Menu

Metadata

You can supply extra context on errors and performance traces using metadata. This can help to add information that is not already part of the request parameters, session data or request headers.

Do not send Personal Identifiable Information (PII) to AppSignal. Filter PII (e.g., names, emails) and use an ID, hash, or pseudonymized identifier instead.

For HIPAA-covered entities, more info on signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is available in our Business Add-Ons documentation.

Also read our guides on how to set up metadata and how to filter this metadata.

Types of metadata

To add more complex data structures to error and performance traces, different types of metadata can be used. Some of these are set by our instrumentations automatically and can be overwritten if needed.

These are the kind of extra data that can be set.

  1. Request parameters
    • If you are using a supported web framework or library, AppSignal will store the request query parameters, request payload body or background job arguments for you automatically.
  2. Request session data
    • If you are using a supported web framework, AppSignal will store the request session data for you automatically.
  3. Request headers
    • If you are using a supported web framework, AppSignal will store the request headers for you automatically.
  4. Function parameters
    • Function parameters are the parameters that background jobs or scripts start with.
  5. Custom data
    • You can use custom data if additional details you want to send are not related to the above three types. AppSignal does not automatically save anything in custom data unless you specifically tell it.