Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) #6122

zanesq · 2025-12-15T17:51:05Z

Summary

Expands analytics coverage across both the backend (Rust) and frontend (TypeScript) to provide better insights into feature usage and error patterns.

All frontend analytics are sent through a new endpoint and the existing posthog.rs api integration. I first attempted the posthog js library but it was having authentication issues and we reuse a lot of code anyway so might as well leave it in the backend for now.

Key Design Decisions

Privacy-first: Extension names only tracked for builtin extensions; recipe names never tracked
Success/failure tracking: All operations track both success and failure with error details
Source attribution: Events include source: "backend" or source: "frontend" for debugging
Consistent error handling: getErrorType() helper standardizes error classification

Backend Changes (Rust)

New Events

slash_command_used - Tracks slash command usage with:
- command_type: "builtin" | "recipe" | "unknown"
- command_name: Only for builtin commands (privacy-safe)
- success: true for valid commands, false for unknown
schedule_job_started / schedule_job_completed - Tracks automated scheduled job execution with duration

Enhanced `session_started` Event

Now includes additional properties:

is_dev - Whether running in debug/dev mode
db_schema_version - Current database schema version
Router/lead model settings: setting_mode, setting_max_turns, setting_router_enabled, setting_lead_model, setting_lead_provider, setting_lead_turns, setting_lead_failure_threshold, setting_lead_fallback_turns

Enhanced `error` Event

Added error_category classification
Added source: "backend" marker
New ErrorContext struct with optional component and action fields
Added provider/model context to error events

New Infrastructure

emit_event() - Generic event emitter for custom events with arbitrary properties
emit_slash_command_used() - Dedicated slash command tracking
emit_error_with_context() - Error tracking with additional context
New /telemetry/event API endpoint for frontend-to-backend event forwarding

Frontend Changes (TypeScript)

New Analytics Module (`utils/analytics.ts`)

Comprehensive type-safe analytics including:

Schedule Events:

schedule_created (with source_type: file/deeplink)
schedule_updated, schedule_deleted, schedule_paused, schedule_unpaused
schedule_run_now, schedule_killed, schedule_inspected, schedule_viewed

Recipe Events:

recipe_created, recipe_imported, recipe_edited, recipe_deleted
recipe_started (with in_new_window flag)
recipe_deeplink_copied
recipe_scheduled, recipe_slash_command_set (with action: add/edit/remove)

Extension Events:

extension_added, extension_enabled, extension_disabled, extension_deleted
Includes is_builtin flag; extension_name only tracked for builtin extensions

Chat Input Bar Events:

input_file_attached (file/directory)
input_voice_dictation (start/stop/transcribed/error with duration)
input_mode_changed (from/to mode)
input_diagnostics_opened, input_create_recipe_opened, input_edit_recipe_opened

Core Events:

page_view with referrer tracking
model_changed, settings_tab_viewed, setting_toggled
telemetry_preference_set
Enhanced error tracking: error_occurred, app_crashed, app_reloaded
Onboarding funnel: onboarding_started, onboarding_provider_selected, onboarding_completed, onboarding_abandoned, onboarding_setup_failed

New Hook (`hooks/useAnalytics.ts`)

usePageViewTracking() - Automatic page view tracking on route changes

Components Updated

SchedulesView.tsx - Schedule CRUD operations
ScheduleDetailView.tsx - Schedule inspection/kill
RecipesView.tsx - Recipe management
ChatInput.tsx - File attachments, voice dictation, mode changes
BottomMenuModeSelection.tsx - Mode switching
extension-manager.ts - Extension lifecycle
SettingsView.tsx, TelemetrySettings.tsx, SecurityToggle.tsx, etc. - Settings toggles
ErrorBoundary.tsx - Crash tracking
ProviderGuard.tsx - Provider setup tracking
SwitchModelModal.tsx - Model changes
App.tsx / renderer.tsx - Global error handlers and page view tracking

michaelneale · 2025-12-15T23:08:19Z

crates/goose-server/src/routes/telemetry.rs

+
+#[utoipa::path(
+    post,
+    path = "/telemetry/event",


I think this is ok - as it means we could in theory swap out what is at the backend from posthog

michaelneale · 2025-12-15T23:15:45Z

crates/goose/src/posthog.rs

+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum SlashCommandType {
+    /// Builtin command (e.g., /compact) - name is safe to track
+    Builtin(String),


