This documentation is for the Countly NodeJS SDK version 24.10.X. The SDK source code repository can be found here.

Countly NodeJS runs with the following node versions and up:

To examine the example integrations, please have a look here.

Adding the SDK to the project

You can reach Countly NodeJS SDK npm package here. To add it to your project, you would use a command similar to these with your preferred package manager:

npm install countly-sdk-nodejs

yarn add countly-sdk-nodejs

After this, you can import and use Countly as you wish inside your project as described below.

SDK Integration

Minimal Setup

Wherever you want to integrate Countly NodeJS SDK, you should import 'countly-sdk-nodejs' and initialize Countly. Here, you would also need to provide your application key and server URL. Please check here for more information on how to acquire your application key (APP_KEY) and server URL.

Example basic setup would look like this:

var Countly = require('countly-sdk-nodejs');

Countly.init({
  app_key: "YOUR-APP-KEY",
  url: "https://your_server_url/"
});

SDK Data Storage

Countly stores information like requests, events and device ID locally as JSON objects before using it to ensure data consistency. Default location of this stored data is at the base of your project under a folder called Data. You can change the location or file name during the initialization by using the storage_path flag:

var Countly = require('countly-sdk-nodejs');

Countly.init({
  app_key: "YOUR-APP-KEY",
  url: "https://your_server_url/",
  // by default it is "../data/"
  storage_path: "../your_storage/path" 
});

SDK Logging

If you encounter a problem or want to see if everything is working smoothly just turning on the logs during the initialization is all you really need. You can do so by setting the debug flag as true, during the init. This way you can see the inner workings of the Countly from your console.

var Countly = require('countly-sdk-nodejs');

Countly.init({
  app_key: "YOUR-APP-KEY",
  url: "https://your_server_url/",
  debug: true
});

But sometimes you might want to see the logs only for a small time frame or some particular operation. In those situations, you can simply use setLoggingEnabled function to turn the logs on or off as you wish, just like this:

//to turn on the logs
Countly.setLoggingEnabled(true);

//some code in between
//<...>

//to turn off the logs
Countly.setLoggingEnabled(false);

Crash Reporting

Countly also provides a way to track NodeJS errors on your server.

To automatically capture and report Javascript errors on your server, call the following function:

Countly.track_errors()

You can additionally, add more segments or properties/values to track with error reports, by providing an object with key/values to add to error reports.

Countly.track_errors({
  "facebook_sdk": "2.3",
  "jquery": "1.8"
})

Apart from reporting unhandled errors automatically, you can also report handled exceptions to server too, so you can figure out how and even if you need to handle them later on. And optionally you can again provide custom segments to be used in the report (or use the ones provided with track_error method as default ones).

Countly.log_error(error, segments);

try{
  //do something here
}
catch(ex){
  //report error to Countly
  Countly.log_error(ex);
}

To better understand what happened prior to getting an error, you can leave out breadcrumbs through out the code, on different actions. This breadcrumb will be then combined in single log and reported to server too.

Countly.add_log("user clicked button a");

Events

Recording Events

An event is a way to track any custom actions or other data you want to track from your website. You can also provide segments to be able to view breakdown of action by provided segment values.

An event consists of Javascript object with keys: * key - the name of the event (mandatory) * count - number of events (default: 1) * sum - sum to report with event (optional) * dur - duration to report with event (optional) * segmentation - an object with key/value pairs to report with event as segments

Here is an example of adding an event with all possible properties:

Countly.add_event({
  "key": "click",
  "count": 1,
  "sum": 1.5,
  "dur": 30,
  "segmentation": {
    "key1": "value1",
    "key2": "value2"
  }
});

Timed Events

You can report time or duration with every event by providing dur property of the events object. But if you want, you can also let Web SDK to track duration of some specific event for you, you can use start_event and end_event methods.

First, you can start tracking event time by providing name of the event (which later on will be used as key for event object)

Countly.start_event("timedEvent")

Countly will internally mark the start of event and will wait until you end event with end_event method, setting up dur property based on how much time has passed since start_event for same event name was called.

//end event
Countly.end_event("timedEvent")

//or end event with additional data
Countly.end_event({
  "key": "timedEvent",
  "count": 1,
  "sum": 1.5,
  "segmentation": {
    "key1": "value1",
    "key2": "value2"
  }
});

Session

Manual Sessions

This method would allow you to control sessions manually. Use it only, if you don't call track_sessions method.

If noHeartBeat is true, then Countly SDK won't extend session automatically, and you will need to do that manually.

