Getting Started Introduction

Introduction

Learn what DEX is, what it captures, and how it fits into your CodeIgniter 4 application.

DEX is an open-source issue tracker built for CodeIgniter 4 applications.

It helps you answer questions like:

  • What broke?
  • Where did it break?
  • How often is it happening?
  • Did it start after a deployment?

DEX captures exceptions from your application, groups repeating problems into issues, and stores each occurrence as an event so you can triage, resolve, and track regressions over time.

DEX is designed to be CI4-native and self-hosted. You keep your data and run it alongside your app.

What DEX Does

  • Captures exceptions thrown by your application
  • Groups events into issues using fingerprinting (so duplicates don’t flood your dashboard)
  • Tracks issue status (open, resolved, regressed, ignored)
  • Provides a dashboard for browsing, searching, and inspecting issues

Concepts

DEX uses a few simple terms throughout the dashboard and API:

  • Issue: A grouped problem (e.g. a repeating exception) identified by a fingerprint
  • Event: One occurrence of an issue (each time it happens)
  • Fingerprint: The grouping key used to decide which issue an exception belongs to
  • Regression: When an issue you marked as resolved starts happening again

When to Use DEX

DEX is a good fit when you want:

  • A lightweight, self-hosted way to track exceptions
  • Visibility into repeat failures and regressions
  • A simple dashboard your team can use during triage

If you need a full APM with distributed tracing and metrics, DEX can still be useful as your “errors inbox”, but it’s intentionally focused on issue tracking.

Next Steps

  • Installation — Install DEX and run the installer
  • Quick Start — Trigger a test exception and see it in the dashboard