Overview

If you experience unexpected behavior with the Datadog C++ SDK, use this guide to resolve issues. If you continue to have trouble, contact Datadog Support for further assistance.

Enable diagnostic logging

The SDK outputs Warning and Error messages to stderr by default. To see more verbose output during development, lower the diagnostic threshold on your CoreConfig before creating the core:

datadog::CoreConfig config("<client_token>", "<service_name>", "<environment>");
config.SetDiagnosticThreshold(datadog::DiagnosticLevel::Debug);

auto core = datadog::Core::Create(config, datadog::TrackingConsent::Granted);

You should see output similar to the following when data is successfully uploaded:

[DATADOG STATUS] Upload cycle finished with all uploads successful

Recommendation: Remove the SetDiagnosticThreshold call in production builds to revert to the default (Warning) and avoid unnecessary log volume.

To route diagnostic output somewhere other than stderr, supply a custom handler. The msg.text pointer is only valid for the duration of the call, so copy the string if you need to store it:

config.SetDiagnosticHandler([](const datadog::DiagnosticMessage& msg) {
    my_logger.write(msg.text);
});

Pass nullptr to SetDiagnosticHandler to suppress all diagnostic output entirely.

Runtime Issues

No data appears in Datadog

If your application runs but data does not appear in the Datadog UI, check the following:

1. Tracking consent: Confirm that tracking consent is set to Granted. If the core was initialized with Pending or NotGranted, no data is uploaded.
2. Start() was called: The SDK does not collect or upload data until core->Start() is called after all features are registered.
3. Active view: RUM errors, resources, and actions are attached to the active view. If no view has been started with StartView(), those events may be dropped. Start a view before recording other events.
4. Network connectivity: The SDK requires outbound HTTPS access to Datadog intake endpoints on port 443. Verify that your network allows these connections.
5. Diagnostic output: Lower the diagnostic threshold (see above) and look for messages indicating upload failures or configuration errors.

Storage directory is not writable

If diagnostic output shows storage errors, verify that the storage directory exists and is writable by the application process. The SDK uses the directory set with SetApplicationStoragePath(), or the current working directory by default.

Crash reports are not appearing after a crash

Crash reports are uploaded on the next application launch after the crash, not immediately (since the process is terminated at crash time). After triggering a test crash, relaunch the application and wait for the upload to complete.

If reports still do not appear:

• Confirm that CrashReporting::Register() is called after creating the core but before core->Start().
• Verify that the application has write access to its storage directory.
• Check that the crashpad_handler executable is present in the same directory as your application binary (if using Crashpad mode). Use datadog_enable(your_target) in CMake to copy it automatically.

Further reading