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A lightweight analytics abstraction library for tracking page views, custom events, & identify visitors. Designed to work with any third-party analytics tool.

Read the docs or view the live demo app

Table of Contents

Click to expand

Features

  • Extendable - Bring your own third-party tool & plugins
  • Test & debug analytics integrations with time travel & offline mode
  • Add functionality/modify tracking calls with baked in lifecycle hooks
  • Isomorphic. Works in browser & on server
  • Queues events to send when analytic libraries are loaded
  • Works offline
  • TypeScript support

Why

Companies frequently change analytics requirements based on evolving needs. This results in a lot of complexity, maintenance, & extra code when adding/removing analytic services to a site or application.

This library aims to solves that with a simple pluggable abstraction layer.

how analytics works

Driving philosophy:

  • You should never be locked into an analytics tool
  • DX is paramount. Adding & removing analytic tools from your application should be easy
  • Respecting visitor privacy settings & allowing for opt-out mechanisms is crucial
  • A pluggable API makes adding new business requests easy

To add or remove an analytics provider, adjust the plugins you load into analytics during initialization.

Install

This module is distributed via npm, which is bundled with node and should be installed as one of your project's dependencies.

npm install analytics --save

Or as a script tag:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/analytics/dist/analytics.min.js"></script>

Usage

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import googleAnalytics from '@analytics/google-analytics'
import customerIo from '@analytics/customerio'

/* Initialize analytics */
const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-app-name',
  version: 100,
  plugins: [
    googleAnalytics({
      trackingId: 'UA-121991291',
    }),
    customerIo({
      siteId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

/* Track a page view */
analytics.page()

/* Track a custom event */
analytics.track('userPurchase', {
  price: 20
  item: 'pink socks'
})

/* Identify a visitor */
analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
  firstName: 'bill',
  lastName: 'murray',
  email: 'da-coolest@aol.com'
})
Node.js usage

For ES6/7 javascript you can import Analytics from 'analytics' for normal node.js usage you can import like so:

const { Analytics } = require('analytics')
// or const Analytics = require('analytics').default

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-app-name',
  version: 100,
  plugins: [
    googleAnalyticsPlugin({
      trackingId: 'UA-121991291',
    }),
    customerIOPlugin({
      siteId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

// Fire a page view
analytics.page()
Browser usage

When importing global analytics into your project from a CDN, the library exposes via a global _analytics variable.

Call _analytics.init to create an analytics instance.

<script src="https://unpkg.com/analytics/dist/analytics.min.js"></script>
<script>
  const Analytics = _analytics.init({
    app: 'my-app-name',
    version: 100,
    ...plugins
  })

  Analytics.track()

  // optionally expose to window
  window.Analytics = Analytics
</script>

Demo

See Analytics Demo for a site example.

API

The core analytics API is exposed once the library is initialized with configuration.

Typical usage:

  1. Initialize with configuration
  2. Export the analytics instance with third-party providers (Google Analytics, HubSpot, etc)
  3. Use page, identify, track in your app
  4. Plugin custom business logic

Configuration

Analytics library configuration

After the library is initialized with config, the core API is exposed and ready for use in the application.

Arguments

  • config object - analytics core config
  • [config.app] (optional) string - Name of site / app
  • [config.version] (optional) string - Version of your app
  • [config.plugins] (optional) Array.<Object> - Array of analytics plugins

Example

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import pluginABC from 'analytics-plugin-abc'
import pluginXYZ from 'analytics-plugin-xyz'

// initialize analytics
const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-awesome-app',
  plugins: [
    pluginABC,
    pluginXYZ
  ]
})

analytics.identify

Identify a user. This will trigger identify calls in any installed plugins and will set user data in localStorage

Arguments

  • userId String - Unique ID of user
  • [traits] (optional) Object - Object of user traits
  • [options] (optional) Object - Options to pass to identify call
  • [callback] (optional) Function - Callback function after identify completes

Example

// Basic user id identify
analytics.identify('xyz-123')

// Identify with additional traits
analytics.identify('xyz-123', {
  name: 'steve',
  company: 'hello-clicky'
})

