New Relic

The New Relic channel records each deployment as a deployment marker in New Relic APM, so you can line up a code change with the performance data around it.

This page is for the lead or DevOps engineer who sends deployment markers to New Relic. It covers the setup steps, every variable the channel reads and how the channel finds the New Relic application.

Setup

To set up New Relic notifications:

1. Create a New Relic User API Key (format: NRAK-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX).
2. Turn the channel on in each environment where New Relic APM is configured, such as production and staging. In that environment's hosting variables, set NEWRELIC_ENABLED or VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_ENABLED to true:
   • Leave both variables unset everywhere else, so other environments make no API calls.
   • Any non-empty value turns the channel on, including false and 0.
   • When both variables are set, VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_ENABLED wins.
3. Add VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_USER_KEY to your hosting provider's environment variables. When VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_USER_KEY is unset, the channel uses NEWRELIC_USER_KEY.
4. Add newrelic to the comma-separated VORTEX_NOTIFY_CHANNELS list in your .env file, for example VORTEX_NOTIFY_CHANNELS=email,newrelic.

Confirm that the next deployment of a branch in VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_BRANCHES recorded a marker. The deployment output on your hosting platform shows Created a deployment notification for application, then [ OK ] Finished New Relic notification. The marker appears on the application's charts in New Relic.

Environment variables

See the Notifications overview for the router, what a failed channel stops, the shared VORTEX_NOTIFY_* variables and the Location column. The following table lists the variables that the New Relic channel reads:

Variable	Required	Default	Location	Description
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_ENABLED	Yes, unless NEWRELIC_ENABLED is set	NEWRELIC_ENABLED	Hosting	Turns the channel on; any non-empty value counts
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_USER_KEY	Yes, unless NEWRELIC_USER_KEY is set	NEWRELIC_USER_KEY	Hosting	New Relic User API Key
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_PROJECT	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_PROJECT	.env	Project name
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_APP_NAME	No	<project>-<label>	.env	Application name as it appears in New Relic
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_APPID	No	Looked up by application name	.env	Application ID
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_DESCRIPTION	No	Default template	.env	Deployment description
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_CHANGELOG	No	Value of VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_DESCRIPTION	.env	Deployment changelog
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_USER	No	Deployment robot	.env	User performing deployment
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_REVISION	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_SHA, or <label>-<date>-<time> when the SHA is empty	Hosting	Deployment revision
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_ENDPOINT	No	https://api.newrelic.com/v2	.env	API endpoint
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_BRANCHES	No	main,master,develop	.env	Exact branch names to record (comma-separated); empty falls back to the default
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_LABEL	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_LABEL	Hosting	Deployment label
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_SHA	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_SHA	Hosting	Commit SHA used as the revision
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_ENVIRONMENT_URL	Hosting	Environment URL
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_LOGIN_URL	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_LOGIN_URL	Hosting	Login URL
VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_EVENT	No	VORTEX_NOTIFY_EVENT, then post_deployment	Hosting	Deployment event; pre_deployment records nothing

The default application name joins VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_PROJECT and VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_LABEL with a hyphen. These default to the project name and the deployment label, so a main deployment of your_site looks for your_site-main.

When VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_APPID is empty, the channel looks the application up by name. If no application matches, the channel skips the notification and passes, so an environment without APM records nothing. An explicit numeric ID skips that lookup, so an ID that matches no application fails the channel.

The channel fails when New Relic answers the marker request with any status other than HTTP 201. It skips pre_deployment without an error, like every channel except Slack and GitHub.

An empty VORTEX_NOTIFY_NEWRELIC_BRANCHES falls back to the default list, so list every branch that should record a marker.

Example

The following screenshot shows a deployment marker on a New Relic chart, with its time, user and revision: