Highlight
Highlight — full-stack observability with session replay and error tracking.
Stack Components
Why
Session replay + error tracking + logs + metrics, open-source self-hostable. OpenTelemetry became the CNCF instrumentation standard in 2024, used by 70%+ of cloud-native orgs.
Sentry and Datadog lead error tracking with 30k+ paying customers each.
When
Use for frontend-heavy apps needing session context. Avoid for backend-only.
How
Example
Common Problems
- ⚠Session volume — configure sampling rate
- ⚠Privacy — redact sensitive fields in replay
- ⚠Configuration drift between environments — use infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Pulumi) to keep dev/staging/prod identical
Best Practices
- ✓Use error boundaries to capture React errors
- ✓Link sessions to user IDs for support
- ✓Set up health checks and graceful shutdown — handle SIGTERM to drain in-flight requests before exit
FAQ
What is Highlight and what projects is it for?
Highlight — full-stack observability with session replay and error tracking. It pairs layered technologies for end-to-end type safety and out-of-the-box deploys, fitting everything from MVPs to production SaaS.
How do I spin up a working demo with Highlight in 10 minutes?
Two steps: (1) npm install @highlight-run/react; (2) Initialize Highlight in app. Get the local dev server running, then wire one real data source to verify the end-to-end loop.
What is the most common pitfall with Highlight and how do I avoid it?
The most common pitfall is: Session volume — configure sampling rate. Avoid it by adding the matching checklist to your PR template and running type-check + lint + unit tests in CI — three gates before merge.
What are the best practices for Highlight?
Best practices for Highlight include: Use error boundaries to capture React errors; Link sessions to user IDs for support; Set up health checks and graceful shutdown — handle SIGTERM to drain in-flight requests before exit. The first one — "Use error boundaries to capture React errors" — should be set up at project init to avoid costly rework later.
When should I NOT choose Highlight?
Pick something else in three cases: (1) the team has zero experience with the core framework and the deadline is tight (learning-curve risk); (2) it's a pure content/marketing site (Astro is lighter); (3) you need very high throughput (>10k RPS) or strict-consistency microservices (Go/Rust). Highlight shines for mid-to-high complexity full-stack and API work — don't over-engineer simple static pages with it.