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Steam: crashes, errors and reports through Sentry, into the same inbox as the web #170
Description
Part of #142 · Milestone 4: Steam features · plan item 4.3
Size: M · Owner-only step: Sentry project + intake secret
What
The Steam build has no Firebase, so the web's Send button has nowhere to go. Steam's forum takes text and pictures only (no files) and exists only once the store page is up. Industry practice: crashes go automatically to a crash service, bug reports come from an in-game button into one tracker, and ideas/talk live on the forum and in reviews.
Decision (owner, 28 Oct 2026, plan question 15)
- Steam build: Sentry's Electron SDK, SDK only. No Sentry form is shown.
- Crashes and script errors are sent automatically, with an off switch in Settings.
- Report a bug keeps the web's window: note, Bug/Idea, Draw-a-Bug, both pictures, save, device details, recent errors and crash log. On Send it calls Sentry's feedback API with the pictures and save as attachments, tagged bug/idea. Sentry queues it on disk while offline.
- Web: unchanged. Google sign-in → Firestore
reports→ intake. - One inbox: the intake Action in the private reports repo also reads new Sentry feedback through Sentry's API. It makes the same kind of issue, tagged
steam, with a link to the Sentry event and any linked crash. Sentry keeps data 30 days, so the issue is the lasting copy. - Still true: no Firebase in the Steam build. A support address goes on the store page, and the Steam forum gets "Bug reports" and "Ideas" sections.
Done when
- Steam build sends crashes, errors and reports to Sentry (tested on Spacewar 480, Windows + native Linux), with the off switch
- Our report window sends through Sentry's feedback call, attachments included, and works offline
- After a crash, our window asks what happened, tied to that crash: the page dying is caught by Electron's main process, which reloads the game and opens the window; the whole app dying is spotted at the next start, because the game didn't close cleanly. Sentry's own crash pop-up isn't used: it lives in the page, so it can't show after a real crash.
- Intake turns Sentry feedback into issues in the reports repo
- Privacy notice names Sentry and what it receives (Steam: a privacy notice #150)
- Owner: Sentry project, its token as an intake secret; forum sections and support address once the store page exists
To check first
- Native (main/GPU process) crashes on Windows and Linux in Electron 45
- Sentry's rate limits for feedback, so spam is held back
- Attachment sizes within the free plan's 1 GB
Sources
- https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/electron/user-feedback/
- https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/javascript/guides/electron/
- https://sentry.io/pricing/
- https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/error_reporting (Steam's own crash reports: 32-bit Windows only)
Plan page (owner only): https://claude.ai/artifact/Cf5SWQHzAKTy2uHCC1UQgw
Activity
[-]Steam: online parts for Steam players (reports, scoreboard)[/-][+]Steam: "Report a bug" saves a report file and opens the forum or email[/+]ChefControl commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Reopened for a decision (28 Oct), question 15 on the plan page. The Steam forum takes text and pictures, not files, and it only exists once the store page is up. So a report file sent through the forum mostly ends up as email. Options:
reportscollection, so the intake makes a private issue as today. Nothing else in the Steam build uses Firebase. Spam is held back by the per-player limit plus Firebase's per-address limit on new sign-ins. Offline, it falls back to saving a file. The privacy notice gains a line.Either way: a support address on the store page, plus "Bug reports" and "Ideas" forum sections.
[-]Steam: "Report a bug" saves a report file and opens the forum or email[/-][+]Steam: crashes, errors and reports through Sentry, into the same inbox as the web[/+]ChefControl commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Decided 28 Oct (plan question 15): Sentry for crashes, errors and reports on Steam, through the SDK only, behind our own window. The web keeps its own path. The intake brings both into one inbox. Body updated.