// Disable identify for specific plugin
analytics.identify('xyz-123', {}, {
 plugins: {
   // disable for segment plugin
   segment: false
 }
})

// Fire callback with 2nd or 3rd argument
analytics.identify('xyz-123', () => {
  console.log('do this after identify')
})

analytics.track

Track an analytics event. This will trigger track calls in any installed plugins

Arguments

  • eventName String - Event name
  • [payload] (optional) Object - Event payload
  • [options] (optional) Object - Event options
  • [callback] (optional) Function - Callback to fire after tracking completes

Example

// Basic event tracking
analytics.track('buttonClicked')

// Event tracking with payload
analytics.track('itemPurchased', {
  price: 11,
  sku: '1234'
})

// Disable specific plugin on track
analytics.track('cartAbandoned', {
  items: ['xyz', 'abc']
}, {
 plugins: {
   // disable track event for segment
   segment: false
 }
})

// Fire callback with 2nd or 3rd argument
analytics.track('newsletterSubscribed', () => {
  console.log('do this after track')
})

analytics.page

Trigger page view. This will trigger page calls in any installed plugins

Arguments

  • [data] (optional) PageData - Page data overrides.
  • [options] (optional) Object - Page tracking options
  • [callback] (optional) Function - Callback to fire after page view call completes

Example

// Basic page tracking
analytics.page()

// Page tracking with page data overides
analytics.page({
  url: 'https://google.com'
})

// Disable specific plugin page tracking
analytics.page({}, {
 plugins: {
   // disable page tracking event for segment
   segment: false
 }
})

// Fire callback with 1st, 2nd or 3rd argument
analytics.page(() => {
  console.log('do this after page')
})

analytics.user

Get user data

Arguments

  • [key] (optional) string - dot.prop.path of user data. Example: 'traits.company.name'

Example

// Get all user data
const userData = analytics.user()

// Get user id
const userId = analytics.user('userId')

// Get user company name
const companyName = analytics.user('traits.company.name')

analytics.reset

Clear all information about the visitor & reset analytic state.

Arguments

  • [callback] (optional) Function - Handler to run after reset

Example

// Reset current visitor
analytics.reset()

analytics.ready

Fire callback on analytics ready event

Arguments

  • callback Function - function to trigger when all providers have loaded

Example

analytics.ready() => {
  console.log('all plugins have loaded or were skipped', payload)
})

analytics.on

Attach an event handler function for analytics lifecycle events.

Arguments

  • name String - Name of event to listen to
  • callback Function - function to fire on event

Example

// Fire function when 'track' calls happen
analytics.on('track', ({ payload }) => {
  console.log('track call just happened. Do stuff')
})

// Remove listener before it is called
const removeListener = analytics.on('track', ({ payload }) => {
  console.log('This will never get called')
})

// cleanup .on listener
removeListener()

analytics.once

Attach a handler function to an event and only trigger it only once.

Arguments

  • name String - Name of event to listen to
  • callback Function - function to fire on event

Example

// Fire function only once 'track'
analytics.once('track', ({ payload }) => {
  console.log('This will only triggered once when analytics.track() fires')
})

// Remove listener before it is called
const listener = analytics.once('track', ({ payload }) => {
  console.log('This will never get called b/c listener() is called')
})

// cleanup .once listener before it fires
listener()

analytics.getState

Get data about user, activity, or context. Access sub-keys of state with dot.prop syntax.

Arguments

  • [key] (optional) string - dot.prop.path value of state

Example

// Get the current state of analytics
analytics.getState()

// Get a subpath of state
analytics.getState('context.offline')

analytics.enablePlugin

Enable analytics plugin

Arguments

  • plugins String|Array - name of plugins(s) to disable
  • [callback] (optional) Function - callback after enable runs

Example

analytics.enablePlugin('google')

// Enable multiple plugins at once
analytics.enablePlugin(['google', 'segment'])

analytics.disablePlugin

Disable analytics plugin

Arguments

  • name String|Array - name of integration(s) to disable
  • callback Function - callback after disable runs

Example

analytics.disablePlugin('google')

analytics.disablePlugin(['google', 'segment'])

analytics.storage

Storage utilities for persisting data. These methods will allow you to save data in localStorage, cookies, or to the window.