how come we want to track slash commands? will this be the same from GUI vs CLI? (I didn't realise they were that heavily used - but I guess idea is to track it? not sure why but seems fairly fine grained but I guess there is no info in it)

yeah just to see how much its used, then again maybe we don't need the fine grain just general usage on non built ins would be enough, will follow up with that

removed built in tracking logic

michaelneale · 2025-12-15T23:20:53Z

ui/desktop/src/components/schedule/ScheduleDetailView.tsx

 import cronstrue from 'cronstrue';
 import { formatToLocalDateWithTimezone } from '../../utils/date';
 import { getSession, Session } from '../../api';
+import {


with recipes and schedule tracking - do we want to track it this fine grained vs just seeing if people use either feature in some meaningful way? (maybe need to do this but seems like a lot!)

hard to say the point is to see what fine grained features are really needed cluttering up our ui... will take another look and see if can be pruned more

good call removed some low value fine-grained tracking for these scheduling features but I think the recipe ones are valid to get an idea if they are even used

trackScheduleUpdated - editing schedules
trackSchedulePaused / trackScheduleUnpaused - pause toggle
trackScheduleKilled - killing running jobs
trackScheduleInspected - inspecting running jobs
trackScheduleViewed - viewing schedule details

michaelneale · 2025-12-15T23:22:00Z

ui/desktop/src/renderer.tsx


 const App = lazy(() => import('./App'));

+const TELEMETRY_CONFIG_KEY = 'GOOSE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED';


I would have thought the backend would take care of this?

yeah it does also but the frontend needs to check the config also so it can avoid sending all the events for no reason if it is disabled

michaelneale · 2025-12-15T23:32:27Z

I think looks ok - is a lot of extra stuff, just had some Qs if we realy want schedules/recipes that fine grained (I guess idea is to know if used or not) but seems ok

michaelneale

approving to not block this if we need more insight to know what is used

zanesq · 2025-12-16T00:49:34Z

@michaelneale thanks valid concerns, removed a few low signal ones. Will leave this open for a bit longer in case anyone has other feedback.

* 'main' of github.com:block/goose: (22 commits) OpenRouter & Xai streaming (#5873) fix: resolve mcp-hermit cleanup path expansion issue (#5953) feat: add goose PR reviewer workflow (#6124) perf: Avoid repeated MCP queries during streaming responses (#6138) Fix YAML serialization for recipes with special characters (#5796) Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) (#6122) docs: add Sugar MCP server to extensions registry (#6077) Fix tokenState loading on new sessions (#6129) bump bedrock dep versions (#6090) Don't persist ephemeral extensions when resuming sessions (#5974) chore(deps): bump mdast-util-to-hast from 13.2.0 to 13.2.1 in /ui/desktop (#5939) chore(deps): bump node-forge from 1.3.1 to 1.3.2 in /documentation (#5898) Add Scorecard supply-chain security workflow (#5810) Don't show subagent tool when we're a subagent (#6125) Fix keyboard shortcut conflict for Focus Goose Window (#5809) feat(goose-cli): add feature to disable update (#5886) workflow: enable docs-update-recipe-ref (#6132) fix: filter tools in Ollama streaming when chat mode is enabled (#6118) feat(mcp): platform extension for "code mode" MCP tool calling (#6030) workflow: auto-update recipe-reference on release (#5988) ... # Conflicts: # ui/desktop/src/App.tsx # ui/desktop/src/api/sdk.gen.ts # ui/desktop/src/components/ChatInput.tsx # ui/desktop/src/components/recipes/RecipesView.tsx

…s-predefined-models * 'main' of github.com:block/goose: (81 commits) fix: display shell output as static text instead of spinner (#6041) fix : Custom providers with empty API keys show as configured in desktop (#6105) Add .agents/skills and ~/.config/agent/skills to skills discovery paths (#6139) fix: use instructions for system prompt and prompt for user message in subagents (#6121) Fix compaction loop for small models or large input (#5803) feat: Centralize theme management with ThemeContext (#6137) OpenRouter & Xai streaming (#5873) fix: resolve mcp-hermit cleanup path expansion issue (#5953) feat: add goose PR reviewer workflow (#6124) perf: Avoid repeated MCP queries during streaming responses (#6138) Fix YAML serialization for recipes with special characters (#5796) Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) (#6122) docs: add Sugar MCP server to extensions registry (#6077) Fix tokenState loading on new sessions (#6129) bump bedrock dep versions (#6090) Don't persist ephemeral extensions when resuming sessions (#5974) chore(deps): bump mdast-util-to-hast from 13.2.0 to 13.2.1 in /ui/desktop (#5939) chore(deps): bump node-forge from 1.3.1 to 1.3.2 in /documentation (#5898) Add Scorecard supply-chain security workflow (#5810) Don't show subagent tool when we're a subagent (#6125) ... # Conflicts: # crates/goose/src/providers/formats/databricks.rs

