Forem

Satish Patil
Satish Patil

Posted on

RootAlert - Real-time Exception Tracking for .NET with Redis

#alerts #dotnetcore #redis #exceptions

🚀 RootAlert - Real-time Exception Tracking for .NET

RootAlert is an open-source real-time error tracking and alerting library for .NET applications. It captures unhandled exceptions, batches them intelligently, and sends alerts to Microsoft Teams, Slack, and more.

🔥 Features

✅ Automatic exception tracking with minimal setup

✅ Batched alerts to prevent spam

✅ Microsoft Teams (Adaptive Cards) & Slack (Blocks & Sections) support

✅ Customizable batch interval using TimeSpan

✅ Supports Redis-based storage for persistence

✅ Rich error logs including request details, headers, and stack traces

📦 Installation

RootAlert is available on NuGet. Install it using:

 dotnet add package RootAlert --version 0.1.5
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Or via Package Manager:

 Install-Package RootAlert -Version 0.1.5
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

⚡ Quick Start

1️⃣ Configure RootAlert in Program.cs

Register RootAlert and configure your preferred alerting method (Teams, Slack, etc.).

using RootAlert.Config;
using RootAlert.Extensions;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var rootAlertOptions = new List<RootAlertOption>
{
    new RootAlertOption
    {
        AlertMethod = AlertType.Teams,
        WebhookUrl = "https://your-teams-webhook-url"
    },
    new RootAlertOption
    {
        AlertMethod = AlertType.Slack,
        WebhookUrl = "https://your-slack-webhook-url"
    }
};

var rootAlertSetting = new RootAlertSetting
{
    Storage = new RedisAlertStorage("127.0.0.1:6379"), // Redis storage
    BatchInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(20),
    RootAlertOptions = rootAlertOptions,
};

builder.Services.AddRootAlert(rootAlertSetting);

var app = builder.Build();

// ✅ Handle exceptions first
app.UseMiddleware<ExceptionHandlingMiddleware>();

// ✅ Then, log errors with RootAlert
app.UseRootAlert();

app.UseRouting();
app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => { endpoints.MapControllers(); });

app.Run();
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

✅ RootAlert will now automatically capture all unhandled exceptions!

🚀 Redis Storage for Persistent Logging

By default, RootAlert batches errors in memory, meaning errors are lost if the application restarts. To ensure persistence, you can use Redis as storage.

** 1️⃣ Configure Redis Storage in Program.cs**

Update your RootAlertSetting to use Redis:

var rootAlertSetting = new RootAlertSetting
{
    Storage = new RedisAlertStorage("127.0.0.1:6379"), // Use Redis storage
    BatchInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(20),
    RootAlertOptions = rootAlertOptions,
};
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2️⃣ Redis Benefits

✅ Persistence - Logs are stored even after an app restart.

✅ Scalability - Works across multiple instances of your app.

✅ Performance - Faster retrieval and processing of batched errors.

⚠️ Important Notes

❗ If an exception filter is added, RootAlert won't work.

Why? Exception filters handle errors before middleware gets a chance to process them. Since RootAlert works as middleware, it will never see the exception if a filter catches it first.

✅ Solution: Ensure RootAlert is added after any existing exception-handling middleware.

If your application has a global exception-handling middleware, register RootAlert after it to ensure exceptions are logged correctly.

app.UseMiddleware<ExceptionHandlingMiddleware>(); // Your existing middleware
app.UseRootAlert(); // Register RootAlert after the exception middleware
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🏆 Microsoft Teams Integration

RootAlert supports Microsoft Teams via Adaptive Cards for structured error logging.

🔹 How to Get a Teams Webhook URL

RootAlert supports Microsoft Teams integration via:

  1. Incoming Webhooks (Connector) – Simple and quick setup. (Will be deprecated)
  2. Microsoft Teams Workflow API – Easier than Power Automate, with a built-in Webhook template.

🔹 Option 1: Using an Incoming Webhook (Connector)

This method is the easiest way to receive error alerts in a Teams channel.

📌 Steps to Get a Teams Webhook URL

  1. Open Microsoft Teams and go to the desired channel.
  2. Click "…" (More options) → Connectors.
  3. Find "Incoming Webhook" and click "Configure".
  4. Name it RootAlert Notifications and click Create.
  5. Copy the Webhook URL and use it in RootAlertOptions.

🔹 Option 2: Using Microsoft Teams Workflow API (via Webhook Template)

This method is even easier than Power Automate and uses a built-in workflow to receive data via Webhook.
🎥 Watch this video for a step-by-step guide:

Microsoft Teams Workflow API Setup

🔗 YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHTU_jUnswY

📌 Steps to Configure Teams Workflow API

  1. Open Microsoft Teams and Go to Workflows
    • Click on “…” (More options) → Workflows. --> Create
  2. Select "Post to a channel when a webhook request is received" Template
    • Search for "Post to a channel when a webhook request is received" and select the ready-made template.
    • Click Next to proceed.
  3. Choose Team and Channel
    • Select the Team where you want to post alerts.
    • Choose the Channel where notifications should appear.

🔹 Example Teams Alert (Adaptive Card)

RootAlert sends alerts as rich Adaptive Cards:

  1. Copy the Webhook URL
    • After selecting the Team and Channel, Teams will generate a Webhook URL.
    • Copy this URL and use it in your RootAlert settings.

Teams Adaptive Card

🚨 Example Error Alert

RootAlert captures rich error details including request details, headers, and stack traces:

🆔 Error ID: abc123
⏳ Timestamp: 02/05/2025 4:02:41 AM
----------------------------------------------------
🌐 REQUEST DETAILS
🔗 URL: /weatherforecast
📡 HTTP Method: GET
----------------------------------------------------
📩 REQUEST HEADERS
📝 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
----------------------------------------------------
⚠️ EXCEPTION DETAILS
❗ Type: DivideByZeroException
💬 Message: Attempted to divide by zero.
----------------------------------------------------
🔍 STACK TRACE
   at Program.Main() in Program.cs:line 54
   at RootAlertMiddleware.Invoke()
----------------------------------------------------
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

🛠 Roadmap

🔹 Database Storage - Store logs in SQL, Redis, or NoSQL

🔹 Email Alerts - Send exception reports via SMTP

🔹 Log Severity Filtering - Send only critical errors

📜 License

RootAlert is open-source and available under the MIT License.

💡 Contributing

🚀 Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit pull requests or feature requests on GitHub.

🔗 Connect with Us

📧 Email: satsvelke@gmail.com

🐦 Twitter: @satsvelke

Top comments (0)

Read next

emmanuelomale profile image

Early Binding vs. Late Binding: Where Reflection Fits In

Emmanuel Omale -

karenpayneoregon profile image

Serilog filter log files by type

Karen Payne -

idrisrampurawala profile image

Implementing a Redis-Based Task Queue with Configurable Concurrency

Idris Rampurawala -

mahmoud_nawwar_2024 profile image

Hybrid Cache Strategy in Spring Boot: A Guide to Redisson and Caffeine Integration

Mahmoud Nawwar -