Cloud & DevOps

Stop Flying Blind: Error Handling & Logging Best Practices for Production Apps

Errors happen. Learn how Meerako implements robust error handling and structured logging (with tools like Sentry) to fix bugs before users complain.

Meerako Team
DevOps & SRE
October 28, 2025
11 min read
Stop Flying Blind: Error Handling & Logging Best Practices for Production Apps

Stop Flying Blind: Error Handling & Logging Best Practices for Production Apps

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Meerako — We build 5.0★, reliable applications with enterprise-grade error handling and observability.

Introduction

Your application will have errors in production. A third-party API will go down, a user will input unexpected data, a database connection will fail. It's inevitable.

What separates a professional, 5.0★ application from an amateur one is how it handles these errors and how it logs them so your team can fix them before users report them.

Simply console.log('Error!') and letting your app crash is not a strategy. At Meerako, robust error handling and structured logging are core parts of our development process, intrinsically linked to our Observability stack. This guide covers our best practices, focusing on a Node.js backend.

What You'll Learn

  • Why unhandled exceptions are unacceptable.
  • The difference between Operational Errors vs. Programmer Errors.
  • Structured Logging: Why console.log isn't enough.
  • Using Error Tracking Services (like Sentry) for proactive alerting.
  • Best practices for user-facing error messages.

1. Catch Unhandled Exceptions & Rejections

In Node.js, an uncaught exception or unhandled promise rejection will likely crash your entire server process. This is the cardinal sin of backend development.

  • The Fix: Implement global error handlers at the very top level of your application:
// In your main server.js (Simplified Example) // Catch synchronous errors process.on('uncaughtException', (error) => { console.error('UNCAUGHT EXCEPTION! Shutting down...', error); // Perform cleanup, log the error to your tracking service process.exit(1); // Exit gracefully }); // Catch asynchronous errors (Promises) process.on('unhandledRejection', (reason, promise) => { console.error('UNHANDLED REJECTION! Shutting down...', reason); // Perform cleanup, log the error process.exit(1); }); // Your Express app setup... const app = require('./app');

Key Point: Log the error, then gracefully shut down the process. Use a process manager (like PM2 or Kubernetes) to automatically restart it. Don't try to "recover" from an unknown state.

2. Differentiate Operational vs. Programmer Errors

Not all errors are created equal.

  • Operational Errors: Expected failures you can anticipate. (e.g., User inputs invalid data, third-party API times out, database connection lost). Your code should gracefully handle these, log them, and potentially retry or return a specific error to the user (like a 400 Bad Request).
  • Programmer Errors (Bugs): Unexpected failures due to flaws in your code. (e.g., TypeError: undefined is not a function). These should not be gracefully handled by retrying. They should trigger the global handlers above, log detailed stack traces, and cause a restart.

3. Implement Structured Logging

console.log('User logged in') is useless when you have 10,000 requests per second.
  • The Problem: Plain text logs are hard to search, filter, and analyze.
  • The Solution: Use a dedicated logging library (like Pino or Winston for Node.js) to output logs as JSON objects.
// Instead of: User 123 logged in // Do this: { "level": "info", "time": 1678886400000, "message": "User login successful", "userId": 123, "sourceIp": "192.168.1.100" }
  • Why it Matters: These structured logs can be shipped to a centralized logging platform (like AWS CloudWatch Logs, Loki, or Elasticsearch) where you can easily search, filter (e.g., show me all logs for userId=123 with level=error), and create dashboards.

4. Use an Error Tracking Service (Sentry)

Waiting for users to report bugs is reactive. You need proactive alerting.

  • The Problem: You don't know about errors until users complain.
  • The Solution: Integrate an error tracking service like Sentry, Bugsnag, or Datadog APM.
  • How it Works: You add their SDK to your app. When an unhandled exception occurs (Programmer Error), the SDK automatically captures the error, the full stack trace, request context (headers, user ID), and sends it to the service. Your team gets an instant alert (e.g., in Slack) with all the details needed to debug it.
  • Meerako's Standard: We integrate Sentry into every application we build.

5. Provide User-Friendly Error Messages

Never show raw stack traces or cryptic database errors to end-users!

  • Operational Errors: Return clear, helpful messages. (e.g., "Invalid email address format. Please try again.")
  • Programmer Errors (500s): Return a generic message. (e.g., "Oops! Something went wrong on our end. Please try again later or contact support.") Log the detailed error internally for your team.

Conclusion

Robust error handling and logging are not optional features; they are fundamental requirements for building professional, reliable software. They are the difference between flying blind and having the visibility needed to quickly diagnose and fix problems.

By implementing global handlers, structured logging, and proactive error tracking, Meerako builds 5.0★ applications that are not just functional, but resilient and maintainable.

Ready to build your application with enterprise-grade reliability baked in?

🧠 Meerako — Your Trusted Dallas Technology Partner.

From concept to scale, we deliver world-class SaaS, web, and AI solutions.

📞 Call us at +1 469-336-9968 or 💌 email [email protected] for a free consultation.

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#Error Handling#Logging#Monitoring#Observability#Sentry#Node.js#Meerako#DevOps#Best Practices

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About Meerako Team

DevOps & SRE

Meerako Team is a DevOps & SRE at Meerako with extensive experience in building scalable applications and leading technical teams. Passionate about sharing knowledge and helping developers grow their skills.

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