Countly.begin_session(noHeartBeat);

Extending a Session

By default (if noHeartBeat was not provided in begin_session) Countly SDK will extend session itself, but if you chose not to, then you can extend is using this method and provide seconds since last call begin_session or session_duration call, whatever was the last one.

Countly.session_duration(sec)

Ending a Session

When visitor is leaving your app or website, you should end his session with this method, optionally providing amount of seconds since last begin session or session_duration calls, whatever was the last one.

Countly.end_session(sec)

View Tracking

This method allows you to track different parts of your application, called views. You can track how much time is spent on each part of the application.

Countly.track_view("viewname");

And optionally, as the third parameter, you can provide view segments (key/value pairs) to track together with the view. There is a list of reserved segment keys that should not be used:

• start
• visit
• bounce
• end
• name
• domain
• view
• segment
• platform

//Provide view segments
Countly.track_view("viewname", {theme:"red", mode:"fullscreen"});

Device ID Management

Retrieving Current Device ID

Countly offers a convenience method (get_device_id) for you to get the current user's device ID:

var id = Countly.get_device_id();

SDK records the type of an ID. These types are:

• DEVELOPER_SUPPLIED
• SDK_GENERATED

DEVELOPER_SUPPLIED device ID means this ID was assigned by your internal logic. SDK_GENERATED device ID means the ID was generated randomly by the SDK.

You can get the device ID type of a user by calling the get_device_id_type function:

var idType = Countly.get_device_id_type();

You can use the DeviceIdType enums to evaluate the device ID type you retrieved:

var idType = Countly.get_device_id_type();
if (idType === Countly.DeviceIdType.SDK_GENERATED) {
  // ...do something
}

Changing Device ID

You can change the device ID of a user with set_id method:

Countly.set_id("newId");

This method's effect on the server will be different according to the type of the current ID stored in the SDK at the time you call it:

• If current stored ID is SDK_GENERATED then in the server all the information recorded for that device ID will be merged to the new ID you provide and old user with the SDK_GENERATED ID will be erased.

• If the current stored ID is DEVELOPER_SUPPLIED then in the server it will also create a new user with this new ID if it does not exist.

NOTE: The call will reject invalid device ID values. A valid value is not null, not undefined, of type string and is not an empty string.

Remote Config

Remote Config feature enables you to fetch data that you have created in your server. Depending on the conditions you have set, you can fetch data from your server for the specific users that fits those conditions and process the Remote Config data in anyway you want. Whether to change the background color of your site to showing a certain message, the possibilities are virtually endless. For more information on Remote Config please check here.

Automatic Remote Config

Automatic Remote Config functionality is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled. When automatic Remote Config is enabled, the SDK will try to fetch it upon some specific triggers. For example, after SDK initialization, changing device ID.

You may enable this feature by providing to the remote_config flag a callback function or by setting it to true while initializing the SDK.

If you provide a callback, the callback will be called when the Remote Config is initially loaded and when it is reloaded if you change the device_id. This callback should have two parameters, first is for error, and second is for the Remote Config object.

// in your Countly init script
Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "https://try.count.ly",
  debug: true,
  remote_config: true 
});

// OR

// provide a callback to be notified when configs are loaded
Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "https://try.count.ly",
  debug: true,
  remote_config: function(err, remoteConfigs){
    if (!err) {
      //we have our remoteConfigs here
      console.log(remoteConfigs);
    }
  }
});

Manual Remote Config

If you want, you can manually fetch the Remote Config in order to receive the latest value anytime after the initialization. To do so you have to use the fetch_remote_config call. This method is also used for reloading the values for updating them according to the latest changes you made on your server.

By using this method, you can simply load the entire object or load some specific keys or omit some specific keys in order to decrease the amount of data transfer needed, assuming the values for some of the keys are large. This call will automatically save the fetched keys internally.

Fetch All Keys

Here you so not need to provide any parameters to the call but providing a callback is the recommended practice. This callback should have two parameters, first is for error, and second is for the Remote Config object.

// load the whole configuration object with a callback
Countly.fetch_remote_config(function(err, remoteConfigs){
  if (!err) {
    console.log(remoteConfigs);
  // or do something else here if you want with remoteConfigs object
  }
});

// or whole configuration object with no params
Countly.fetch_remote_config();

Fetch Specific Keys

Here the keys should be provided as string values in an array, as the first parameter in fetch_remote_config call. You can provide a callback function as a second parameter. This callback should have two parameters, first is for error, and second is for the Remote Config object.

