PostHog Hello World

Overview

Minimal working examples demonstrating the three core PostHog operations: capturing events, identifying users, and evaluating feature flags. Covers both browser (posthog-js) and server (posthog-node) SDKs.

Prerequisites

• Completed posthog-install-auth setup
• Project API key (phc_...) configured
• posthog-js and/or posthog-node installed

Instructions

Tool discipline

Use Read to inspect the relevant configuration and implementation before proposing changes. Use Write only for a new, explicitly requested artifact inside the target project. Use Edit for minimal changes to existing project files after the evidence pass.

Step 1: Capture Your First Event (Node.js)

// hello-posthog.ts
import { PostHog } from 'posthog-node';

const posthog = new PostHog(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY!, {
  host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
});

async function main() {
  // 1. Capture a custom event
  posthog.capture({
    distinctId: 'user-123',
    event: 'hello_posthog',
    properties: {
      greeting: 'Hello from posthog-node!',
      source: 'hello-world-skill',
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    },
  });
  console.log('Event captured: hello_posthog');

  // 2. Identify a user with properties
  posthog.identify({
    distinctId: 'user-123',
    properties: {
      email: 'dev@example.com',
      name: 'Dev User',
      plan: 'free',
    },
  });
  console.log('User identified: user-123');

  // 3. Check a feature flag
  const flagValue = await posthog.getFeatureFlag('my-feature-flag', 'user-123');
  console.log(`Feature flag "my-feature-flag": ${flagValue}`);

  // 4. Flush and shutdown (required in scripts/serverless)
  await posthog.shutdown();
  console.log('Done — check app.posthog.com Activity tab');
}

main().catch(console.error);

Step 2: Browser Hello World (posthog-js)

// In a React component or vanilla JS
import posthog from 'posthog-js';

// Initialize (call once at app startup)
posthog.init('phc_your_project_key', {
  api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com',
  loaded: () => console.log('PostHog loaded'),
});

// Capture a custom event
posthog.capture('button_clicked', {
  button_name: 'signup',
  page: window.location.pathname,
});

// Identify the user after login
posthog.identify('user-123', {
  email: 'user@example.com',
  plan: 'pro',
});

// Check a feature flag
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled('new-checkout')) {
  console.log('New checkout flow is enabled');
}

// Associate user with a company (group analytics)
posthog.group('company', 'company-456', {
  name: 'Acme Corp',
  plan: 'enterprise',
});

Step 3: Python Hello World

import posthog

posthog.project_api_key = 'phc_your_project_key'
posthog.host = 'https://us.i.posthog.com'

# Capture event
posthog.capture('user-123', 'hello_posthog', {
    'greeting': 'Hello from Python!',
})

# Identify user
posthog.identify('user-123', {
    'email': 'dev@example.com',
    'plan': 'free',
})

# Feature flag
is_enabled = posthog.feature_enabled('my-flag', 'user-123')
print(f'Flag enabled: {is_enabled}')

Step 4: Raw HTTP API (No SDK)

set -euo pipefail
# Capture one explicitly intended tutorial event through the current single-event endpoint.
curl -X POST 'https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v0/e/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "api_key": "phc_your_project_key",
    "event": "hello_posthog",
    "distinct_id": "user-123",
    "properties": {
      "greeting": "Hello from curl!"
    }
  }'

# Batch capture multiple events
curl -X POST 'https://us.i.posthog.com/batch/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "api_key": "phc_your_project_key",
    "batch": [
      {"event": "page_viewed", "distinct_id": "user-123", "properties": {"page": "/home"}},
      {"event": "button_clicked", "distinct_id": "user-123", "properties": {"button": "cta"}}
    ]
  }'

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Events not in dashboard	Not flushed	Call await posthog.shutdown() or posthog.flush()
posthog.init silently fails	Wrong API host	Use us.i.posthog.com (not app.posthog.com)
Feature flag returns undefined	Flag not created yet	Create flag in PostHog dashboard first
identify not linking	Different distinct_id	Frontend and backend must use the same distinct_id
Python events missing	No flush before exit	posthog.shutdown() or posthog.flush() at end

Output

• Working event capture in PostHog Activity tab
• User identified with properties in Persons view
• Feature flag evaluation result logged
• Console output confirming each operation

Examples

In a disposable test environment, initialize the official SDK with the project token and selected region, capture one namespaced smoke event, verify its arrival in PostHog, and exercise a flag with an explicit fallback. Record the test distinct ID so the evidence can be removed or filtered later.

Resources

See official PostHog references for current authority and verification boundaries.

• PostHog Getting Started
• Capture Events
• posthog-node Reference
• Capture API Endpoint

Next Steps

Proceed to posthog-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.