Symbolication setup

Skill nexus-labs-automation/mobile-observability/skills/symbolication-setup

Configure crash symbolication for readable stack traces. Use when setting up dSYMs (iOS), ProGuard/R8 mappings (Android), or source maps (React Native).From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add nexus-labs-automation/mobile-observability --skill symbolication-setup

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

SKILL.md

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Symbolication Setup

Make crash stack traces readable instead of memory addresses or minified code.

Why It Matters

Without symbolication:

0x104a3b2c8 <redacted> + 123

With symbolication:

PaymentViewController.processPayment() line 47

Unsymbolicated crashes are useless for debugging.

Platform Setup

iOS (dSYMs)

Xcode Build Phase Script:

# Add to Build Phases → New Run Script Phase
if [ "${CONFIGURATION}" = "Release" ]; then
    # Sentry
    sentry-cli upload-dif --include-sources "${DWARF_DSYM_FOLDER_PATH}"

    # Or Crashlytics
    "${PODS_ROOT}/FirebaseCrashlytics/upload-symbols" \
        -gsp "${PROJECT_DIR}/GoogleService-Info.plist" \
        -p ios "${DWARF_DSYM_FOLDER_PATH}"
fi

Find missing dSYMs:

# Recent archives
find ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives -name "*.dSYM" -mtime -7

# Verify UUID matches
dwarfdump --uuid MyApp.app.dSYM

Android (ProGuard/R8)

build.gradle.kts:

android {
    buildTypes {
        release {
            isMinifyEnabled = true
            proguardFiles(
                getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android-optimize.txt"),
                "proguard-rules.pro"
            )
        }
    }
}

// Sentry auto-upload
sentry {
    autoUploadProguardMapping.set(true)
    uploadNativeSymbols.set(true)
}

// Or manual upload in CI
// sentry-cli upload-proguard --android-manifest app/build/.../AndroidManifest.xml mapping.txt

Keep rules for crash reporting:

# proguard-rules.pro
-keepattributes SourceFile,LineNumberTable
-renamesourcefileattribute SourceFile

# Keep Sentry classes
-keep class io.sentry.** { *; }

React Native (Source Maps)

Expo (app.json):

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      ["@sentry/react-native/expo", {
        "organization": "your-org",
        "project": "your-project"
      }]
    ],
    "hooks": {
      "postPublish": [{
        "file": "sentry-expo/upload-sourcemaps"
      }]
    }
  }
}

Bare React Native (CI):

# After build
sentry-cli releases files $VERSION upload-sourcemaps \
    --dist $BUILD_NUMBER \
    ./build/sourcemaps

Hermes bytecode:

# Hermes requires source maps - verify with:
sentry-cli sourcemaps explain <event-id>

Verification Checklist

Release builds upload symbols automatically
CI pipeline includes symbol upload step
Test crash shows readable stack trace
Source maps include original source (not just line numbers)
Build numbers match between app and uploaded symbols

Common Issues

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`<redacted>` in stack	Missing dSYM	Upload dSYM for that build
Line numbers wrong	Source map mismatch	Verify release/dist strings match
Only framework symbols	App dSYM missing	Check archive includes app dSYM
`<unknown>` in RN	Hermes without source maps	Configure Hermes source map generation

Vendor Commands

Vendor	Verify Upload
Sentry	`sentry-cli debug-files check <UUID>`
Crashlytics	Firebase Console → Crashlytics → Missing dSYMs
Bugsnag	`bugsnag-cli upload` with `--dry-run`
Datadog	Dashboard → Error Tracking → Symbol Files
bitdrift	Dashboard or CLI for dSYM, Gradle plugin for ProGuard

Related Skills

See skills/crash-instrumentation for breadcrumb strategies and crash context
Symbolication is Tier 1 in skills/instrumentation-planning