Getting Started

Configuration

The Sentry CLI can be configured through environment variables and a local database. Most users don't need to set any of these — the CLI auto-detects your project from your codebase and stores credentials locally after sentry auth login.

Environment Variables

`SENTRY_HOST`

Base URL of your Sentry instance. Only needed for self-hosted Sentry. SaaS users (sentry.io) should not set this.

export SENTRY_HOST=https://sentry.example.com

When set, all API requests (including OAuth login) are directed to this URL instead of https://sentry.io. The CLI also sets this automatically when you pass a self-hosted Sentry URL as a command argument.

SENTRY_HOST takes precedence over SENTRY_URL. Both work identically — use whichever you prefer.

`SENTRY_URL`

Alias for SENTRY_HOST. If both are set, SENTRY_HOST takes precedence.

`SENTRY_ORG`

Default organization slug. Skips organization auto-detection.

export SENTRY_ORG=my-org

`SENTRY_PROJECT`

Default project slug. Can also include the org in org/project format.

# Project only (requires SENTRY_ORG or auto-detection for the org)
export SENTRY_PROJECT=my-project

# Org and project together
export SENTRY_PROJECT=my-org/my-project

When using the org/project combo format, SENTRY_ORG is ignored.

`SENTRY_DSN`

Sentry DSN for project auto-detection. This is the same DSN you use in Sentry.init(). The CLI resolves it to determine your organization and project.

export SENTRY_DSN=https://key@o123.ingest.us.sentry.io/456

The CLI also detects DSNs from .env files and source code automatically — see DSN Auto-Detection.

`SENTRY_CLIENT_ID`

Client ID of a public OAuth application on your Sentry instance. Required for self-hosted Sentry (26.1.0+) to use sentry auth login with the device flow. See the Self-Hosted guide for how to create one.

export SENTRY_CLIENT_ID=your-oauth-client-id

`SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR`

Override the directory where the CLI stores its database (credentials, caches, defaults). Defaults to ~/.sentry/.

export SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR=/path/to/config

`SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT`

Force plain text output (no colors or ANSI formatting). Takes precedence over NO_COLOR.

export SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT=1

`NO_COLOR`

Standard convention to disable color output. See no-color.org. Respected when SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT is not set.

export NO_COLOR=1

`SENTRY_CLI_NO_TELEMETRY`

Disable CLI telemetry (error tracking for the CLI itself). The CLI sends anonymized error reports to help improve reliability — set this to opt out.

export SENTRY_CLI_NO_TELEMETRY=1

`SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL`

Controls the verbosity of diagnostic output. Defaults to info.

Valid values: error, warn, log, info, debug, trace

export SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL=debug

Equivalent to passing --log-level debug on the command line. CLI flags take precedence over the environment variable.

`SENTRY_CLI_NO_UPDATE_CHECK`

Disable the automatic update check that runs periodically in the background.

export SENTRY_CLI_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1

Global Options

These flags are accepted by every command. They are not shown in individual command --help output, but are always available.

`--log-level <level>`

Set the log verbosity level. Accepts: error, warn, log, info, debug, trace.

sentry issue list --log-level debug
sentry --log-level=trace cli upgrade

Overrides SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL when both are set.

`--verbose`

Shorthand for --log-level debug. Enables debug-level diagnostic output.

sentry issue list --verbose

Credential Storage

Credentials are stored in a SQLite database at ~/.sentry/ (or the path set by SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR) with restricted file permissions (mode 600) for security. The database also caches:

Organization and project defaults
DSN resolution results
Region URL mappings
Project aliases (for monorepo support)