---
title: Monitoring quickstart
description: Send a log entry, report a span and capture an error, then read each one back — from the CLI, the API or the SDK.
type: tutorial
product: monitoring
summary: One of each signal in, and the same three read back out
updated: 2026-09-28
order: 1
---

This page sends one log entry, one span and one error, then reads each one
back. Every step exists in the console too, but the calls are the clearest
statement of what is happening. The TypeScript lines are the reference's own:
they call the same methods through `sylphx.observability`.

<Prerequisites
	items={[
		'An account, and a project with an environment — see the platform start page',
		'A key with the observability:ingest scope to send, and observability:read to read back',
	]}
/>

## 1. Send a log entry

A [Log Entry](/docs/api/log_entries) needs `log_time`, `severity` and `body`.
The write is a batch, and the batch is ingested atomically:

```bash
sylphx observability log-entries write orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
```

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.sylphx.com/v1/orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/log_entries:write" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYLPHX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"log_entries":[{"body":"…","log_time":{},"severity":"trace"}]}'
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.logEntries.write({ logEntries: [{ body: '…', logTime: {}, severity: 'trace' }], parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production' })
```

The answer is `admitted_count`, the entries the call took. Send the same batch
again under the same `Idempotency-Key` and the same digest and it replays; send
a different body under that key and the call conflicts instead of writing a
second copy. Add `trace_id` and `span_id` to an entry and it is readable as
part of that trace.

## 2. Report a span

A span needs `trace_id`, `span_id`, `span_name`, `service_name`, `start_time`
and `end_time`, and the call validates a span's parent and time invariants
before it admits anything:

```bash
sylphx observability traces write-spans orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
```

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.sylphx.com/v1/orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/traces:writeSpans" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYLPHX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"spans":[{"end_time":{},"service_name":"…","span_id":"…","span_name":"…","start_time":{},"trace_id":"…"}]}'
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.traces.writeSpans({ parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production', spans: [{ endTime: {}, serviceName: '…', spanId: '…', spanName: '…', startTime: {}, traceId: '…' }] })
```

Nothing creates a [Trace](/docs/api/traces) on its own. A trace is every span
that shares one W3C trace id, so reporting the spans is what brings it into
being — a root span is simply the one whose `parent_span_id` is empty.

## 3. Capture an error

`capture` takes one occurrence, and the occurrence needs `event_time` and
`exception_type`. The answer carries the occurrence as it was stored:

```bash
sylphx observability error-groups capture orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
```

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.sylphx.com/v1/orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/error_groups:capture" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYLPHX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"error_event":{"event_time":{},"exception_type":"…"}}'
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.errorGroups.capture({ errorEvent: { eventTime: {}, exceptionType: '…' }, parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production' })
```

Leave `fingerprint` out and the [Error Group](/docs/api/error_groups) is chosen
for you, from the exception type and the symbolicated in-app stack. Set it and
the group is whatever you say. [Errors](/docs/monitoring/errors) covers the
grouping rules and what happens to a resolved group.

In a browser the same call goes out with a publishable key that holds
`observability:ingest`.

## 4. Read each one back

### Log entries

A query covers a bounded interval and answers with entries and a page token, and
one trace is followed with `trace_id = "..."`:

```bash
sylphx observability log-entries query orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
```

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.sylphx.com/v1/orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/log_entries:query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYLPHX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"start_time":{}}'
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.logEntries.query({ parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production', startTime: {} })
```

### Traces

The query answers with summaries — no spans — and the read answers with the
spans themselves:

```bash
sylphx observability traces query orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
sylphx observability traces get orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/traces/trace
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.traces.query({ parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production', startTime: {} })
```

### Errors

List the environment's groups, then the occurrences inside one group:

```bash
sylphx observability error-groups list orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production
sylphx observability error-events list orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production/error_groups/error-group
```

```ts
const response = await sylphx.observability.errorGroups.list({ parent: 'orgs/acme/projects/shop/envs/production' })
```

Each occurrence is one immutable record, with its breadcrumbs oldest first and
the `trace_id` and `span_id` that connect it to the trace you just read.

## Next

<RelatedDocs
	links={[
		{
			href: '/docs/monitoring/errors',
			label: 'Errors',
			description: 'Grouping by fingerprint, capture, and acknowledge, resolve and reopen.',
		},
		{
			href: '/docs/monitoring/source-maps',
			label: 'Source maps',
			description: 'Upload the map that turns a minified frame back into your source.',
		},
		{
			href: '/docs/monitoring/scrubbing',
			label: 'Scrubbing',
			description: 'What is removed from an occurrence before it is stored.',
		},
		{
			href: '/docs/api/log_entries',
			label: 'The log_entries collection',
			description: 'Every method, its scope and its examples.',
		},
	]}
/>