Deploying on a Friday afternoon is always a gamble. Last Friday, we pushed what seemed like a routine front-end update, until users started reporting errors. A null object slipped through, breaking part of the UI.
Normally, this would trigger a bunch of Sentry alerts. But Sentry alerts are noisy, and it could have gone unnoticed until it became a bigger problem. Even fixing a small issue like this one would require digging through logs, diagnosing the issue, and writing a patch.
Traditional monitoring tools like Sentry and Datadog tell you something’s wrong, but they don’t fix it for you. That’s still on the engineers to triage, investigate, and write patches manually.
With APX, we can automatically resolve issues in minutes. Our Sentry agent detected the error, gathered context, wrote a fix, and opened a pull request in GitHub. Instead of scrambling to ship a fix, I just reviewed the PR and hit merge.
A five-minute fix instead of hours of manual debugging. This is what reliability should look like.
What is the APX Sentry agent?
APX’s Sentry agent is like a 24/7 debugging assistant that automatically detects, diagnoses, and fixes errors captured in Sentry. This eliminates the need for manual triage and investigation.
When an issue is detected in Sentry, APX takes action by:
- Identifying the root cause by analyzing stack traces, recent code changes, and logs
- Writes the fix and opens a GitHub pull requests for review
- Monitors that the issue is actually resolved
- Updates the Sentry ticket and Slack channels once the fix is live
How APX’s Sentry agent works
Here’s how our Sentry agent transforms the debugging process:
Detecting the issue in Sentry
Shortly after we deployed to production on Friday, Sentry captured an error that was starting to trend with customers. A .toUpperCase() function was being called on a null object, causing a front-end failure.
Our Sentry agent analyzed the stack trace to pinpoint the exact file, function, and line number responsible. Instead of just capturing the error, APX assessed the severity based on user impact and determined that an immediate fix was needed.
Generating a context-aware bug report
Once the issue was identified, our Sentry agent automatically created a structured bug report explaining what went wrong, where it happened, and why it mattered, linking the issue directly to the original Sentry alert.
Debugging is often slowed down by noisy alerts, forcing engineers to dig through endless logs. Rather than overwhelming you with raw data, the agent delivers concise, highly contextual reports that makes it obvious what needs to be done.
Writing the fix and opening a PR
The Sentry agent then documented the issue and wrote the fix. It generated a patch by adding a missing null check before the function call, then opened a GitHub pull request with a detailed commit message linking back to the original Sentry issue for full traceability.
All I had to do was review and merge. Since I didn’t have to handle the grunt work of debugging and code generation, I could get right back into building new features.
Verifying the fix and closing the loop
Once I merged the pull request, the Sentry agent continued monitoring for the error. It verified that the issue was resolved and automatically updated the related Sentry ticket to mark it as closed. Then it sent a Slack notification to my team to ensure everyone stayed informed without the need for manual follow-ups.
Why this matters
Most monitoring tools, including Sentry’s built-in bot, lack full-stack awareness. They detect issues but don’t understand how those issues relate to the broader system. Which is a problem since errors don’t happen in isolation.
APX connects the dots across Sentry, Datadog, Postgres, and GitHub to understand the bigger picture. It analyzes every issue in context, cross-referencing logs, database queries, and recent code changes to provide a precise diagnosis.
And, the Sentry agent owns the entire issue resolution process. Instead of a fragmented debugging workflow where engineers must manually triage, investigate, and patch issues, our agent streamlines everything into one continuous, automated loop: detect, fix, verify, and close.
A new approach to reliability
Imagine a system that fixes problems before they impact users, optimizes performance without manual intervention, and frees engineers to focus on innovation instead of debugging.
At StepChange, we built APX to fundamentally change how reliability is managed. Instead of engineers constantly reacting to outages, APX proactively detects, fixes, and optimizes your infrastructure autonomously.
Want to see it in action? Try APX for free with a 30-day free trial or book a live demo to see how APX can eliminate firefighting and keep your systems running at peak performance. We work with companies of all sizes, from smaller teams to enterprise-level operations, and can tailor APX agents to your specific enterprise requirements.