API reference / Insights API

Oct. 09, 2023

Insights API

The Algolia Insights API lets you collect events related to your search and discovery experience. Events are actions that users take on your app or website. They unlock powerful features, such as recommendations, personalization, smarter search results, and analytics that help you optimize your user experience.

Events enable these features:

For more information about events, see Get started with click and conversion events.

Base URL

The base URL of the Algolia Insights API is:

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https://insights.algolia.io

All API requests must use HTTPS.

Authentication

To authenticate your requests, add these headers:

X-Algolia-Application-Id: your Algolia application ID
X-Algolia-API-Key: your API key with search access control list permission.

Find your application ID and API key in the Algolia dashboard.

Alternatively, you can add your credentials as query parameters:

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https://insights.algolia.io/1/events?x-algolia-application-id={YourApplicationId}&x-algolia-api-key={YourAPIKey}

Response

The response of the Insights API is a JSON object with the following content:

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{
  "status": 123,
  "message": "The status message"
}

The Insights API uses the conventional HTTP status codes:

Code	Description
`200`	The request was successful
`4xx`	Your request has at least one issue, such as a missing or invalid parameter
`5xx`	The Insights API servers have an issue

Event properties

The basic shape of an event object is:

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{
  // Event type: click, conversion, or view
  "eventType": "click",
  // Name for the specific event
  "eventName": "Clicked Search Result",
  // Events are related to items from an Algolia index
  "index": "prod_ecommerce_EN",
  // Anonymous user identifier
  "userToken": "anonymous-xxxxxx-xx-xxx-xxxxxx",
  // Pseudonymous identifier for authenticated user
  "authenticatedUserToken": "user-xxxxxx-xx-xxx-xxxxxx",
  // Optional: time of the event in milliseconds. By default the current time is used.
  "timestamp": "1673636676000",
  // For search and browse events only: a unique identifier for a search query preceding this event.
  // Generated by Algolia and included in the API response if you set `clickAnalytics: true`.
  "queryID": "43b15df305339e827f0ac0bdc5ebcaa7",
  // List of objectIDs the user interacted with. Can't be used with `filters`.
  "objectIDs": ["item-1"],
  // List of filters the user interacted with. Can't be used with `objectIDs`.
  "filters": "",
  // For click events after search only: the position of the `objectID` in the search results.
  "positions": [1],
}

Not all event types need all properties. Algolia’s libraries include methods for sending specific events so that you don’t have to include every property manually.

Guides Get started with click and conversion events

Insights methods in the API clients

Send Insights events with InstantSearch

Send Insights events with Autocomplete

Events endpoints

Quick reference

Verb	Path	Method
POST	/1/events	Send events

Send events

Path: /1/events
HTTP Verb: POST
Required API Key: any key with the search ACL

Description:

Send a list of events to the Insights API.

You can send up to 1,000 events in a single request.

All events must be valid. If one or more events are invalid, the API returns the error: 422: Unprocessable Entity. For more information, see Validate your events.

The request body size must be less than 2 MB.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
`eventType`	type: click \| conversion \| view Required Type of the event, either `click`, `conversion`, or `view`. See also: Event types
`eventSubtype`	type: addToCart \| purchase Optional Subtype of the event. For `conversion` events either `addToCart`, or `purchase`. For all other events it should be omitted. Used to enable Algolia to provide more detailed analytics reports.
`eventName`	type: string pattern: `[\x20-\x7E]{1,64}` Required Name of the specific event. Format: 1-64 ASCII characters, except control characters. To maximize the impact of your events, use consistent event names and consistent formatting—for example, “Product Added To Cart” (always in title case). For example, you can adopt Segment’s object-action framework.
`index`	type: string Required Name of the Algolia index. Format: same as the index name used by the search engine.
`userToken`	type: string pattern: `[A-Za-z0-9_=+/-]{1,129}` Required Anonymous user identifier. See also: User Token
`authenticatedUserToken`	type: string pattern: `[A-Za-z0-9_=+/-]{1,129}` Optional Pseudonymous identifier for authenticated users. Never include personally identifiable information in user tokens. See also: User Token
`timestamp`	type: int64 default: now() Optional Time of the event in milliseconds in Unix epoch time. By default, the Insights API uses the time it receives an event as its timestamp. If you’re not sending events in real time—for example, if you’re doing backend search, it’s important to set correct timestamps. If you’re sending events in batches and you’re not including a timestamp, all events will have the same timestamp. All events: timestamp may be up to 4 days in the past. In addition, for events with `queryID`: timestamp must be within 1 hour of the corresponding search or browse request.
`queryID`	type: string pattern: `[a-f0-9]{32}` Optional Unique identifier for a search query. A `queryID` is required for events related to search or browse requests. If you add `clickAnalytics: true` as a search request parameter, the `queryID` is included in the API response. See also: Keep track of query IDs
`objectIDs`	type: array items: string Optional List of object identifiers for items of an Algolia index. You can include up to 20 `objectID`. A single event must not include both `objectIDs` and `filters`.
`objectData`	type: array items: ObjectData Optional Extra information about the records involved in the event—for example, to add price and quantities of purchased products. If provided, must be the same length as `objectIDs`.
`filters`	type: array items: string pattern: `${attr}:${value}` Optional List of facet filters. You can include up to 10 filters. Format: `${attribute}:${value}`—for example, `brand:apple`. Both the `attribute` and `value` in each facet filter must be URL-encoded individually and separated by a `:`, such as, `"discount:10%25"`. A single event must not include both `objectIDs` and `filters`.
`positions`	type: array items: uint Optional Positions of the clicked objects in the search results. This property is required for click events with `queryID`. The first search result has a position of 1 (not 0). You must provide one `position` for each `objectID`. Algolia uses this parameter to calculate the average click position. The position is absolute, and not relative, to any results page. For example, if there are 10 results per page, the position of the third record of the second results page is 13. Since `page` starts at 0, you can use the following formula: `$positionOnPage + $page * hitsPerPage`. If you’re using InstantSearch, you can get the position through the `hit.__position` attribute.
`value`	type: number \| string Optional The monetary value of the event, measured in `currency`. For example, the total value of a purchase.
`currency`	type: string Optional If you include pricing information in the `objectData` parameter or provide `value`, you must also specify the currency as ISO-4217 currency code, such as USD or EUR.