* main: fix: we don't need to warn about tool count when in code mode (#6149) deps: upgrade agent-client-protocol to 0.9.0 (#6109) fix(providers): fix for gemini-cli on windows to work around cmd's multiline prompt limitations #5911 (#5966) More slash commands (#5858) fix: MCP UI not rendering due to CallToolResult structure change (#6143) fix: display shell output as static text instead of spinner (#6041) fix : Custom providers with empty API keys show as configured in desktop (#6105) Add .agents/skills and ~/.config/agent/skills to skills discovery paths (#6139) fix: use instructions for system prompt and prompt for user message in subagents (#6121) Fix compaction loop for small models or large input (#5803) feat: Centralize theme management with ThemeContext (#6137) OpenRouter & Xai streaming (#5873) fix: resolve mcp-hermit cleanup path expansion issue (#5953) feat: add goose PR reviewer workflow (#6124) perf: Avoid repeated MCP queries during streaming responses (#6138) Fix YAML serialization for recipes with special characters (#5796) Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) (#6122) docs: add Sugar MCP server to extensions registry (#6077)

* origin/main: (57 commits) docs: create/edit recipe button (#6145) fix(google): Fix 400 Bad Request error with Gemini 3 thought signatures (#6035) fix: we don't need to warn about tool count when in code mode (#6149) deps: upgrade agent-client-protocol to 0.9.0 (#6109) fix(providers): fix for gemini-cli on windows to work around cmd's multiline prompt limitations #5911 (#5966) More slash commands (#5858) fix: MCP UI not rendering due to CallToolResult structure change (#6143) fix: display shell output as static text instead of spinner (#6041) fix : Custom providers with empty API keys show as configured in desktop (#6105) Add .agents/skills and ~/.config/agent/skills to skills discovery paths (#6139) fix: use instructions for system prompt and prompt for user message in subagents (#6121) Fix compaction loop for small models or large input (#5803) feat: Centralize theme management with ThemeContext (#6137) OpenRouter & Xai streaming (#5873) fix: resolve mcp-hermit cleanup path expansion issue (#5953) feat: add goose PR reviewer workflow (#6124) perf: Avoid repeated MCP queries during streaming responses (#6138) Fix YAML serialization for recipes with special characters (#5796) Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) (#6122) docs: add Sugar MCP server to extensions registry (#6077) ...

zanesq added 2 commits December 15, 2025 09:26

adding additional analytics

d56528c

only track extension names that are built in

3308a2c

zanesq requested review from DOsinga, alexhancock, jamadeo, katzdave and michaelneale December 15, 2025 17:56

michaelneale reviewed Dec 15, 2025

View reviewed changes

michaelneale approved these changes Dec 16, 2025

View reviewed changes

only track external slash commands usage and prune scheduler commands

b6b4d4a

zanesq merged commit 8a91f15 into main Dec 16, 2025
18 checks passed

zanesq deleted the zane/more-analytics branch December 16, 2025 16:59

zanesq added a commit that referenced this pull request Dec 16, 2025

Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) (#6122)

09dd7cc

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Dec 16, 2025

chore(release): release version 1.17.0 (minor) #6131

Closed

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Dec 19, 2025

chore(release): release version 1.18.0 (minor) #6194

Merged


		const App = lazy(() => import('./App'));

		const TELEMETRY_CONFIG_KEY = 'GOOSE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED';

Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) #6122

Add more posthog analytics (privacy aware) #6122

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zanesq commented Dec 15, 2025

Summary

Key Design Decisions

Backend Changes (Rust)

New Events

Enhanced session_started Event

Enhanced error Event

New Infrastructure

Frontend Changes (TypeScript)

New Analytics Module (utils/analytics.ts)

New Hook (hooks/useAnalytics.ts)

Components Updated

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zanesq Dec 16, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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michaelneale commented Dec 15, 2025

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zanesq commented Dec 16, 2025

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Enhanced `session_started` Event

Enhanced `error` Event

New Analytics Module (`utils/analytics.ts`)

New Hook (`hooks/useAnalytics.ts`)

zanesq Dec 16, 2025 •

edited

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