---
title: Event context
description: Add custom metadata to the events sent from your Ruby application to Honeybadger Insights.
url: https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/ruby/insights/event-context/
---

You can add custom metadata to the events sent to Honeybadger Insights by using the `Honeybadger.event_context` method. This metadata will be included in each event sent within the same thread.

Caution

This will add the metadata to all events sent, so be careful not to include too much data. Try to keep it to simple key/value pairs.

For example, you can add user ID information to all events (via a Rails controller):

```ruby
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  before_action :set_honeybadger_context


  private


  def set_honeybadger_context
    if current_user
      Honeybadger.event_context(user_id: current_user.id, user_email: current_user.email)
    end
  end
end
```

Event context is not automatically propagated to other threads. If you want to add context to events in a different thread, you can use the `Honeybadger.get_event_context` method to get the current context and pass it to the `Honeybadger.event` method:

```ruby
class MyJob < ApplicationJob
  def perform(user_id)
    # Get context from the main thread
    context = Honeybadger.get_event_context


    Thread.new do
      # Set the context in the new thread
      Honeybadger.event_context(context)


      # Do some work here
      Honeybadger.event("background_work", { user_id: user_id, status: "completed" })
    end
  end
end
```

## Block-scoped context

You can also set event context for a specific block of code using a block form:

```ruby
Honeybadger.event_context(user_id: 123) do
  # All events within this block will include the user_id context
  Honeybadger.event("user_action", { action: "login" })
  Honeybadger.event("user_action", { action: "logout" })
end
# Context is automatically cleared after the block
```

## Clearing event context

You can clear the current event context at any time:

```ruby
Honeybadger.event_context.clear!
```

---

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