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:

`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",
  // Pseudonymous or anonymous user identifier
  "userToken": "anonymous-xxxxxx-xx-xxx-xxxxxx",
  // Optional: time of the event. By default the current time is used.
  "timestamp": "1673636676",
  // 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 search and browse events 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

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:

`eventType`	type: click \| conversion \| view Required The type of the event, either `click`, `conversion`, or `view`. Related: API client methods
`eventName`	type: string pattern: `[\x20-\x7E]{1,64}` Required The name of the specific event. Format: 1-64 ASCII characters, except control characters. To maximize the impact of your events, you should 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 The name of the Algolia index. Format: same as the index name used by the search engine.
`userToken`	type: string pattern: `[A-Za-z0-9_-=]{1,128}` Required A pseudonymous or anonymous user identifier. Never include personal identifiable information in user tokens. Related: user token
`timestamp`	type: int64 default: now() Optional The 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. The Algolia Insights API accepts events from up to 4 days in the past. Timestamps for click and conversion events must be within 1 hour of the corresponding search or browse request.
`queryID`	type: string pattern: `[a-f0-9]{32}` Optional A 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. Related: Keep track of query IDs
`objectIDs`	type: array items: string Optional An array 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`.
`filters`	type: array items: string pattern: `${attr}:${value}` Optional An array of facet filters. You can include up to 10 filters. Format: `${attribute}:${value}`—for example, `brand:apple`. Each facet filter string must be URL-encoded, such as, `"discount:10%25"`. A single event must not include both `objectIDs` and `filters`.
`positions`	type: array items: uint Optional The position 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.

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": 1685462627099,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"],
              "queryID": "43b15df305339e827f0ac0bdc5ebcaa7",
              "positions": [7, 6]
            },
            {
              "eventType": "view",
              "eventName":"Viewed Product Detail Page",
              "index": "products",
              "userToken": "user-123456",
              "timestamp": 1685462627099,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"]
            },
            {
              "eventType": "conversion",
              "eventName": "Purchased Product",
              "index": "products",
              "userToken": "user-123456",
              "timestamp": 1685462627099,
              "objectIDs": ["9780545139700", "9780439784542"],
              "queryID": "43b15df305339e827f0ac0bdc5ebcaa7"
            }
          ]
        }'

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

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

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