MARK IT DOWN
Mark It Down
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Telemetry

Status: shipped in v1.2 · Issue: #37

Mark It Down can send anonymized error reports to help us find + fix bugs. It's off by default, requires explicit opt-in, and you can disable it any time. This page documents exactly what's collected and how to verify.

At a glance

DefaultOff. The first activation prompts you with Enable / Keep off / Learn more.
Where it goesA Sentry-compatible DSN you configure. The official Mark It Down build ships without a default DSN — events are collected only if you explicitly point markItDown.telemetry.dsn at your own Sentry project.
What's sentStack traces, error messages, breadcrumbs from before the crash. Never note content, file content, or anything you've typed.
PII filterAbsolute paths in errors / stacks are rewritten before sending: workspace paths → <workspace>, your home dir → ~, the extension dir → <extension>, system temp → <tmp>.
Session idA random 16-char hex generated per VSCode launch. Not persisted, not user-identifying. Lets us group "all errors from the same session" without knowing who you are.

Settings

SettingDefaultWhat it does
markItDown.telemetry.enabledfalseMaster switch. Off by default. The first-run consent toast can flip this; you can flip it back any time in Settings.
markItDown.telemetry.dsn""Sentry DSN (e.g. https://[email protected]/456). Empty means no events leave your machine even if enabled: true.

Both surfaces (VSCode extension + Electron app, when wired) honor the same setting names.

On the first activation after this feature ships:

  1. Info toast: "Mark It Down: help improve the extension by sending anonymized error reports? Default is off." with three buttons:
    • Enable → flips markItDown.telemetry.enabled = true globally
    • Keep off → leaves the setting at false; the toast doesn't reappear
    • Learn more → opens this page in a browser; the toast doesn't reappear (you can flip the setting later in Settings)
  2. The consent prompt only shows once — globalState[markItDown.telemetry.consentShown] is set after the first display.

What goes over the wire

When enabled: true AND a DSN is set:

FieldSentSanitization
Error stack framesyesfilenames rewritten via PII filter
Error messageyesrewritten via PII filter, truncated at 4096 chars
release (extension version from package.json)yesunchanged
environmentyesalways "production"
tags.mid.sessionyesrandom 16-char hex per launch
tags.mid.surfaceyes"vscode"
Sentry breadcrumbs (if any)yesrewritten via PII filter
Note contentnothe warehouse / notes modules don't call captureException with note bodies
File contentnosame
tracesSampleRaten/a0 — no performance traces are collected

What's NEVER sent

  • The text of any note (the notes warehouse doesn't capture content as exception data)
  • Markdown file content open in the editor
  • Workspace folder names beyond what's needed to anonymize them in stacks
  • Username, email, machine name, IP (Sentry strips IPs by default; we don't send anything that would override that)
  • Tokens / secrets (the secret-scanner blocks pre-push and we don't capture editor buffers anyway)

How to verify

  1. Set markItDown.telemetry.enabled: true and a DSN you control.
  2. Run Mark It Down: Telemetry: Send Test Event from the command palette.
  3. Within ~30s, your Sentry project should show an info-level event with message Mark It Down test event from command palette, tagged mid.session=<hex> and mid.surface=vscode.
  4. Inspect the event in the Sentry UI — confirm there are no absolute paths from your machine.

Disabling

Two paths:

  • Setting: flip markItDown.telemetry.enabled to false in Cmd+, → "Mark It Down: Telemetry"
  • Global: leave markItDown.telemetry.dsn empty — even with enabled: true, no events go anywhere without a DSN

The Sentry.close() call on dispose ensures any in-flight events are flushed (with a 2s timeout).

Why opt-in, not opt-out

Two reasons:

  1. Trust: notes are private by definition. An opt-in posture says we're aware of that and aren't leaking data without permission.
  2. Honest signal: the events that come from explicit opt-in users are usually from people willing to follow up if you reach out — much better signal than passive opt-out collection.

What we'd love to add later (not in v1.2)

  • Per-feature opt-in (e.g. enable telemetry only for warehouse sync errors, not for editor crashes)
  • Local event log so you can audit exactly what would be sent before flipping the switch
  • A Telemetry: Show Last Event command that displays the most recent payload locally without sending

Files of interest