Django Report Errors To Admins Through Email

When running a Django application in production, it’s crucial to stay informed about any errors that occur. One effective way to do this is by setting up error reporting via email. This allows you to quickly respond to issues and maintain a smooth user experience. In this post, we’ll walk through the process of configuring Django to send error reports to administrators via email.

1. Configure Email Settings

First, you need to set up your email settings in your Django project’s settings.py file. Here’s an example configuration using Gmail:

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_HOST_USER = '[email protected]'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'your_app_password'

Remember to use an app password if you’re using Gmail with two-factor authentication.

2. Define Admins

Next, define the list of admins who should receive error emails:

ADMINS = [
    ('Your Name', '[email protected]'),
    ('Another Admin', '[email protected]'),
]

3. Set Server Email

Specify the email address that Django should use as the “From” address for error emails:

SERVER_EMAIL = '[email protected]'

4. Configure Logging

Django uses Python’s logging module to handle error reporting. Add the following to your settings.py:

LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'handlers': {
        'mail_admins': {
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'class': 'django.utils.log.AdminEmailHandler',
            'include_html': True,
        },
    },
    'loggers': {
        'django': {
            'handlers': ['mail_admins'],
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'propagate': True,
        },
    },
}

This configuration tells Django to send an email to the admins whenever an error occurs.

5. Test the Configuration

To test your setup, you can raise an exception in one of your views:

from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError

def test_error_view(request):
    raise ValidationError("This is a test error")

Make sure DEBUG is set to False in your settings, as Django only sends error emails when DEBUG is False.

6. Customize Error Emails (Optional)

If you want to customize the content of the error emails, you can create custom error templates. Create a directory named templates in your project root (if it doesn’t already exist) and add two files:

500.html: For server errors
404.html: For “Not Found” errors

Django will use these templates to generate the HTML content of the error emails.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you’ll ensure that you’re promptly notified of any errors in your Django application via email. This setup allows you to quickly identify and address issues, maintaining the reliability and performance of your application.

Remember to handle sensitive information like email passwords securely, preferably using environment variables or a secure key management system.

Happy coding, and may your error inbox remain as empty as possible!