fix(monitoring): allow distinguishing data from different deployments in New Relic

[mihow]

Summary

Narrow follow-up to #1299. The NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME env var is silently ignored by newrelic agent 12.1.0 when any [newrelic*] section in config/newrelic.ini sets app_name. The previous PR removed it from [newrelic:production] only and assumed the env var would supply it — but the base [newrelic] section still set it, so the env var was never consulted.

This PR drops app_name from every [newrelic*] section, making NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME in .envs/.production/.django the single source of truth. This is the only configuration shape that actually lets per-deploy app naming work in 12.1.0, and it suits the upcoming dynamic preview stacks (each preview sets its own NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME at spawn time, no repo churn).

Evidence

Reproduced inside a deployed django container (agent 12.1.0):

$ docker exec <c> newrelic-admin run-program python -c \
  ""from newrelic.core.config import global_settings; \
   import os; \
   print('env:', repr(os.environ.get('NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME'))); \
   print('app:', repr(global_settings().app_name))""

env: 'Antenna Backend (Demo)'
app: 'AMI Backend'         ← base ini wins, env var ignored

Comment out the base app_name = AMI Backend line in a temp ini and re-run with the same env var:

env: 'Antenna Backend (Demo)'
app: 'Antenna Backend (Demo)'  ← env var now resolves

Confirms the ini base entry — not the env var read path — is the blocker. Removing app_name from the ini is the fix.

Failure mode is visible, not silent

If a deploy forgets to set NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME, the agent reports under the literal name Python Application. That is an easy-to-spot orphan in NR's APM list, not a silent merge into another env's entity. Verified:

# (no env var, no ini app_name)
$ ... print(global_settings().app_name)
'Python Application'

This is the opposite of the pre-fix behavior, which (combined with an NR account-side alias mapping AMI Backend → the production entity) caused unrelated deploys to silently merge into prod APM metrics. That issue is what surfaced this PR.

Suits dynamic preview stacks

Per-PR / per-branch preview stacks set NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME at spawn time without committing a new [newrelic:<env>] section to this repo for every ephemeral environment.

Deploy coordination — required before merge

Each long-lived environment must set NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME in its deploy-time .envs/.production/.django before this lands. Suggested values (use the Antenna Backend (<env>) pattern for any new entity; the legacy AMI Backend (Staging) entity already exists in NR and can keep that name for history continuity if preferred):

Env	NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME
production	Antenna Backend (live)
demo	Antenna Backend (Demo)
staging	Antenna Backend (Staging) (new) or AMI Backend (Staging) (keep)
preview stacks	Antenna Backend (preview-<id>)

Adding the env var on hosts where the ini still sets app_name is a no-op today (ini wins), so it can be staged in advance of merging without risk.

Test plan

• In a running django container, build a temp ini with no app_name anywhere + set NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME env var → global_settings() resolves to the env var value.
• Same with no env var set → resolves to Python Application (confirmed orphan, no silent merge).
• Confirmed in NR APM with the corresponding ini hot-patch on one env: agent registers under the env-var name, transactions land in the expected entity (not another env's entity).
• After deploy: each env's appName in NR matches the value of its NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME env var; no env reports as Python Application or AMI Backend.
• Agent log shows NR-Activate-Session/<expected app name> per env.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• .envs/.production/.django-example
• config/newrelic.ini

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• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/newrelic-restore-env-sections

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR restores deterministic per-environment New Relic app_name selection via config/newrelic.ini sections after finding that, in newrelic agent 12.1.0, NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME does not override a base [newrelic] app_name value—preventing demo/staging traffic from being attributed to the wrong NR entity.

Changes:

• Re-add explicit app_name for [newrelic:production] and introduce [newrelic:demo], both keyed by NEW_RELIC_ENVIRONMENT.
• Remove the misleading NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME line from the production env template and document the agent behavior/precedence.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
config/newrelic.ini	Adds [newrelic:demo] and restores per-env app_name for production; documents why app_name must live in env sections.
.envs/.production/.django-example	Removes NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME template line and adds guidance to use NEW_RELIC_ENVIRONMENT-selected ini sections for app naming.

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