// load specific keys only, as `key1` and `key2`
Countly.fetch_remote_config(["key1","key2"], function(err, remoteConfigs){
  if (!err) {
    console.log(remoteConfigs);
    // or do something else here if you want with remoteConfigs object
  }
});

Fetch All Except Specific Keys

Here the first parameter should be set to 'null' or 'undefined' and the keys that you want to omit must be provided as the second parameter as an array of keys as string. As a third parameter you can provide a callback function. This callback should have two parameters, first is for error, and second is for the Remote Config object.

// load all key values except specific keys, as `key1` and `key2'
Countly.fetch_remote_config(null, ["key1","key2"], function(err, remoteConfigs){
  if (!err) {
    console.log(remoteConfigs);
    // or do something else here if you want with remoteConfigs object
  }
});

Accessing Remote Config Values

You may call get_remote_config each time you would like to receive the Remote Config object of a value for a specific key or all keys from your local storage.

This method should be called once the Remote Config have been successfully loaded, or it will simply return an empty object or undefined values.

//get whole Remote Config object
var remoteConfig = Countly.get_remote_config();

//or get value for specific key like 'test'
var test = Countly.get_remote_config("test");

A/B Testing

While fetching Remote Config, the SDK will automatically enroll the user to A/B testing. For more information on A/B testing please check here.

Consent

If consents are enabled, to fetch the Remote Config data you have to provide the 'remote-config' consent for this feature to work.

User Feedback

If there is any way you can get some user feedback, there is not a simple method to report collected data to Countly.

//user feedback
Countly.report_feedback({
  widget_id:"1234567890",
  contactMe: true,
  rating: 5,
  email: "user@domain.com",
  comment: "Very good"
});

User Profiles

Setting User Properties

If you have any details about the user/visitor, you can provide that information to Countly. This will allow you to track each and every specific user on the "User Profiles" tab.

If a parameter is set as an empty string, it will be deleted on the server side.

The list of possible parameters you can pass is:

Countly.user_details({
  "name": "Arturs Sosins",
  "username": "ar2rsawseen",
  "email": "test@test.com",
  "organization": "Countly",
  "phone": "+37112345678",
  //Web URL pointing to user picture
  "picture": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1442562237/012_n_400x400.jpg", 
  "gender": "M",
  "byear": 1987, //birth year
  "custom":{
    "key1":"value1",
    "key2":"value2",
    ...
  }
 });

Modifying Data

Additionally, you can manipulate custom data values in different ways, like incrementing the current value on the server or storing an array of values under the same property.

Below is the list of available methods:

Countly.userData.set(key, value) //set custom property
Countly.userData.set_once(key, value) //set custom property only if property does not exist
Countly.userData.increment(key) //increment value in key by one
Countly.userData.increment_by(key, value) //increment value in key by provided value
Countly.userData.multiply(key, value) //multiply value in key by provided value
Countly.userData.max(key, value) //save max value between current and provided
Countly.userData.min(key, value) //save min value between current and provided
Countly.userData.push(key, value) //add value to key as array element
Countly.userData.push_unique(key, value) //add value to key as array element, but only store unique values in array
Countly.userData.pull(key, value) //remove value from array under property with key as name
Countly.userData.save() //send userData to server

Application Performance Monitoring

You can report a trace using report_trace method. Contents of it depend on which trace you report.

Here is an example of how to report network trace:

//report network trace
Countly.report_trace({
  type: "network", //device or network
  name: "/some/endpoint", //use name to identify trace and group them by
  stz: 1234567890123, //start timestamp in miliseconds
  etz: 1234567890123, //end timestamp in miliseconds
  app_metrics: {
    response_time: 1000,
    response_code: 200,
    response_payload_size: 12345,
    request_payload_size: 5432
  }
});

 And here is an example of device trace:

//user built in method to report app start time
Countly.report_app_start();

//or report device trace manually
Countly.report_trace({
  type: "device", //device or network
  name: "My App", //use name to identify trace and group them by
  stz: 1234567890123, //start timestamp in miliseconds
  etz: 1234567890123, //end timestamp in miliseconds
  app_metrics: {
    duration: 1000,
  }
});

Or you can report any custom traces to provide duration:

//or report device trace manually
Countly.report_trace({
  type: "device", //device or network
  name: "Some process we launched", //use name to identify trace and group them by
  stz: 1234567890123, //start timestamp in miliseconds
  etz: 1234567890123, //end timestamp in miliseconds
  app_metrics: {
    duration: 1000,
  }
});

