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docs(dart): Add New Spans page and stream mode migration guide#18554

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docs(dart): Add New Spans page and stream mode migration guide#18554
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@buenaflor

@buenaflor buenaflor commented Jun 25, 2026

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Introduces the Dart/Flutter stream mode (span streaming) documentation — the base of a 4-PR stack. Mirrors the Python New Spans docs.

  • New New Spans page: enabling stream mode (traceLifecycle: SentryTraceLifecycle.stream), manual instrumentation (startSpan/startSpanSync/startInactiveSpan), typed SentryAttribute attributes (including array factories), span status, beforeSendSpan/ignoreSpans, sampling, and verification
  • New Migrate to Stream Mode guide mapping the transaction API to the new span API
  • Minimum SDK version documented as 9.23.0

This is the bottom of the stack — merge this first. Stacked children: #18609, #18610, #18611.

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- In `stream` mode, the transaction APIs (`Sentry.startTransaction`, `ISentrySpan.startChild`) do nothing and log a warning.
- In `static` mode, the new span APIs (`Sentry.startSpan`) do nothing.
- Auto-instrumentations switch to the correct API automatically based on this setting.

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I'd like to add the Expandable "How does span flushing work?" we have in the other guides here too. Or is there a specific reason why it's not included on this page?

This is the content I'd add (copied from Python):

<Expandable title="How does span flushing work?">

When stream mode is enabled, the SDK maintains an internal buffer that groups spans by trace ID.

Spans are flushed:

- On a regular interval (every 5 seconds by default).
- When a trace's buffer reaches 1,000 spans.
- When the SDK shuts down.

Each flush sends only the spans accumulated since the last flush, grouped into envelopes by trace ID.

</Expandable>

@buenaflor buenaflor Jul 7, 2026

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Sounds good, I'd also add:

When the internal buffer size exceeds 1 MiB or something like that. This is specific to mobile because we have tighter memory constraints

Comment thread docs/platforms/dart/common/tracing/new-spans/index.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/platforms/dart/common/tracing/new-spans/index.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/platforms/dart/common/tracing/new-spans/index.mdx Outdated
- } finally {
- await transaction.finish();
- }
+ await Sentry.startSpan('checkout', (span) async {

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We should add more examples here like we did for Python:

  • start a span
  • Start what used to be a transaction (parent none)
  • Start a child span while a parent is active
  • Start a child span with a parent that's currently not active

let me know if you have any thoughts on this

@buenaflor buenaflor Jul 7, 2026

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Makes sense, here are some examples - feel free to adapt these as you see fit

1. Start a span

If there is no active parent, this becomes a service span. If there is an active span, it becomes a child automatically.

await Sentry.startSpan('load-user', (span) async {
  span.setAttribute('user.id', SentryAttribute.string(userId));

  await loadUser(userId);
});

2. Start what used to be a transaction

Explicitly pass parentSpan: null to force a service span.

await Sentry.startSpan(
  'checkout-flow',
  (span) async {
    await runCheckout();
  },
  parentSpan: null,
);

3. Start a child span while a parent is active

Nested startSpan calls parent automatically through zones.

await Sentry.startSpan('checkout-flow', (checkoutSpan) async {
  await Sentry.startSpan('charge-card', (chargeSpan) async {
    await paymentService.charge();
  });

  await Sentry.startSpan('create-order', (orderSpan) async {
    await orderService.create();
  });
});

4. Start a child span with a parent that is not active

Keep the parent span reference and pass it explicitly.

final parent = Sentry.startInactiveSpan(
  'background-sync',
  parentSpan: null,
);

try {
  await someOtherAsyncBoundary();

  await Sentry.startSpan(
    'fetch-page',
    (child) async {
      await api.fetchPage();
    },
    parentSpan: parent,
  );
} finally {
  parent.end();
}

Comment thread docs/platforms/dart/common/tracing/new-spans/index.mdx Outdated
buenaflor and others added 10 commits July 9, 2026 13:16
Document stream mode (SentryTraceLifecycle.stream) for the Dart and
Flutter SDKs, where spans are sent as they finish instead of being
batched into a transaction. Mirrors the Python New Spans pages.

- New Spans page: enabling stream mode, manual instrumentation with
  startSpan/startSpanSync/startInactiveSpan, typed attributes, status,
  beforeSendSpan/ignoreSpans, sampling, and verification
- Migration guide: mapping transaction-based APIs to the new span APIs
- Platform-includes split init snippets for Flutter vs plain Dart

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fix two factual errors in the New Spans pages verified against the SDK
source: a custom tracesSampler receives a different sampling context in
stream mode (read name and attributes from spanContext, not the
transaction context), and beforeSendSpan runs when each span ends and
sees all attributes rather than only creation-time ones. Also add the
service span type to the span taxonomy.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add the array SentryAttribute factories (stringArray/intArray/boolArray/
doubleArray) to the attributes table and clarify that startSpanSync is
the synchronous variant of startSpan (T vs Future<T> callback).

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
The enum has four values (ok, error, cancelled, deadlineExceeded), not
just ok/error. Fix the New Spans and migration guide wording.

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Per SDK maintainer: only ok and error are valid stream-mode span
statuses.

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Mirror the Python migration guide: scope setTag isn't applied to
streamed spans; use Sentry.setAttributes to set span-applying attributes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
@inventarSarah inventarSarah force-pushed the buenaflor/docs/dart-span-streaming-new-spans branch from 47f4b17 to e3ee6bc Compare July 9, 2026 11:17
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2 participants