React

2

Add environment variables

Required

Add your PostHog project token and host to your environment variables. For Vite-based React apps, use the VITE_PUBLIC_ prefix:

.env

PostHog AI

VITE_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN=<ph_project_token>
VITE_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST=https://us.i.posthog.com

3

Initialize PostHog

Required

Wrap your app with the PostHogProvider component at the root of your application (such as main.tsx if you’re using Vite):

main.tsx

PostHog AI

import { StrictMode } from 'react'
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import './index.css'
import App from './App.jsx'
import { PostHogProvider } from '@posthog/react'
const options = {
  api_host: import.meta.env.VITE_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST,
  defaults: '2026-01-30',
} as const
createRoot(document.getElementById('root')).render(
  <StrictMode>
    <PostHogProvider apiKey={import.meta.env.VITE_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN} options={options}>
      <App />
    </PostHogProvider>
  </StrictMode>
)

defaults option

The defaults option automatically configures PostHog with recommended settings for new projects. See SDK defaults (opens in a new tab) for details.

4

Accessing PostHog in your code

Recommended

Use the usePostHog hook to access the PostHog instance in any component wrapped by PostHogProvider:

MyComponent.tsx

PostHog AI

import { usePostHog } from '@posthog/react'
function MyComponent() {
    const posthog = usePostHog()
    function handleClick() {
        posthog.capture('button_clicked', { button_name: 'signup' })
    }
    return <button onClick={handleClick}>Sign up</button>
}

You can also import posthog directly for non-React code or utility functions:

utils/analytics.ts

PostHog AI

import posthog from 'posthog-js'
export function trackPurchase(amount: number) {
    posthog.capture('purchase_completed', { amount })
}

5

Send events

Recommended

Click around and view a couple pages to generate some events. PostHog automatically captures pageviews, clicks, and other interactions for you.

If you’d like, you can also manually capture custom events:

JavaScript

PostHog AI

posthog.capture('my_custom_event', { property: 'value' })

6

Set up exception autocapture

Recommended

You can enable exception autocapture for the JavaScript Web SDK in the Error tracking section of your project settings (opens in a new tab).

When enabled, this automatically captures $exception events when errors are thrown by wrapping the window.onerror and window.onunhandledrejection listeners.

7

Set up error boundaries

Optional

You can use the PostHogErrorBoundary component to capture rendering errors thrown by components:

JavaScript

PostHog AI

import { PostHogProvider, PostHogErrorBoundary } from '@posthog/react'
const Layout = () => {
  return (
    <PostHogProvider apiKey="<ph_project_token>">
      <PostHogErrorBoundary
        fallback={<YourFallbackComponent />} // (Optional) Add a fallback component that's shown when an error happens.
      >
        <YourApp />
      </PostHogErrorBoundary>
    </PostHogProvider>
  )
}
const YourFallbackComponent = ({ error, componentStack, exceptionEvent }) => {
  return <div>Something went wrong. Please try again later.</div>
}

8

Manually capture exceptions

Optional

It is also possible to manually capture exceptions using the captureException method:

JavaScript

PostHog AI

posthog.captureException(error, additionalProperties)

Verify error tracking

Recommended

Confirm events are being sent to PostHog

Before proceeding, let’s make sure exception events are being captured and sent to PostHog. You should see events appear in the activity feed.

Check for exceptions in PostHog (opens in a new tab)

9

Upload source maps

Required

Great, you’re capturing exceptions! If you serve minified bundles, the next step is to upload source maps to generate accurate stack traces.

Let’s continue to the next section.

Upload source maps (opens in a new tab)