Other Features and Notes

SDK Config Parameters Explained

Here are the properties you can setup on Countly initialization

• app_key - Mandatory! The App Key for your app which created in Countly.
• url - Mandatory! Countly server URL. You must use your server URL here!
• device_id - To identify a visitor, SDK will auto-generate if not provided!
• app_version - Version of your app or website.
• country_code - Country code for your visitor.
• city - Name of the city of your visitor.
• ip_address - IP address of your visitor.
• debug - Output debug info into the console (default: false).
• interval - Set an interval how often to check if there is any data to report and report it (default: 500 ms).
• fail_timeout - Set time in seconds to wait after a failed connection to the server (default: 60 seconds).
• session_update - How often in seconds should session be extended (default: 60 seconds).
• max_events - Maximum amount of events to send in one batch (default: 10).
• force_post - Force using the post method for all requests (default: false)
• storage_path - Where SDK would store data, including id, queues, etc. (default: "../data/").
• storage_type - Determines which storage type will be applied. Built-in storage type options are:
  • File Storage: Countly.StorageTypes.FILE
  • Memory Storage: Countly.StorageTypes.MEMORY
  If custom_storage_method will be used, do not use the storage type. If the user didn't set the storage type, SDK applies the default. Default is: Countly.StorageTypes.FILE
• custom_storage_method - User-given storage methods that can be used instead of the default File Storage or the optional Memory Storage methods.
  • If no storage_path is provided with the custom method, the storage path will be the default path! (default: "../data/")
  • The object must contain storeGet, storeSet, and storeRemove functions!

  Before applying this configuration option, read this section of the document to get more information about providing your storage methods

• require_consent - pass true if you are implementing GDPR compatible consent management. It would prevent running any functionality without proper consent (default: false).
• remote_config - Enable automatic remote config fetching, provide callback function to be notified when fetching done (default: false).
• http_options - Function to get http options by reference and overwrite them, before running each request.
• max_breadcrumb_count - Maximum amount of breadcrumbs to store for crash logs (default: 100)
• metrics - Provide metrics override or custom metrics for this user. For more information on the specific metric keys used by Countly, check here.

Setting up properties in Countly NodeJS SDK is as follows

Countly.init({
  debug:false,
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  device_id:"1234-1234-1234-1234",
  url: "https://your.server.ly",
  app_version: "1.2",
  country_code: "LV",
  city: "Riga",
  storage_type: Countly.StorageTypes.MEMORY,
  ip_address: "83.140.15.1",
  http_options: function(options){
    options.headers["user-agent"] = "Test";
  },
  metrics:{
    _os: "Ubuntu",
    _os_version: "16.04",
    _device: "aws-server"
  }
});

Example Integrations

apm_example is a simple APM integration.
bulk_import_example is a simple bulk import example.
example covers most of the functionalities.
multi-process is a simple demonstration for multi-instancing the Countly SDK.

SDK Internal Limits

If values or keys provided by the user exceeds certain internal limits, they will be truncated. Please have a look here for the list of properties effected by these limits.

You can override these internal limits during initialization.

Key Length

max_key_length - 128 chars by default. Keys that exceed this limit will be truncated.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_key_length: 50
});

Value Size

max_value_size - 256 chars by default. Values that exceed this limit will be truncated.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_value_size: 12
});

Segmentation Values

max_segmentation_values - 100 dev entries by default. Key/value pairs that exceed this limit in a single event will be removed.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_segmentation_values: 67
});

Breadcrumb Count

max_breadcrumb_count - 100 entries by default. If the limit is exceeded, the oldest entry will be removed from stored breadcrumbs.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_breadcrumb_count: 45
});

Stack Trace Lines Per Thread

max_stack_trace_lines_per_thread - 30 lines by default. Crash stack trace lines that exceed this limit (per thread) will be removed.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_stack_trace_lines_per_thread: 23
});

Stack Trace Line Length

max_stack_trace_line_length - 200 chars by default. Crash stack trace lines that exceed this limit will be truncated.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "YOUR_SERVER_URL",
  max_stack_trace_line_length: 10
});

Setting Maximum Request Queue Size

When you initialize Countly, you can specify a value for the queueSize flag. This flag limits the number of requests that can be stored in the request queue when the Countly server is unavailable or experiencing connection problems.

If the server is down, requests sent to it will be queued on the device. If the number of queued requests becomes excessive, it can cause problems with delivering the requests to the server, and can also take up valuable storage space on the device. To prevent this from happening, the queueSize flag limits the number of requests that can be stored in the queue.

