diff --git a/api/src/plugins/error-handling.ts b/api/src/plugins/error-handling.ts
index c9f9a1ca3bb..05fefba7652 100644
--- a/api/src/plugins/error-handling.ts
+++ b/api/src/plugins/error-handling.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import type { FastifyPluginCallback } from 'fastify';
 import fastifySentry from '@immobiliarelabs/fastify-sentry';
 import fp from 'fastify-plugin';
 
-import { SENTRY_DSN } from '../utils/env';
+import { SENTRY_DSN, SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT } from '../utils/env';
 import { getRedirectParams } from '../utils/redirection';
 
 /**
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { getRedirectParams } from '../utils/redirection';
 const errorHandling: FastifyPluginCallback = (fastify, _options, done) => {
   void fastify.register(fastifySentry, {
     dsn: SENTRY_DSN,
+    environment: SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT,
     maxValueLength: 8192, // the default is 250, which is too small.
     // No need to initialize if DSN is not provided (e.g. in development and
     // test environments)
diff --git a/api/src/utils/env.ts b/api/src/utils/env.ts
index 10c88e74971..52d2316ad99 100644
--- a/api/src/utils/env.ts
+++ b/api/src/utils/env.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ if (process.env.FREECODECAMP_NODE_ENV !== 'development') {
   assert.ok(process.env.PORT);
   assert.ok(process.env.HOST);
   assert.ok(process.env.SENTRY_DSN);
+  assert.ok(process.env.SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT);
   // The following values can exist in development, but production-like
   // environments need to override the defaults.
   assert.notEqual(
@@ -78,6 +79,11 @@ if (process.env.FREECODECAMP_NODE_ENV !== 'development') {
     'dsn_from_sentry_dashboard',
     `The DSN from Sentry's dashboard should be used.`
   );
+  assert.notEqual(
+    process.env.SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT,
+    'development',
+    `The Sentry environment should be changed from the default.`
+  );
   assert.notEqual(
     process.env.JWT_SECRET,
     'a_jwt_secret',
@@ -133,6 +139,10 @@ export const SENTRY_DSN =
   process.env.SENTRY_DSN === 'dsn_from_sentry_dashboard'
     ? ''
     : process.env.SENTRY_DSN;
+export const SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT =
+  process.env.SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT === 'development'
+    ? ''
+    : process.env.SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT;
 export const COOKIE_DOMAIN = process.env.COOKIE_DOMAIN;
 export const COOKIE_SECRET = process.env.COOKIE_SECRET;
 export const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;
diff --git a/sample.env b/sample.env
index 02d454da719..1150fff9a5a 100644
--- a/sample.env
+++ b/sample.env
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ MONGOHQ_URL=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/freecodecamp?directConnection=true
 # Logging
 SENTRY_DSN=dsn_from_sentry_dashboard
 SENTRY_CLIENT_DSN=dsn_from_sentry_dashboard
-SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=staging
+SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=development
 
 # Auth0 - OAuth 2.0 Credentials
 AUTH0_CLIENT_ID=client_id_from_auth0_dashboard