Internal Events Payload Samples contribute

Internal Events Payload

This guide provides payload samples for internal events tracked across frontend and backend services. Each event type includes a detailed breakdown of its fields and descriptions. Internal events use Snowplow to track events. For more information, see Snowplow event parameters guide.

From GitLab 18.0, Self-Managed and Dedicated instances will be sending structured events, self-describing events, page views, and page pings.

Event Types

At its core, our Internal Events tracking system is designed for granular tracking of events. Each event is denoted by an e=... parameter.

There are three categories of events:

Standard events, such as page views and page pings
Custom structured events
Self-describing events based on a schema

Type of tracking	Event type (value of e)
Self-describing event	ue
Pageview tracking	pv
Page pings	pp
Custom structured event	se

Common Parameters

Event Parameters

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
e	event	text	Event type	pv, pp, ue, se
eid	`event_id`	text	Event UUID	606adff6-9ccc-41f4-8807-db8fdb600df8

Application Parameters

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
tna	namespace_tracker	text	The tracker namespace	`gl`
aid	`app_id`	text	Unique identifier for the application	`gitlab-sm`
p	platform	text	The platform the app runs on	web, srv, app
tv	v_tracker	text	Identifier for tracker version	js-3.24.2

Timestamp Parameters

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
dtm	dvce_created_tstamp	int	Timestamp when event occurred, as recorded by client device	1361553733313
stm	dvce_sent_tstamp	int	Timestamp when event was sent by client device to collector	1361553733371
ttm	true_tstamp	int	User-set exact timestamp	1361553733371
tz	os_timezone	text	Time zone of client devices OS	Europe%2FLondon

Note: The Internal Events Collector will also capture collector_tstamp which is the time the event arrived at the collector.

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
duid	`domain_userid`	text	Unique rotating identifier for a user, based on a first-party cookie.	aeb1691c5a0ee5a6
uid	`user_id`	text	`user_id`, which gets pseudonymized in the snowplow pipeline	1234567890
vid	`domain_sessionidx`	int	Index of number of visits that this user has made to the application	1
sid	`domain_sessionid`	text	Unique identifier (UUID) generated to track a user’s activity during a single visit or session. This identifier resets between sessions. The identifier is not linked to personal information.	9c65e7f3-8e8e-470d-b243-910b5b300da0
`ip`	`user_ipaddress`, we collect Geo information but do not store the IP address in the snowplow pipeline	text	IP address override	37.157.33.178

Platform Parameters

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
`url`	`page_url`	text	Page URL. We pseudonymize sensitive data from the URL (see examples).	`https://gitlab.com/dashboard/projects`
`ua`	`useragent`	text	Useragent	`Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:105.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/105.0`
`page`	page_title	text	This value will always be hardcoded to `GitLab`	GitLab
refr	page_referrer	text	Referrer URL, similar to `page_url`. We pseudonymize referrer URL.	`https://gitlab.com/group:123/project:356`
cookie	br_cookies	boolean	Does the browser permit cookies?	1
lang	br_lang	text	Browser language	en-US
cd	br_colordepth	integer	Browser color depth	24
cs	doc_charset	text	Web page’s character encoding	UTF-8
ds	doc_width and doc_height	text	Web page width and height	1090x1152
vp	br_viewwidth and br_viewheight	text	Browser viewport width and height	1105x390
res	dvce_screenwidth and dvce_screenheight	text	Screen/monitor resolution	1280x1024

Self-describing Events

Self-describing events are the recommended way to track custom events with Internal Events tracking. They allow tracking of events according to a predefined schema.

When tracking a self-describing event:

The event type is set to e=ue.
The event data is base64 encoded and included in the payload.

Specific Event Types

Page Views

Pageview tracking is used to record views of web pages.

Recording a pageview involves recording an event where e=pv. All the fields associated with web events can be tracked.

Page Pings

Page ping events track user engagement by periodically firing while a user remains active on a page. They measure actual time spent on page.

Page pings are identified by e=pp and include these additional fields:

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description
pp_mix	pp_xoffset_min	integer	Minimum page x offset seen in the last ping period
pp_max	pp_xoffset_max	integer	Maximum page x offset seen in the last ping period
pp_miy	pp_yoffset_min	integer	Minimum page y offset seen in the last ping period
pp_may	pp_yoffset_max	integer	Maximum page y offset seen in the last ping period

Structured Event Tracking

As well as setting e=se, there are five custom event specific parameters that can be set:

Parameter	Table Column	Type	Description	Example values
se_ca	se_category	text	The event category. By default, where the event happened. For frontend events, it is the page name, for backend events it is the controller name.	projects:merge_requests:show
se_ac	se_action	text	The action or event name	code_suggestion_accepted
se_la	se_label	text	A label often used to refer to the ‘object’ the action is performed on	`${editor_name}`
se_pr	se_property	text	A property associated with either the action or the object	`${suggestion_type}`
se_va	se_value	decimal	A value associated with the user action	`${suggestion_shown_duration}`
cx	contexts	JSON	It passes base64 encoded context to the event	JSON

Contexts has some of the predefined fields which will be sent with each event. All the predefined schemas are stored in the gitlab-org/iglu repository.

