Fatal Error Notify

Description

This plugin sends you an email notification whenever a fatal error (or other error level, configurably) is detected on your site.

Unlike traditional uptime monitoring services, which will only notify you if your entire site is down, this plugin can notify you when an error is detected on any page or process on your site.

Automatic plugin and theme updates often introduce problems that you aren’t aware of until they’re reported by your visitors. Fatal Error Notify lets you address these issues as they occur and before they cause significant problems.

Screenshots

  • Admin configuration settings
  • Example email received when an error has been reported

Installation

Install it just like any other WordPress plugin:

Either: Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/fatal-error-notify directory.
Or: Install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.

Then:
1. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress
2. Use the Settings->Fatal Error Notify screen to configure notification settings

FAQ

How does the plugin send error notifications if my site is down?

Fatal Error Notify hooks into PHP’s “shutdown” function to send notifications right before the page stops loading. Even the dreaded “500 – Internal Server Error” still triggers PHP’s shutdown actions. Even if your site is completely offline, in most cases this plugin will be able to detect the error and notify you.

What’s in the Pro version

Fatal Error Notify Pro includes several additional features, like Slack notifications, the ability to hide the plugin settings, multisite support, logging of recorded errors, out of memory handling, the ability to pause individual notifications, and more.

Fatal Error Notify Pro also includes integrations with WP Fusion and Gravity Forms and can send notifications when errors are logged in those plugins.

Can I exclude specific errors?

Yes, you can use the filter fen_ingore_error, like so:

function fen_ignore_error( $ignore, $error ) {

    if( $error['file'] == '/home/username/public_html/wp-includes/class-phpass.php' ) {
        $ignore = true;
    }

    return $ignore;

}

add_filter( 'fen_ignore_error', 'fen_ignore_error', 10, 2 );

The $error variable is an array containing:

  • $error['type']: (int) The PHP error code
  • $error['message']: (string) The error message
  • $error['file']: (string) The path to the file that triggered the error
  • $error['line']: (int) The line number that triggered the error

Reviews

March 18, 2021
Often you have the problem that you can't really track the errors of your own customers, because fatal errors are not saved anywhere - unless you have enabled the WP_DEBUG_LOG. But the WP_DEBUG_LOG can only be driven with WP_DEBUG, which is why the site becomes slower, because many plugins use WP_DEBUG for their own purposes. With Fatal Error Notify you get all the errors directly via email and you don't have to rely on WP_Debug anymore. Great! Cool would be to include Discord hooks in the free version so you get the notifications directly in your Discord server. Since Discord is also used by individuals, I wouldn't think integrating it into the PRO variant would make sense. I think it's great that Slack is included in the PRO version. Since Slack is for teams and companies. I think that would be ne pretty cool.
December 18, 2020
an essential plugin for anyone who builds websites or develops other plugins. I discovered and fixed a lot of errors thanks to this plugin.
May 21, 2018
After discovering an intermittent critical error during checkout, I set out to find something exactly like this. Who wants to find out there's a checkout problem from a customer, probably days after it started? I had tried installing error monitoring and reporting on a VPS but had no luck due to restrictions set by the host. Then I found this! I think I'll be sleeping much better now. The free version is perfectly usable, but I went with the Pro mostly to get out of memory handling, but there are some other nice to have features in there as well. A little tip: I was able to quickly set up SMS notifications by setting up a rule in my email with a Zapier/Twilio connection. Now I'll be sure to see notifications when something bad happens.
January 29, 2018
I've been installing this on client sites over the last month, just as an insurance plan. It's already saved me four different times. A couple of times a client installed a plugin that caused a conflict, and on another project another developer committed some code that caused a sidebar widget to crash. I got notified and was able to fix everything right away. Definitely recommend!
Read all 6 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Fatal Error Notify” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

“Fatal Error Notify” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “Fatal Error Notify” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

1.4.4 – 8/3/2021

  • Tested for WordPress 5.8
  • Moved upgrade nag to top of settings page to prevent layout issues on smaller screens

1.4.3 – 12/16/2020

  • Tested for WordPress 5.6
  • Fixed PHP notice when HTTP referrer was missing
  • Added fen_use_wp_mail filter

1.4.2 – 4/3/2020

  • Tested for WordPress 5.4
  • Added error level descriptions

1.4.1 – 11/27/2019

  • Tested for WordPress 5.3

1.4 – 4/26/2019

  • Added request URI, HTTP Referrer, and current user ID to notifications

1.3 – 4/21/2018

  • Added “Send Test” button
  • Rate limiting so notifications are only sent once per hour

1.2 – 2/8/2018

  • Added filter to ignore errors

1.1

  • Updated branding
  • Added link to Pro version

1.0

  • Initial release