Error detection

Server error detection catch what a 200 hides

PHP warnings, WordPress critical errors, SQL errors, and stack traces, detected on the pages you already monitor. Nothing to install, nothing to configure.

# last scan · agency-client.example

2 findings

PHP error output visible on page

PHP

Deprecated: preg_match_all(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($subject) is deprecated in /home/…/wp-content/plugins/…/Shortcodes.php on line 525

PHP error output visible on page

PHP

Warning: Undefined array key "title" in /home/…/wp-content/themes/…/header.php on line 12

The page returned 200 OK. Every uptime check passed. The deprecation spew was stacked above the header, where every visitor could read it.

Why error detection

The site was up. The page was broken.

A PHP version bump or a plugin update flips one setting, and suddenly every visitor sees deprecation warnings stacked above your header. The server returns 200, so your uptime check passes, your host's monitoring passes, and nobody tells you. Sentinel reads the page the way a visitor does and recognizes the shape of leaked server errors on any stack.

  • Catches error output that renders on an otherwise healthy page
  • No configuration: the signature library ships with Sentinel
  • Included on every plan, free plan included

Error detection settings

Detection
On by default
Stacks
PHP · WP · SQL · Python · .NET +
Matching
Structural (path + line)
On detection
Warning incident + alert

Features

Detection that ships configured

Zero configuration

On by default for new monitors. No error strings to guess, no rules to write. Sentinel already knows what leaked server errors look like.

Any stack

PHP, WordPress, Craft CMS, Statamic, Laravel, Symfony, Python tracebacks, ASP.NET, and SQL errors. One detection engine, one signature library.

Structural matching

Signatures require the shape of a real leak: a file path plus a line number, an SQLSTATE code, a traceback header. A blog post about PHP errors never alerts.

A security signal too

Visible error output leaks server paths, and a debug page in production is an exposure. The alert tells you what leaked so you can judge the urgency.

Warning, not panic

The site is up, so this opens a warning-severity incident rather than paging you like an outage. You get told before your clients do.

Resolves itself

Fix the page and the incident closes on the next scan, with a recovery alert. Full incident history, timestamps, and the exact text that was found.

By the numbers

The check nobody else runs

External uptime monitors check status codes and leave you to hand-write keyword rules for error strings you have not seen yet. Sentinel ships the signatures, scans the pages it already checks, and turns leaks into incidents.

10+

Signature families across stacks

0

Rules you have to write

24/7

Body scanning on pages you already monitor

100%

Of plans include it, free included

FAQ

Server error detection questions.

Still have questions? Get in touch.

Which stacks and frameworks does it detect?

PHP errors and stack traces (which covers WordPress, Craft CMS, Statamic, and any PHP site), the WordPress critical-error and database-connection pages, SQL errors like SQLSTATE codes, Python tracebacks, Laravel and Symfony debug pages, and ASP.NET server error pages. The signature library grows as we find new shapes worth catching.

Will it alert on a page that just talks about errors?

No. Every signature requires the structure of a real leak, such as a file path with a line number or an SQLSTATE code, not just the word 'error'. A tutorial about fixing PHP warnings will not trigger it.

My host already monitors my site. Why do I need this?

Host monitoring watches the server, from inside the host's own network, for the host's own SLA. Error text rendering on a 200 page is invisible to it. Sentinel checks the page from outside, the way your visitors experience it.

Is it enabled on my existing monitors?

New monitors have it on by default. Existing monitors keep it off until you enable it in the monitor's settings, so adding the feature never opens incidents for warnings a site has quietly carried for months. Turning it on takes one checkbox.

Which plans include server error detection?

Every plan, including the free plan. Alerts go through your configured channels: email and Discord on the free plan, plus Slack, Teams, SMS, and webhooks on paid plans.

What happens when the error is fixed?

The incident resolves automatically on the next clean scan and Sentinel sends a recovery alert. You keep the full history: when the leak appeared, what it said, and when it cleared.

Your visitors can see that stack trace

Add a monitor and error detection is already on. Find the leaks before a client screenshots them.

No card for the free plan · 14-day trial on paid plans · Cancel anytime