Using the built-in diagnostic report generation in Node.js
Tags: webdev, node, javascript, productivity
Published: 2020-08-16 21:36:52

---
title: Using the built-in diagnostic report generation in Node.js
published: true
description: How to use the new report module to capture everything from heap stats, platform information to resource usage and stack traces.
tags: [webdev,nodejs,javascript,productivity]
//cover_image: https://direct_url_to_image.jpg
---

Prior to v12.8.3, in order to get a substantial amount of information about what Node was doing, you would need to use a number of modules like `os`, `process`, and custom npm libraries for heap and v8 information. Luckily, now we have a `report` built-in module to generate full fledge diagnostic reports with loads of information such as:

* Versioning (glib, arch, platform, node, module versions)
* OS Information
* CPU Details (speed, model, current timings)
* Network Interfaces
* Host
* Stack trace
* Native Stack
* Heap Usage Statistics
* Resource Usage (file system, disk, cpu, page faults)
* uvthread Usage
* libuv statistics
* Environment variables
* user limits (configured limits on the system)
* shared objects / libraries

I can tell you one of the most useful items on this list is the user limits. I've run into problems so many times where I forgot to configure these extra limits in the deployment that it's great to just have this information right in the report when an error crops up or when we need a report on demand like this.

## Use

Usage is very straightforward, it's right on the `process` object.

```
process.report.writeReport()
```

This will generate a report to a JSON file, you can pass along the file name in the `writeReport` argument. Alternatively you can call `getReport` as an object.

```
const report = process.report.getReport()
console.log(JSON.stringify(report, null, 2));
```

Optionally, you can pass along a new `Error` to the `getReport` function if you want to add some context to the stack trace.

## Runtime Generation

You can also add some runtime configuration arguments to automatically generate reports according to various signals and conditions such as:

```
// Trigger report only on uncaught exceptions.
process.report.reportOnFatalError = false;
process.report.reportOnSignal = false;
process.report.reportOnUncaughtException = true;

// Trigger report for both internal errors as well as external signal.
process.report.reportOnFatalError = true;
process.report.reportOnSignal = true;
process.report.reportOnUncaughtException = false;

// Change the default signal to 'SIGQUIT' and enable it.
process.report.reportOnFatalError = false;
process.report.reportOnUncaughtException = false;
process.report.reportOnSignal = true;
process.report.signal = 'SIGQUIT';
```

These can be specified through the node options as well.

```
NODE_OPTIONS="--report-uncaught-exception \
  --report-on-fatalerror --report-on-signal \
  --report-signal=SIGUSR2  --report-filename=./report.json \
  --report-directory=/home/nodeuser"
```

