Hey everyone 👋
I’m a computer science student, and today I’m putting something into the world that I spent months building alone in my bedroom: SnapTrace.
I didn't have money for expensive courses, venture capital, or a modern MacBook. I saved up money for 8 months just to buy a secondhand laptop so I could sit down and write production code.
While building full-stack applications, I realized that catching errors in production is an absolute nightmare for indie developers and small teams.
I looked at smaller, affordable tools like GlitchTip and self-hosted loggers, and I ran into walls of frustration:
1. The "1,000 Event" Trap
Tools like GlitchTip give you a free tier of just 1,000 events a month. If a React component gets stuck in an infinite re-render loop or a database connection times out, you burn through your entire monthly quota in 30 seconds. Your monitoring goes dark when you need it most.
2. Privacy is an Afterthought
Most smaller loggers take raw error dumps and send them straight to the server. If an API call fails with a user password, credit card, or auth token in the payload, that sensitive data is now permanently sitting in a third-party database.
3. Stuck in the Past
Most lightweight tools still look and feel like software from 2018. None of them connect with modern developer workflows like Cursor, Claude Code, or real-time WebSocket streams.
⚡ How I Built SnapTrace Differently
I got tired of these limitations, so I decided to build the tool I wished existed:
- 10x More Generous Free Tier: 10,000 events/month for free instead of GlitchTip's 1,000 limit.
- Client-Side PII Firewall: Passwords, auth tokens, and emails are scrubbed with regex directly on the user's browser before the payload is ever transmitted across the network.
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Smart Loop Throttling: If a crash loops 500 times in 10 seconds, the SDK sends the 1st crash instantly, silences the spam, and delivers 1 clean summary tag
[x500]. Your quota is never stolen by an infinite loop. - 2026 AI Workflow: One-click export to copy complete crash diagnostics formatted as prompts ready for Cursor or Claude Code to generate the code patch.
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Featherweight SDK (<5KB): Zero dependencies, using
navigator.sendBeaconso it never blocks page hydration or Google Core Web Vitals.
🧪 Try It Live (No Signup Needed)
I built an interactive simulation sandbox where you can test crash interception, client-side PII scrubbing, and 50x loop throttling live with one click:
I’m launching this as a Public Beta today. To give back to early adopters who help me find bugs, the first 50 developers who join get a Free Lifetime Starter Pro pass.
🔗 Website: https://snaptrace-dashboard.vercel.app
I’d love to hear your honest thoughts, feedback, or ideas on what I should improve next!
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