ObjectData

Parameter	Description
`queryID`	type: string Optional ID of the query that this specific record is attributable to. Used to track purchase events with multiple items originating from different searches. See also: Keep track of query IDs
`price`	type: number \| string Optional The price of the item. This should be the final price, inclusive of any discounts in effect.
`quantity`	type: number default: Optional The quantity of the purchased or added-to-cart item. The total value of a purchase is the sum of `quantity` multiplied with the `price` for each purchased item.
`discount`	type: number \| string Optional Absolute value of the discount in effect for this object, measured in `currency`.

Errors:

422: Unprocessable Entity. At least one event in the batch is invalid. Only the first encountered error is reported.
413: Request Entity Too Large. The size of the body exceeds 2 MB.
401: Unauthorized. The credentials (Algolia application ID and API key) are either missing, incorrect, or don’t have the search ACL.

Example:

The following example sends three events for the same user: one click event, one view event, and one conversion event.

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curl https://insights.algolia.io/1/events \
     -H "X-Algolia-Api-Key: ${SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
     -H "X-Algolia-Application-Id: ${APPLICATION_ID}" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
          "events": [
            {
              "eventType": "click",
              "eventName": "Product Clicked",
              "index": "products",
              "userToken": "user-123456",
              "timestamp": 1702303382987,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"],
              "queryID": "43b15df305339e827f0ac0bdc5ebcaa7",
              "positions": [7, 6]
            },
            {
              "eventType": "view",
              "eventName":"Product Details Viewed",
              "index": "products",
              "userToken": "user-123456",
              "timestamp": 1702303382987,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"]
            },
            {
              "eventType": "conversion",
              "eventSubtype": "addToCart",
              "eventName": "Product Added To Cart",
              "index": "products",
              "userToken": "user-123456",
              "timestamp":  1702303382987,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"],
              "objectData": [{
                "price": "1.25",
                "quantity": 2
              }, {
                "price": "4.95",
                "quantity": 1
              }],
              "currency": "USD",
              "queryID": "43b15df305339e827f0ac0bdc5ebcaa7"
            }
          ]
        }'

If the request is successful, the Insights API responds with:

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{
  "status": 200,
  "message": "OK"
}

User token endpoints

Quick reference

Verb	Path	Method
DELETE	/1/usertokens/`{userToken}`	Delete a user token

Delete a user token

Path: /1/usertokens/{userToken}
HTTP Verb: DELETE
Required API Key: any key with the deleteObject ACL

Description:

Delete all events related to the specified user from event metrics and analytics data. The deletion is asynchronous and can take several minutes.

To delete a personalization user profile associated with this user token, see Delete a user profile

On success the endpoint returns the HTTP code 204.

Parameters:

Parameter Description


            userToken

type: string

pattern: [A-Za-z0-9_=+/-]{1,129}

Required

Anonymous user identifier.

See also: User Token

Errors:

422: Unprocessable Entity. The userToken is in an invalid format.
429: Too Many Requests. Rate limit reached. Check the headers X-Ratelimit-Limit and X-Ratelimit-Reset to know the rate limit and its reset time.
401: Unauthorized. The credentials (Algolia application ID and API key) are either missing, incorrect, or don’t have the deleteObject ACL.

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