Here is a sample output of what's generated. It's quite comprehensive!

```
{
  "header": {
    "reportVersion": 1,
    "event": "exception",
    "trigger": "Exception",
    "filename": "report.20181221.005011.8974.0.001.json",
    "dumpEventTime": "2018-12-21T00:50:11Z",
    "dumpEventTimeStamp": "1545371411331",
    "processId": 8974,
    "cwd": "/home/nodeuser/project/node",
    "commandLine": [
      "/home/nodeuser/project/node/out/Release/node",
      "--report-uncaught-exception",
      "/home/nodeuser/project/node/test/report/test-exception.js",
      "child"
    ],
    "nodejsVersion": "v12.0.0-pre",
    "glibcVersionRuntime": "2.17",
    "glibcVersionCompiler": "2.17",
    "wordSize": "64 bit",
    "arch": "x64",
    "platform": "linux",
    "componentVersions": {
      "node": "12.0.0-pre",
      "v8": "7.1.302.28-node.5",
      "uv": "1.24.1",
      "zlib": "1.2.11",
      "ares": "1.15.0",
      "modules": "68",
      "nghttp2": "1.34.0",
      "napi": "3",
      "llhttp": "1.0.1",
      "openssl": "1.1.0j"
    },
    "release": {
      "name": "node"
    },
    "osName": "Linux",
    "osRelease": "3.10.0-862.el7.x86_64",
    "osVersion": "#1 SMP Wed Mar 21 18:14:51 EDT 2018",
    "osMachine": "x86_64",
    "cpus": [
      {
        "model": "Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz",
        "speed": 2700,
        "user": 88902660,
        "nice": 0,
        "sys": 50902570,
        "idle": 241732220,
        "irq": 0
      },
      {
        "model": "Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz",
        "speed": 2700,
        "user": 88902660,
        "nice": 0,
        "sys": 50902570,
        "idle": 241732220,
        "irq": 0
      }
    ],
    "networkInterfaces": [
      {
        "name": "en0",
        "internal": false,
        "mac": "13:10:de:ad:be:ef",
        "address": "10.0.0.37",
        "netmask": "255.255.255.0",
        "family": "IPv4"
      }
    ],
    "host": "test_machine"
  },
  "javascriptStack": {
    "message": "Error: *** test-exception.js: throwing uncaught Error",
    "stack": [
      "at myException (/home/nodeuser/project/node/test/report/test-exception.js:9:11)",
      "at Object.<anonymous> (/home/nodeuser/project/node/test/report/test-exception.js:12:3)",
      "at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:718:30)",
      "at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:729:10)",
      "at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:617:32)",
      "at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:560:12)",
      "at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:552:3)",
      "at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:771:12)",
      "at executeUserCode (internal/bootstrap/node.js:332:15)"
    ]
  },
  "nativeStack": [
    {
      "pc": "0x000055b57f07a9ef",
      "symbol": "report::GetNodeReport(v8::Isolate*, node::Environment*, char const*, char const*, v8::Local<v8::String>, std::ostream&) [./node]"
    },
    {
      "pc": "0x000055b57f07cf03",
      "symbol": "report::GetReport(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) [./node]"
    },
    {
      "pc": "0x000055b57f1bccfd",
      "symbol": " [./node]"
    },
    {
      "pc": "0x000055b57f1be048",
      "symbol": "v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, v8::internal::Object**, v8::internal::Isolate*) [./node]"
    },
    {
      "pc": "0x000055b57feeda0e",
      "symbol": " [./node]"
    }
  ],
  "javascriptHeap": {
    "totalMemory": 6127616,
    "totalCommittedMemory": 4357352,
    "usedMemory": 3221136,
    "availableMemory": 1521370240,
    "memoryLimit": 1526909922,
    "heapSpaces": {
      "read_only_space": {
        "memorySize": 524288,
        "committedMemory": 39208,
        "capacity": 515584,
        "used": 30504,
        "available": 485080
      },
      "new_space": {
        "memorySize": 2097152,
        "committedMemory": 2019312,
        "capacity": 1031168,
        "used": 985496,
        "available": 45672
      },
      "old_space": {
        "memorySize": 2273280,
        "committedMemory": 1769008,
        "capacity": 1974640,
        "used": 1725488,
        "available": 249152
      },
      "code_space": {
        "memorySize": 696320,
        "committedMemory": 184896,
        "capacity": 152128,
        "used": 152128,
        "available": 0
      },
      "map_space": {
        "memorySize": 536576,
        "committedMemory": 344928,
        "capacity": 327520,
        "used": 327520,
        "available": 0
      },
      "large_object_space": {
        "memorySize": 0,
        "committedMemory": 0,
        "capacity": 1520590336,
        "used": 0,
        "available": 1520590336
      },
      "new_large_object_space": {
        "memorySize": 0,
        "committedMemory": 0,
        "capacity": 0,
        "used": 0,
        "available": 0
      }
    }
  },
  "resourceUsage": {
    "userCpuSeconds": 0.069595,
    "kernelCpuSeconds": 0.019163,
    "cpuConsumptionPercent": 0.000000,
    "maxRss": 18079744,
    "pageFaults": {
      "IORequired": 0,
      "IONotRequired": 4610
    },
    "fsActivity": {
      "reads": 0,
      "writes": 0
    }
  },
  "uvthreadResourceUsage": {
    "userCpuSeconds": 0.068457,
    "kernelCpuSeconds": 0.019127,
