fix: Respect exception autocapture default for contexts

[marandaneto]

💡 Motivation and Context

Fixes #353.

Contexts previously captured exceptions by default even when exception autocapture was disabled globally or on a custom client. This made users opt out with capture_exceptions=False for every new context.

💚 How did you test it?

• uv run --extra test pytest -q posthog/test/test_contexts.py posthog/test/test_exception_capture.py
• uv run pytest -q posthog/test/test_contexts.py posthog/test/test_exception_capture.py
• uv run --extra dev ruff format --check posthog/contexts.py posthog/client.py posthog/__init__.py posthog/test/test_contexts.py
• uv run --extra dev ruff check posthog/contexts.py posthog/client.py posthog/__init__.py posthog/test/test_contexts.py
• uv run --extra dev python .github/scripts/test_check_public_api.py
• uv run --extra dev make public_api_check

📝 Checklist

• I reviewed the submitted code.
• I added tests to verify the changes.
• I updated the docs if needed.
• No breaking change or entry added to the changelog.

If releasing new changes

• Ran sampo add to generate a changeset file

🤖 Agent context

Autonomy: Human-driven (agent-assisted)

Implemented with a delegated Pi worker agent in a dedicated worktree. The change keeps explicit capture_exceptions=True and capture_exceptions=False behavior intact while making omitted values derive from the relevant global or client exception autocapture setting. A patch changeset was added manually for pypi/posthog, and the public API snapshot was updated for the intentional signature default/type change.

[greptile-apps]

Prompt To Fix All With AI

Fix the following 1 code review issue. Work through them one at a time, proposing concise fixes.

---

### Issue 1 of 1
posthog/test/test_contexts.py:163-238
**New tests should be parameterised**

The three new tests that manipulate module globals (`test_new_context_defaults_to_global_exception_autocapture_disabled`, `test_new_context_explicit_true_captures_when_global_autocapture_disabled`, `test_new_context_explicit_false_skips_capture_when_global_autocapture_enabled`) share an identical save/restore pattern and differ only in `posthog.enable_exception_autocapture`, the value passed to `capture_exceptions`, and whether `mock_capture` is expected to be called. Following the project's stated preference for parameterised tests, these three could be collapsed into a single `@pytest.mark.parametrize` (or `subTest`) loop covering `(global_setting, explicit_arg, expect_captured)` tuples, reducing boilerplate and making the intention of each case clearer.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "fix: Respect exception autocapture defau..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[github-actions]

posthog-python Compliance Report

Date: 2026-06-19 14:38:59 UTC
Duration: 540108ms

✅ All Tests Passed!

45/45 tests passed

---

Capture Tests

✅ 29/29 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Format Validation.Event Has Required Fields	✅	517ms
Format Validation.Event Has Uuid	✅	10007ms
Format Validation.Event Has Lib Properties	✅	10007ms
Format Validation.Distinct Id Is String	✅	10006ms
Format Validation.Token Is Present	✅	10007ms
Format Validation.Custom Properties Preserved	✅	10006ms
Format Validation.Event Has Timestamp	✅	10007ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 503	✅	18019ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 400	✅	12004ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 401	✅	10005ms
Retry Behavior.Respects Retry After Header	✅	16015ms
Retry Behavior.Implements Backoff	✅	32019ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 500	✅	16009ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 502	✅	16007ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 504	✅	16013ms
Retry Behavior.Max Retries Respected	✅	32027ms
Deduplication.Generates Unique Uuids	✅	9992ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid On Retry	✅	16016ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid And Timestamp On Retry	✅	23018ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid And Timestamp On Batch Retry	✅	16004ms
Deduplication.No Duplicate Events In Batch	✅	10003ms
Deduplication.Different Events Have Different Uuids	✅	10007ms
Compression.Sends Gzip When Enabled	✅	10007ms
Batch Format.Uses Proper Batch Structure	✅	10006ms
Batch Format.Flush With No Events Sends Nothing	✅	5005ms
Batch Format.Multiple Events Batched Together	✅	10005ms
Error Handling.Does Not Retry On 403	✅	12009ms
Error Handling.Does Not Retry On 413	✅	10006ms
Error Handling.Retries On 408	✅	14015ms

Feature_Flags Tests

✅ 16/16 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Request Payload.Request With Person Properties Device Id	✅	9501ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Uses V2 Query Param	✅	10006ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Hits Flags Path Not Decide	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Omits Authorization Header	✅	10006ms
Request Payload.Token In Flags Body Matches Init	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Groups Round Trip	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Groups Default To Empty Object	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Person Properties Distinct Id Auto Populated When Caller Omits It	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip False Propagates As Geoip Disable False	✅	10006ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip Omitted Defaults To False	✅	10007ms
Request Payload.Flag Keys To Evaluate Contains Only Requested Key	✅	10007ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Init Alone	✅	5003ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Normal Capture	✅	10507ms
Request Lifecycle.Two Flag Calls Produce Two Remote Requests	✅	9511ms
Request Lifecycle.Mock Response Value Is Returned To Caller	✅	10002ms
Side Effect Events.Get Feature Flag Captures Feature Flag Called Event	✅	10509ms

[marandaneto]

@PostHog/team-error-tracking can you check this? it makes sense to me but it might be a change in behavior if the global is disabled and relies on the current default value of capture_exceptions

[greptile-apps]

Prompt To Fix All With AI

Fix the following 2 code review issues. Work through them one at a time, proposing concise fixes.

---

### Issue 1 of 2
posthog/test/test_contexts.py:167-171
**Missing `(True, None, True)` subTest case**

The test verifies that the global autocapture setting is respected, but omits the case where `global_setting=True` and `capture_exceptions` is not passed — the scenario that confirms the default inherits an *enabled* setting. With only the three current cases, a regression that always resolves to `False` would pass this test. Adding `(True, None, True)` closes that gap and satisfies the team's rule of expressing every required idea.

### Issue 2 of 2
posthog/test/test_contexts.py:207-224
**Single-sided custom-client test**

`test_new_context_defaults_to_custom_client_exception_autocapture_disabled` only tests `enable_exception_autocapture=False`. Following the same pattern applied to the global-setting test, this would benefit from also covering `enable_exception_autocapture=True` — confirming that a client context with autocapture enabled does capture the exception by default. The test could be turned into a short parameterised loop over `(False, False)` / `(True, True)` to express both sides OnceAndOnlyOnce.

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "address pr review feedback" | Re-trigger Greptile}

[ablaszkiewicz]

Looks good. Thanks for finding and fixing this. I just don't think this is a patch

[marandaneto]

Looks good. Thanks for finding and fixing this. I just don't think this is a patch

its not a new feat either, imo its like fixing a bug, what do you suggest?