Example

// Pull storage off analytics instance
const { storage } = analytics

// Get value
storage.getItem('storage_key')

// Set value
storage.setItem('storage_key', 'value')

// Remove value
storage.removeItem('storage_key')

analytics.storage.getItem

Get value from storage

Arguments

  • key String - storage key
  • [options] (optional) Object - storage options

Example

analytics.storage.getItem('storage_key')

analytics.storage.setItem

Set storage value

Arguments

  • key String - storage key
  • value any - storage value
  • [options] (optional) Object - storage options

Example

analytics.storage.setItem('storage_key', 'value')

analytics.storage.removeItem

Remove storage value

Arguments

  • key String - storage key
  • [options] (optional) Object - storage options

Example

analytics.storage.removeItem('storage_key')

Events

The analytics library comes with a large variety of event listeners that can be used to fire custom functionality when a specific lifecycle event occurs.

These listeners can be fired using analytics.on & analytics.once

const eventName = 'pageEnd'
analytics.on(eventName, ({ payload }) => {
  console.log('payload', payload)
})

Below is a list of the current available events

Event Description
bootstrap Fires when analytics library starts up.
This is the first event fired. '.on/once' listeners are not allowed on bootstrap
Plugins can attach logic to this event
params Fires when analytics parses URL parameters
campaign Fires if params contain "utm" parameters
initializeStart Fires before 'initialize', allows for plugins to cancel loading of other plugins
initialize Fires when analytics loads plugins
initializeEnd Fires after initialize, allows for plugins to run logic after initialization methods run
ready Fires when all analytic providers are fully loaded. This waits for 'initialize' and 'loaded' to return true
resetStart Fires if analytic.reset() is called.
Use this event to cancel reset based on a specific condition
reset Fires if analytic.reset() is called.
Use this event to run custom cleanup logic (if needed)
resetEnd Fires after analytic.reset() is called.
Use this event to run a callback after user data is reset
pageStart Fires before 'page' events fire.
This allows for dynamic page view cancellation based on current state of user or options passed in.
page Core analytics hook for page views.
If your plugin or integration tracks page views, this is the event to fire on.
pageEnd Fires after all registered 'page' methods fire.
pageAborted Fires if 'page' call is cancelled by a plugin
trackStart Called before the 'track' events fires.
This allows for dynamic page view cancellation based on current state of user or options passed in.
track Core analytics hook for event tracking.
If your plugin or integration tracks custom events, this is the event to fire on.
trackEnd Fires after all registered 'track' events fire from plugins.
trackAborted Fires if 'track' call is cancelled by a plugin
identifyStart Called before the 'identify' events fires.
This allows for dynamic page view cancellation based on current state of user or options passed in.
identify Core analytics hook for user identification.
If your plugin or integration identifies users or user traits, this is the event to fire on.
identifyEnd Fires after all registered 'identify' events fire from plugins.
identifyAborted Fires if 'track' call is cancelled by a plugin
userIdChanged Fires when a user id is updated
registerPlugins Fires when analytics is registering plugins
enablePlugin Fires when 'analytics.enablePlugin()' is called
disablePlugin Fires when 'analytics.disablePlugin()' is called
loadPlugin Fires when 'analytics.loadPlugin()' is called
online Fires when browser network goes online.
This fires only when coming back online from an offline state.
offline Fires when browser network goes offline.
setItemStart Fires when analytics.storage.setItem is initialized.
This event gives plugins the ability to intercept keys & values and alter them before they are persisted.
setItem Fires when analytics.storage.setItem is called.
This event gives plugins the ability to intercept keys & values and alter them before they are persisted.
setItemEnd Fires when setItem storage is complete.
setItemAborted Fires when setItem storage is cancelled by a plugin.
removeItemStart Fires when analytics.storage.removeItem is initialized.
This event gives plugins the ability to intercept removeItem calls and abort / alter them.
removeItem Fires when analytics.storage.removeItem is called.
This event gives plugins the ability to intercept removeItem calls and abort / alter them.
removeItemEnd Fires when removeItem storage is complete.
removeItemAborted Fires when removeItem storage is cancelled by a plugin.

