TimeTracker/docs/admin/monitoring/POSTHOG_QUICK_REFERENCE.md

PostHog Quick Reference Card

🚀 Quick Start

# Enable PostHog
POSTHOG_API_KEY=your-api-key
POSTHOG_HOST=https://app.posthog.com

# Enable telemetry (uses PostHog)
ENABLE_TELEMETRY=true

🔍 Common Tasks

Track an Event

from app import track_event

track_event(user.id, "feature.used", {
    "feature_name": "export",
    "format": "csv"
})

Identify a User

from app import identify_user

identify_user(user.id, {
    "$set": {
        "role": "admin",
        "plan": "pro"
    },
    "$set_once": {
        "signup_date": "2025-01-01"
    }
})

Check Feature Flag

from app.utils.posthog_features import get_feature_flag

if get_feature_flag(user.id, "new-feature"):
    # Enable feature
    pass

Protect Route with Flag

from app.utils.posthog_features import feature_flag_required

@app.route('/beta/feature')
@feature_flag_required('beta-access')
def beta_feature():
    return "Beta!"

Get Flag Payload (Remote Config)

from app.utils.posthog_features import get_feature_flag_payload

config = get_feature_flag_payload(user.id, "app-config")
if config:
    theme = config.get("theme", "light")

Inject Flags to Frontend

from app.utils.posthog_features import inject_feature_flags_to_frontend

@app.route('/dashboard')
def dashboard():
    flags = inject_feature_flags_to_frontend(current_user.id)
    return render_template("dashboard.html", feature_flags=flags)

<script>
    window.featureFlags = {{ feature_flags|tojson }};
</script>

📊 Person Properties

Automatically Set on Login

• role - User role
• is_admin - Admin status
• auth_method - local or oidc
• last_login - Last login timestamp
• first_login - First login (set once)
• signup_method - How they signed up (set once)

Automatically Set for Installations

• current_version - App version
• current_platform - OS (Linux, Windows, etc.)
• environment - production/development
• deployment_method - docker/native
• timezone - Installation timezone
• first_seen_version - Original version (set once)

🎯 Feature Flag Examples

Gradual Rollout

Key: new-ui
Rollout: 10% → 25% → 50% → 100%

Target Admins Only

Key: admin-tools
Condition: is_admin = true

Platform Specific

Key: linux-optimizations
Condition: current_platform = "Linux"

Version Specific

Key: v3-features
Condition: current_version >= "3.0.0"

Kill Switch

Key: enable-exports
Default: true
Use in code: default=True

📈 Useful PostHog Queries

Active Users by Role

Event: auth.login
Breakdown: role
Time: Last 30 days

Feature Usage

Event: feature_interaction
Breakdown: feature_flag
Filter: action = "clicked"

Version Distribution

Event: telemetry.health
Breakdown: app_version
Time: Last 7 days

Update Adoption

Event: telemetry.update
Filter: new_version = "3.0.0"
Time: Last 90 days
Cumulative: Yes

Platform Comparison

Event: timer.started
Breakdown: platform
Compare: All platforms

🔐 Privacy Guidelines

✅ DO:

• Use internal user IDs
• Track feature usage
• Set role/admin properties
• Use anonymous fingerprints for telemetry

❌ DON'T:

• Send usernames or emails
• Include project names
• Track sensitive business data
• Send any PII

🧪 Testing

Mock Feature Flags

from unittest.mock import patch

def test_with_feature_enabled():
    with patch('app.utils.posthog_features.get_feature_flag', return_value=True):
        # Test with feature enabled
        pass

Mock Track Events

@patch('app.track_event')
def test_event_tracking(mock_track):
    # Do something that tracks an event
    mock_track.assert_called_once_with(user.id, "event.name", {...})

📚 More Information

• Full Guide: POSTHOG_ADVANCED_FEATURES.md
• Implementation: POSTHOG_ENHANCEMENTS_SUMMARY.md
• Analytics Docs: docs/analytics.md
• PostHog Docs: https://posthog.com/docs

🎯 Predefined Feature Flags

from app.utils.posthog_features import FeatureFlags

# Beta features
FeatureFlags.BETA_FEATURES
FeatureFlags.NEW_DASHBOARD
FeatureFlags.ADVANCED_REPORTS

# Experiments
FeatureFlags.TIMER_UI_EXPERIMENT
FeatureFlags.ONBOARDING_FLOW

# Rollouts
FeatureFlags.NEW_ANALYTICS_PAGE
FeatureFlags.BULK_OPERATIONS

# Kill switches
FeatureFlags.ENABLE_EXPORTS
FeatureFlags.ENABLE_API
FeatureFlags.ENABLE_WEBSOCKETS

# Premium
FeatureFlags.CUSTOM_REPORTS
FeatureFlags.API_ACCESS
FeatureFlags.INTEGRATIONS

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Quick Tip: Start with small rollouts (10%) and gradually increase as you gain confidence!