Nuxt.js

PostHog makes it easy to get data about usage of your Nuxt.js app. Integrating PostHog into your app enables analytics about user behavior, custom events capture, session replays, feature flags, and more.

This guide walks you through integrating PostHog into your app for both Nuxt.js major versions 2 and 3. We'll use the JavaScript SDK.

This tutorial is aimed at Nuxt.js users which run Nuxt in spa or universal mode. You can see a working example of the Nuxt v3.0 integration in our Nuxt.js demo app

Nuxt v3.0 and above

Prerequisites

To follow this guide along, you need:

A PostHog instance (signup for free])
a running Nuxt.js application running version 3.0 or above.

Setting up PostHog

Install posthog-js using your package manager:

Terminal

yarn add posthog-js
# or
npm install --save posthog-js

Add your PostHog API key and host to your nuxt.config.js file. You can find your project API key in the PostHog app under Project Settings > Project Variables.

nuxt.config.js

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  runtimeConfig: {
    public: {
      posthogPublicKey: '<ph_project_api_key>',
      posthogHost: '<ph_instance_address>'
    }
  }
})

Create a new plugin by creating a new file posthog.client.js in your plugins directory.

plugins/posthog.client.js

import { defineNuxtPlugin } from '#app'
import posthog from 'posthog-js'
export default defineNuxtPlugin(nuxtApp => {
  const runtimeConfig = useRuntimeConfig();
  const posthogClient = posthog.init(runtimeConfig.public.posthogPublicKey, {
    api_host: runtimeConfig.public.posthogHost || 'https://app.posthog.com',
    loaded: (posthog) => {
      if (import.meta.env.MODE === 'development') posthog.debug();
    }
  })

  // Make sure that pageviews are captured with each route change
  const router = useRouter();
  router.afterEach((to) => {
    posthog.capture('$pageview', {
      current_url: to.fullPath
    });
  });
  
  return {
    provide: {
      posthog: () => posthogClient
    }
  }
})

PostHog can then be accessed throughout your Nuxt.js using the provider accessor, for example:

vue

<script setup lang="ts">
   const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp()
   if ($posthog) {
      const posthog =$posthog()
      posthog?.capture('<event_name>')
   }
</script>

See the JavaScript SDK docs for all usable functions, such as:

Nuxt v2.16 and below

We are going to implement PostHog as a Nuxt.js integration which gives us the possibility to inject the posthog object and make it available across our application.

The first thing you want to do is to install the posthog-js library in your project - so add it using your package manager:

Terminal

yarn add posthog-js

Terminal

npm install --save posthog-js

After that we want to create a app in plugins/posthog/index.js

JavaScript

import posthog from 'posthog-js'
import Vue from 'vue'

export default function({ app: { router } }, inject) {
  // Init PostHog
  posthog.init('<ph_project_api_key>', {
    api_host: '<ph_instance_address>',
    capture_pageview: false,
    loaded: () => posthog.identify('unique_id') // If you can already identify your user
  })

  // Inject PostHog into the application and make it available via this.$posthog (or app.$posthog)
  inject('posthog', posthog)

  // Make sure that pageviews are captured with each route change
  router.afterEach(to => {
    Vue.nextTick(() => {
      /* Note: this might also be a good place to call posthog.register(...) in order to update your properties
      on each page view
      */
      posthog.capture('$pageview', {
        $current_url: to.fullPath
      })
    })
  })
}

Finally, we need to activate it on the client side in our nuxt.config.js

JavaScript

plugins: [
    ...
    { src: './plugins/posthog', mode: 'client' }
  ],

Usage

By using the example code above you can now use PostHog across your app with this.$posthog or app.$posthog - depending on the context. Compare with the Nuxt.js docs on further details when to use app.$posthog or this.$posthog.

Let's say for example the user makes a purchase you could track an event like that:

JavaScript

<template>
  <button @click="purchase">Buy</button>
</template>

<script>
...
  methods: {
     purchase() {
       this.$posthog.capture('purchase')
     }
  }
...
</script>

Nuxt v3.0 and above

Prerequisites

Setting up PostHog

Nuxt v2.16 and below

Usage

Further reading

Questions?

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