Analytic plugins

The analytics has a robust plugin system. Here is a list of currently available plugins:

Creating analytics plugins

The library is designed to work with any third-party analytics tool.

Plugins are just plain javascript objects that expose methods for analytics to register and call.

Here is a quick example of a plugin:

// plugin-example.js
export default function pluginExample(userConfig) {
  // return object for analytics to use
  return {
    /* All plugins require a name */
    name: 'my-example-plugin',
    /* Everything else below this is optional depending on your plugin requirements */
    config: {
      whatEver: userConfig.whatEver,
      elseYouNeed: userConfig.elseYouNeed
    },
    initialize: ({ config }) => {
      // load provider script to page
    },
    page: ({ payload }) => {
      // call provider specific page tracking
    },
    track: ({ payload }) => {
      // call provider specific event tracking
    },
    identify: ({ payload }) => {
      // call provider specific user identify method
    },
    loaded: () => {
      // return boolean so analytics knows when it can send data to third-party
      return !!window.myPluginLoaded
    }
  }
}

name is required for all plugins. All other methods are optional.

If you don't need to hook into page tracking, just omit the page key from your plugin object.

To use a plugin, import it and pass it into the plugins array when you bootstrap analytics.

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import pluginExample from './plugin-example.js'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-app-name',
  plugins: [
    pluginExample({
      whatEver: 'hello',
      elseYouNeed: 'there'
    }),
    ...otherPlugins
  ]
})

React to any event

Plugins can react to any event flowing through the analytics library.

For example, if you wanted to trigger custom logic when analytics bootstraps, you can attach a function handler to the bootstrap event.

For a full list of core events, checkout events.js.

// Example Plugin plugin.js
export default function myPlugin(userConfig) {
  return {
    /* Name is a required field for plugins */
    name: 'my-plugin',
    /* Bootstrap runs when analytics starts */
    bootstrap: ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Do whatever on `bootstrap` event
    },
    pageStart: ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Fire custom logic before analytics.page() calls
    },
    pageEnd: ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Fire custom logic after analytics.page() calls
    },
    trackStart: ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Fire custom logic before analytics.track() calls
    },
    'track:customerio': ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Fire custom logic before customer.io plugin runs.
      // Here you can customize the data sent to individual analytics providers
    },
    trackEnd: ({ payload, config, instance }) => {
      // Fire custom logic after analytics.track() calls
    },
    // ... hook into other events
  }
}

Using this plugin is the same as any other.

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import customerIoPlugin from '@analytics/customerio'
import myPlugin from './plugin.js'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-app-name',
  plugins: [
    // include myPlugin
    myPlugin(),
    customerIoPlugin({
      trackingId: '1234'
    })
    ...otherPlugins
  ]
})

Plugin Naming Conventions

Plugins should follow this naming convention before being published to npm

analytics-plugin-{your-plugin-name}

E.g. An analytics plugin that does awesome-stuff should be named

npm install analytics-plugin-awesome-stuff

Then submit to the list above

Debugging analytics

During development, you can turn on debug mode. This will connect the dev tools for you to see the analytics events passing through your application visually.

analytics-debug-tools

import Analytics from 'analytics'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'my-app',
  debug: true
})

TypeScript support

Types for analytics and plugins are generated from JSDoc blocks in the code base via the tsd-jsdoc package.

We are always looking to improve type support & improve the DX of users. If you see something that can be improved let us know in an issue!

Contributing

Contributions are always welcome, no matter how large or small. Before contributing, please read the code of conduct.

Setup & Install dependencies

Clone the repo and run

$ git clone https://github.com/davidwells/analytics
$ cd analytics
$ npm install && npm run setup

The above command will set up all the packages and their dependencies.

Development

You can watch and rebuild packages with the npm run watch command.

npm run watch

While watch mode is activated, you can work against the demo site in examples to test out your changes on a live application.