If the number of requests in the queue reaches the queueSize limit, the oldest requests in the queue will be dropped, and the newest requests will take their place. This ensures that the queue doesn't become too large, and that the most recent requests are prioritized for delivery.

If you do not specify a value for the queueSize flag, the default setting of 1,000 will be used.

Countly.init({
  app_key:"YOUR_APP_KEY",
  url: "https://try.count.ly",
  queueSize: 5000
});

Attribution

When using Countly attribution analytics, you can also report conversion to Countly server, for e.g., when visitor purchased something or registered.

Note: that conversion for each user may be reported only once, all other conversions will be ignored for this same user

//or provide campaign id yourself
Countly.report_conversion("MyCampaignID");

Make Direct Request

If you are switching between users a lot, or changing some other data, which is hard to handle over multiple processes, etc. You can simply make a raw request with all possible SDK parameters described in API reference

Countly.request({
  app_key:"somekey", 
  devide_id:"someid", 
  events:"[{'key':'val','count':1}]", 
  metrics:"{'_os':'Linux'}",
  begin_session:1
});

Providing Custom Storage Methods

Countly NodeJS SDK permits the user to use their storage methods. To replace the SDK's built-in storage options (File and Memory) during configuration, you can provide preferred storage methods within an object to the custom_storage_method parameter.

The custom object must contain the storeSet, storeGet, and storeRemove functions for the SDK to accept the user-given methods and function correctly!

Objects containing the methods with correct naming will be evaluated as valid objects, and the SDK will use the provided custom methods as internal storage methods.

While evaluating objects, SDK checks for, if:

• an object is provided
• that object has the valid keys (storeSet, storeGet, storeRemove)
• the values are functions

In cases where an invalid object is provided as the custom method, SDK will ignore the provided object and switch back to the default storage type, File storage.

Keep in mind that passing the internal validity check for the methods does not guarantee that the custom logic applied is correct. You must ensure that your custom implementation functions properly and that the SDK runs without issues when integrated with the custom methods.

If custom storage methods are provided, do not fill storage_type parameters during configuration.

If, during configuration, storage_path parameter is not provided, SDK will use the default storage path. The default storage path is ("../data/"). This parameter must be provided to use custom methods with other desired paths!

Custom Storage Object must contain the 3 main methods SDK uses internally;

• storeSet(key, value, callback) - must save the provided key/value pair into the storage. Callback is a function that is invoked to indicate the result of the operation after the operation is complete or failed. Parameters:
  • key(string) - the key to associate with the value.
  • value(null | boolean | number | string | object) - the value to store (can be null, primitive, or an object).
  • callback(function) - after the value is stored under the given key, you should call the callback if given, with the error object of the failed operation or with null if the operation succeeds.
• storeGet(key, def) - must return the value for the provided key. If the value for the key does not exist, it should return the def value. Parameters:
  • key(string) - the key that's associated with the value.
  • def(null | boolean | number | string | object) - default value to use if it doesn't set (can be null, primitive, or an object).
• storeRemove(key) - must remove the key and value from the storage for the provided key. Parameters:
  
  • key(string) - the key that's associated with the value to remove.

Custom Storage Method object should be like this:

const customStorageMethods = {
    /**
     * @example
     * customStorageMethods.storeSet('myKey', 'myValue', function(error) {
     *   if (error) {
     *     console.error('Failed to store value:', error);
     *   } else {
     *     console.log('Value stored successfully.');
     *   }
     * });
     */
    storeSet: function(key, value, callback) {
        // your storeSet method
    },
    /**
     * @example
     * let value = customStorageMethods.storeGet('myKey', 'defaultValue');
     * console.log('Retrieved value:', value);
     */
    storeGet: function(key, def) {
        // your storeGet method
    },
    /**
     * @example
     * customStorageMethods.storeRemove('myKey');
     */
    storeRemove: function(key) {
        // your storeRemove method
    },
};

Extended Device ID Management

In some cases you may want to change the ID of the user/device that you provided or Countly generated automatically, for example, when user was changed.

Countly.change_id("myNewId");

In some cases, you may also need to change user's device ID in a way, that server will merge data of both user IDs (existing and new ID you provided) on the server, for e.g., when user used website without authenticating and have recorded some data, and then authenticated and you want to change ID to your internal id of this user, to keep tracking it across multiple devices.

This call will merge any data recorded for current ID and save it as user with new provided ID.

Countly.change_id("myNewId", true);

FAQ

What Information is Collected by the SDK?

The data that SDKs gather to carry out their tasks and implement the necessary functionalities is mentioned here