eb09c284180d5024158b569adb343468457a50ed solved this for me. ~~@onurtemizkan I can submit a PR to revert, but unsure of the consequences of that~~.

6.19.4 confirmed good

kpdecker on Apr 20, 2022

@SimonSchick Sometimes your bundler might be a little too smart and will remove the import statement that has no use. Try import * as Tracing from "@sentry/tracing";, then use it somewhere below like Tracing && true;.

mcrawshaw on Apr 13, 2022

Encountering the same issue after updating to sentry sdk latest version 6.19.6, this unfortunately caused us some downtime, can you please alter the return type of startTransaction to include | undefined? This would be a temporary indicator so at least some or your users will not be affected.

Adding import '@sentry/tracing'; as an explicit import doesn’t seem to affect this either, (we already import parts of it elsewhere in the code base).

SimonSchick on Apr 8, 2022

Hi, @crice88.

This is very odd. startTransaction, when set up correctly, should always return a transaction, so what this says to me is that the guys of the function aren’t getting injected the way they should. Here is the code that does that, which runs when @sentry/tracing is imported.

I can’t think right now of any change we’ve made at all recently which would affect that. Would you be able to provide a minimal repro for us to poke at?

lobsterkatie on Mar 18, 2022