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Public APIedit

The Elastic APM Python agent has several public APIs. Most of the public API functionality is not needed when using one of our supported frameworks, but they allow customized usage.

Client APIedit

The public Client API consists of several methods on the Client class. This API can be used to track exceptions and log messages, as well as to mark the beginning and end of transactions.

Instantiationedit

To create a Client instance, import it and call its constructor:

from elasticapm import Client

client = Client({'SERVICE_NAME': 'example'}, **defaults)
  • config: A dictionary, with key/value configuration. For the possible configuration keys, see Configuration.
  • **defaults: default values for configuration. These can be omitted in most cases, and take the least precedence.

framework integrations like Django and Flask instantiate the client automatically.

Errorsedit

Client.capture_exception()edit

Captures an exception object:

try:
    x = int("five")
except ValueError:
    client.capture_exception()
  • exc_info: A (type, value, traceback) tuple as returned by sys.exc_info(). If not provided, it will be captured automatically.
  • date: A datetime.datetime object representing the occurrence time of the error. If left empty, it defaults to datetime.datetime.utcnow().
  • context: A dictionary with contextual information. This dictionary must follow the Context schema definition.
  • custom: A dictionary of custom data you want to attach to the event.
  • handled: A boolean to indicate if this exception was handled or not.

Returns the id of the error as a string.

Client.capture_message()edit

Captures a message with optional added contextual data. Example:

client.capture_message('Billing process succeeded.')
  • message: The message as a string.

  • param_message: Alternatively, a parameterized message as a dictionary. The dictionary contains two values: message, and params. This allows the APM server to group messages together that share the same parameterized message. Example:

    client.capture_message(param_message={
    'message': 'Billing process for %s succeeded. Amount: %s',
    'params': (customer.id, order.total_amount),
})
  • stack: If set to True (the default), a stacktrace from the call site will be captured.
  • exc_info: A (type, value, traceback) tuple as returned by sys.exc_info(). If not provided, it will be captured automatically, if capture_message() was called in an except block.
  • date: A datetime.datetime object representing the occurrence time of the error. If left empty, it defaults to datetime.datetime.utcnow().
  • context: A dictionary with contextual information. This dictionary must follow the Context schema definition.
  • custom: A dictionary of custom data you want to attach to the event.

Returns the id of the message as a string.

Either the message or the param_message argument is required.

Transactionsedit

Client.begin_transaction()edit

Begin tracking a transaction. Should be called e.g. at the beginning of a request or when starting a background task. Example:

client.begin_transaction('processors')
  • transaction_type: (required) A string describing the type of the transaction, e.g. 'request' or 'celery'.
Client.end_transaction()edit

End tracking the transaction. Should be called e.g. at the end of a request or when ending a background task. Example:

client.end_transaction('myapp.billing_process', processor.status)
  • name: (optional) A string describing the name of the transaction, e.g. process_order. This is typically the name of the view/controller that handles the request, or the route name.
  • result: (optional) A string describing the result of the transaction. This is typically the HTTP status code, or e.g. 'success' for a background task.

if name and result are not set in the end_transaction() call, they have to be set beforehand by calling elasticapm.set_transaction_name() and elasticapm.set_transaction_result() during the transaction.

Other APIsedit

elasticapm.instrument()edit

Instruments libraries automatically. This includes a wide range of standard library and 3rd party modules. A list of instrumented modules can be found in elasticapm.instrumentation.register. This function should be called as early as possibly in the startup of your application. For supported frameworks, this is called automatically. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.instrument()

elasticapm.set_transaction_name()edit

Set the name of the current transaction. For supported frameworks, the transaction name is determined automatically, and can be overridden using this function. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.set_transaction_name('myapp.billing_process')
  • name: (required) A string describing name of the transaction
  • override: if True (the default), overrides any previously set transaction name. If False, only sets the name if the transaction name hasn’t already been set.

elasticapm.set_transaction_result()edit

Set the name of the current transaction. For supported frameworks, the transaction result is determined automatically, and can be overridden using this function. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.set_transaction_result('SUCCESS')
  • result: (required) A string describing the result of the transaction, e.g. HTTP 2xx or SUCCESS
  • override: if True (the default), overrides any previously set result. If False, only sets the result if the result hasn’t already been set.

elasticapm.set_custom_context()edit

Attach custom contextual data to the current transaction and errors. Supported frameworks will automatically attach information about the HTTP request and the logged in user. You can attach further data using this function. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.set_custom_context({'billing_amount': product.price * item_count})
  • data: (required) A dictionary with the data to be attached. This should be a flat key/value dict object.

., *, and " are invalid characters for key names and will be replaced with _.

Errors that happen after this call will also have the custom context attached to them. You can call this function multiple times, new context data will be merged with existing data, following the update() semantics of Python dictionaries.

elasticapm.set_user_context()edit

Attach information about the currently logged in user to the current transaction and errors. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.set_user_context(username=user.username, email=user.email, user_id=user.id)
  • username: The username of the logged in user
  • email: The email of the logged in user
  • user_id: The unique identifier of the logged in user, e.g. the primary key value

Errors that happen after this call will also have the user context attached to them. You can call this function multiple times, new user data will be merged with existing data, following the update() semantics of Python dictionaries.

elasticapm.capture_spanedit

Capture a custom span. This can be used either as a function decorator or as a context manager (in a with statement). When used as a decorator, the name of the span will be set to the name of the function. When used as a context manager, a name has to be provided.

import elasticapm

@elasticapm.capture_span()
def coffee_maker(strength):
    fetch_water()

    with elasticapm.capture_span('near-to-machine', tags={"type": "arabica"}):
        insert_filter()
        for i in range(strengh):
            pour_coffee()

        start_drip()

    fresh_pots()
  • name: The name of the span
  • span_type: The type of the span, usually in a dot-separated hierarchy of type, subtype, and action, e.g. db.mysql.query
  • skip_frames: The number of stack frames to skip when collecting stack traces. Defaults to 0.
  • leaf: if True, all spans nested bellow this span will be ignored. Defaults to False.
  • tags: a dictionary of tags. Both keys and values must be strings. Defaults to None.

elasticapm.tag()edit

Attach tags to the the current transaction and errors. Example:

import elasticapm

elasticapm.tag(ecommerce=True, dollar_value=47.12)

Errors that happen after this call will also have the tags attached to them. You can call this function multiple times, new tags will be merged with existing tags, following the update() semantics of Python dictionaries.

The value is converted to a string.

., *, and " are invalid characters for tag names and will be replaced with _.

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