Sentry for Good: Preventing Bad Code from happening to Good People

Originally published on the Sentry Blog. Written by Eva Sasson.

Errors are expensive; they steal resources allocated for other things and potentially negatively impact revenue and user sentiment. And, for teams comprised of volunteers working in their spare time, errors can take weeks to triage and resolve.

So, despite what Google might tell you, Sentry for Good is not merely a solution to your pet’s pesky pheromone problems (although it is clearly also that, if PetSmart’s Google results are any indication). Our new Sentry for Good program amplifies the voices of non-profits, open-source tools, and educational institutions in a variety ways, like sponsoring Sentry accounts and providing space for that organization’s authentic representation (a fancy way to say that we might write a blog post about the orgs and how they use Sentry). 

As an open-source product ourselves, we understand that a little help can go a long way. With Sentry for Good, we’re dedicated to supporting the progress of a safe, open, and bug-free internet.

Sponsored account criteria

As part of Sentry for Good, sponsored accounts receive 500k events per month as well as support from our fantastic support team. Getting started with a sponsored account is as simple as getting started with any other Sentry account.

However, you’ll first need to meet the following sponsored account criteria:

• Have an open-source license

or

or

You must not:

Note that meeting these requirements does not necessarily mean acceptance into the Sentry for Good program. You’ll probably be all set, but whether or not an organization violates our Terms of Service is something we determine on a case-by-case basis. 

If Thanos founded a non-profit org that was dedicated to the eradication of half the life in the universe, for example, we’d turn him down regardless of his 501c3 status. The same is true of other groups focused on increasing hate or pushing a personal agenda. 

If you meet the criteria, log in or sign up with your .org or .edu address and fill out the form on the Sentry for Good page for approval. This is also where you’ll submit your open source license, should you be an open source developer.

Making a difference

Sponsored Sentry accounts are already making an impact:

We also support other organizations and many fantastic open-source tools. Check out a bunch of examples in this list of examples.

The larger ecosystem

Alongside other developer tools and our integration partners, like Twilio, PagerDuty, GitHub, Slack, and Jira, Sentry is proud to add to the commitment of software companies who support developers across industries and functions. When the larger ecosystem of tools, especially those that integrate into the developer workflow, support developers who work on globally-impactful projects, we play our part in leveraging technology to advance some of society’s biggest problems.

Stay tuned for more information on this program, including technical stories on how Sentry supports developers helping people all around the globe.