    "cpuConsumptionPercent": 0.000000,
    "fsActivity": {
      "reads": 0,
      "writes": 0
    }
  },
  "libuv": [
    {
      "type": "async",
      "is_active": true,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x0000000102910900",
      "details": ""
    },
    {
      "type": "timer",
      "is_active": false,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x00007fff5fbfeab0",
      "repeat": 0,
      "firesInMsFromNow": 94403548320796,
      "expired": true
    },
    {
      "type": "check",
      "is_active": true,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x00007fff5fbfeb48"
    },
    {
      "type": "idle",
      "is_active": false,
      "is_referenced": true,
      "address": "0x00007fff5fbfebc0"
    },
    {
      "type": "prepare",
      "is_active": false,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x00007fff5fbfec38"
    },
    {
      "type": "check",
      "is_active": false,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x00007fff5fbfecb0"
    },
    {
      "type": "async",
      "is_active": true,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x000000010188f2e0"
    },
    {
      "type": "tty",
      "is_active": false,
      "is_referenced": true,
      "address": "0x000055b581db0e18",
      "width": 204,
      "height": 55,
      "fd": 17,
      "writeQueueSize": 0,
      "readable": true,
      "writable": true
    },
    {
      "type": "signal",
      "is_active": true,
      "is_referenced": false,
      "address": "0x000055b581d80010",
      "signum": 28,
      "signal": "SIGWINCH"
    },
    {
      "type": "tty",
      "is_active": true,
      "is_referenced": true,
      "address": "0x000055b581df59f8",
      "width": 204,
      "height": 55,
      "fd": 19,
      "writeQueueSize": 0,
      "readable": true,
      "writable": true
    },
    {
      "type": "loop",
      "is_active": true,
      "address": "0x000055fc7b2cb180"
    }
  ],
  "workers": [],
  "environmentVariables": {
    "REMOTEHOST": "REMOVED",
    "MANPATH": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/share/man:",
    "XDG_SESSION_ID": "66126",
    "HOSTNAME": "test_machine",
    "HOST": "test_machine",
    "TERM": "xterm-256color",
    "SHELL": "/bin/csh",
    "SSH_CLIENT": "REMOVED",
    "PERL5LIB": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root//usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl:/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/lib/perl5:/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root//usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl",
    "OLDPWD": "/home/nodeuser/project/node/src",
    "JAVACONFDIRS": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/etc/java:/etc/java",
    "SSH_TTY": "/dev/pts/0",
    "PCP_DIR": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root",
    "GROUP": "normaluser",
    "USER": "nodeuser",
    "LD_LIBRARY_PATH": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/lib64:/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/lib",
    "HOSTTYPE": "x86_64-linux",
    "XDG_CONFIG_DIRS": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/etc/xdg:/etc/xdg",
    "MAIL": "/var/spool/mail/nodeuser",
    "PATH": "/home/nodeuser/project/node:/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin",
    "PWD": "/home/nodeuser/project/node",
    "LANG": "en_US.UTF-8",
    "PS1": "\\u@\\h : \\[\\e[31m\\]\\w\\[\\e[m\\] >  ",
    "SHLVL": "2",
    "HOME": "/home/nodeuser",
    "OSTYPE": "linux",
    "VENDOR": "unknown",
    "PYTHONPATH": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages",
    "MACHTYPE": "x86_64",
    "LOGNAME": "nodeuser",
    "XDG_DATA_DIRS": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/share",
    "LESSOPEN": "||/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh %s",
    "INFOPATH": "/opt/rh/devtoolset-3/root/usr/share/info",
    "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR": "/run/user/50141",
    "_": "./node"
  },
  "userLimits": {
    "core_file_size_blocks": {
      "soft": "",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "data_seg_size_kbytes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "file_size_blocks": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "max_locked_memory_bytes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": 65536
    },
    "max_memory_size_kbytes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "open_files": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": 4096
    },
    "stack_size_bytes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "cpu_time_seconds": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    },
    "max_user_processes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": 4127290
    },
    "virtual_memory_kbytes": {
      "soft": "unlimited",
      "hard": "unlimited"
    }
  },
  "sharedObjects": [
    "/lib64/libdl.so.2",
    "/lib64/librt.so.1",
    "/lib64/libstdc++.so.6",
    "/lib64/libm.so.6",
    "/lib64/libgcc_s.so.1",
    "/lib64/libpthread.so.0",
    "/lib64/libc.so.6",
    "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2"
  ]
}
```

For more details check out the full documentation on [nodejs.org](https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v14.x/docs/api/report.html).

Good luck!