EventTimeline

Debug Rails apps by replaying method calls from any request.

You get a bug report: "Order failed for user X". You check the logs, see a 500 error, but the stack trace doesn't tell you what state the app was in or what data was being processed.

• A SUCCESS or FAILED badge for the request.
• Every call to a watched method in order, with its params, its return value and a timestamp.
• The exception class and message, the method, file and line that raised it, and the backtrace.
• The full recorded payload of any event, one click away.

• Requests stay fast. Expected overhead is listed below.
• Code outside watched files runs at tracker-off speed.
• A crash is always recorded with its source location, even when the request hit the event cap.

• Only the methods you watch are traced. Each one gets its own TracePoint, attached when its class loads.
• Events are buffered per request and written to the database in one insert when the request ends.
• Sensitive values are filtered by default, for example password, token and secret.

gem 'event_timeline'

bundle install
rails generate event_timeline:install
rails db:migrate

Tell it what to track:

# config/initializers/event_timeline.rb
EventTimeline.configure do |config|
  config.watch 'app/services'
  config.watch 'app/models'
end

Make a request, grab the request ID from logs, visit:

/event_timeline/sessions/abc-123-def

You'll see the call timeline with params and return values. If the request crashed, you'll see the exception with its source location and backtrace.

• Only tracks Ruby method calls (not SQL queries or HTTP calls)
• Methods defined at runtime, after their class loaded, are not traced
• Large values get truncated

• Configuration: watched paths, filtering, retention, truncation, runtime control, custom correlation IDs
• Release notes

MIT