The Easiest Way to Handle Production Errors in Next.js App Router

Next.js 14/15 is great, but handling production errors in the App Router can be tricky. You usually have two options:

1. console.log — which you can’t see in production

2. Sentry — which requires heavy config, source maps, and a complex dashboard

If you’re a solo developer or indie hacker, you just want to know when it breaks and why.

You don’t need a full observability suite.

🚧 The “Hard” Way (Sentry / Enterprise)

Sentry is powerful, but the setup can be exhausting:

• Install a heavy SDK

• Wrap your entire Next.js config with withSentryConfig

• Upload source maps during every build

• Dig through a dashboard full of metrics, traces, replays…
  just to find your stack trace

For big teams, that’s fine.
For indie projects? It’s overkill.

✨ The “Indie” Way (BugMail)

For my latest micro-SaaS, I wanted something lighter. Something that just works.

I discovered BugMail. The idea is simple: errors as emails.

When your app crashes, you get an email instantly with the stack trace.

• No setup hell
• No learning curve
• No unnecessary features

🔧 Setup
1. Install the SDK

npm install @bugmail-js/next

2. Create a BugMail project

Go to bugmail.site → create an account → create a project → copy your API key + Project ID.

3. Add a Provider (app/providers.tsx)

'use client';
import { BugMailProvider } from '@bugmail-js/next';

export function Providers({ children }) {
  return (
    <BugMailProvider
      apiKey={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_API_KEY}
      projectId={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_PROJECT_ID}
      endpoint="https://api.bugmail.site"
    >
      {children}
    </BugMailProvider>
  );
}

4. Add an Error Handler (app/error.tsx)

'use client';
import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { createAppRouterErrorHandler } from '@bugmail-js/next';

const reportError = createAppRouterErrorHandler({
  apiKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_API_KEY,
  projectId: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_PROJECT_ID,
  baseUrl: 'https://api.bugmail.site',
  environment: process.env.NODE_ENV,
});

export default function Error({ error, reset }) {
  useEffect(() => {
    reportError(error);
  }, [error]);

  return <button onClick={() => reset()}>Try again</button>;
}

5. Add your env variables

NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_API_KEY=your_api_key
NEXT_PUBLIC_BUGMAIL_PROJECT_ID=your_project_id

That’s it.

✅ Result

Now, whenever a user crashes your app:

• You instantly get an email with the full stack trace
• You fix it
• You archive the bug
• No dashboard fatigue.
• No complex config.
• Just visibility when it matters.

🎯 Conclusion

You don’t need enterprise-grade observability tools for indie projects.

If all you want is to know when your app breaks —
keep your stack lean.

BugMail is free to start.
Try it on your next side project.

Bugmail