Most of the self-describing events have gitlab_standard context, which is a set of fields that are common to all events. For more information about the gitlab_standard context, see Standard context fields.

Internal Events Payload Examples

Page View

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/payload_data/jsonschema/1-0-4",
  "data": [
    {
      "e": "pv",
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "page": "GitLab",
      "refr": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "eid": "564f9834-3f98-4d78-a738-b7977d621371",
      "tv": "js-3.24.2",
      "tna": "gl",
      "aid": "gitlab",
      "p": "web",
      "cookie": "1",
      "cs": "UTF-8",
      "lang": "en-GB",
      "res": "1728x1117",
      "cd": "30",
      "tz": "Asia/Calcutta",
      "dtm": "1742205227525",
      "vp": "1920x331",
      "ds": "1920x388",
      "vid": "720",
      "sid": "1574509e-5d6d-43d1-9e76-e42801ae2e55",
      "duid": "9e5500ac-3437-4457-a007-351911d54983",
      "cx": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy5z...",
      "stm": "1742205227528"
    }
  ]
}

cx field is base64 encoded and contains the following JSON:

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/contexts/jsonschema/1-0-0",
  "data": [
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.gitlab/gitlab_standard/jsonschema/1-1-1",
      "data": {
        "environment": "production",
        "source": "gitlab-javascript",
        "correlation_id": "01JPHRC3K30KDDV165EWTCFJ02",
        "plan": null,
        "extra": {},
        "user_id": 11979729,
        "global_user_id": "XsZfAb677xjp9zut/lL6X0ZKX5b7pli65uk2wnfu0SY=",
        "is_gitlab_team_member": true,
        "namespace_id": null,
        "project_id": null,
        "feature_enabled_by_namespace_ids": null,
        "realm": "saas",
        "instance_id": "ea8bf810-1d6f-4a6a-b4fd-93e8cbd8b57f",
        "host_name": "gitlab-webservice-web-58446c98b5-zprvd",
        "instance_version": "17.10.0",
        "context_generated_at": "2025-03-17T09:53:46.709Z",
        "google_analytics_id": "GA1.1.424273043.1737451027"
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/web_page/jsonschema/1-0-0",
      "data": {
        "id": "90ea98bd-3bdb-48d2-935c-59a4d03a4710"
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.google.analytics/cookies/jsonschema/1-0-0",
      "data": {
        "_ga": "GA1.1.424273043.1737451027"
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.google.ga4/cookies/jsonschema/1-0-0",
      "data": {
        "_ga": "GA1.1.424273043.1737451027",
        "session_cookies": [
          {
            "measurement_id": "G-ENFH3X7M5Y",
            "session_cookie": "GS1.1.1742200876.45.1.1742202521.0.0.0"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:org.w3/PerformanceTiming/jsonschema/1-0-0",
      "data": {
        "navigationStart": 1742205226288,
        "redirectStart": 0,
        "redirectEnd": 0,
        "fetchStart": 1742205226289,
        "domainLookupStart": 1742205226289,
        "domainLookupEnd": 1742205226289,
        "connectStart": 1742205226289,
        "secureConnectionStart": 0,
        "connectEnd": 1742205226289,
        "requestStart": 1742205226323,
        "responseStart": 1742205226969,
        "responseEnd": 1742205226972,
        "unloadEventStart": 1742205226975,
        "unloadEventEnd": 1742205226975,
        "domLoading": 1742205226980,
        "domInteractive": 1742205227044,
        "domContentLoadedEventStart": 1742205227437,
        "domContentLoadedEventEnd": 1742205227437,
        "domComplete": 0,
        "loadEventStart": 0,
        "loadEventEnd": 0
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:org.ietf/http_client_hints/jsonschema/1-0-0",
      "data": {
        "isMobile": false,
        "brands": [
          {
            "brand": "Chromium",
            "version": "134"
          },
          {
            "brand": "Not:A-Brand",
            "version": "24"
          },
          {
            "brand": "Google Chrome",
            "version": "134"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Page Ping

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/payload_data/jsonschema/1-0-4",
  "data": [
    {
      "e": "pp",
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "page": "GitLab",
      "refr": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "eid": "ac958a76-5360-44e1-a9f3-8172d6df0f80",
      "tv": "js-3.24.2",
      "tna": "gl",
      "aid": "gitlab",
      "p": "web",
      "cookie": "1",
      "cs": "UTF-8",
      "lang": "en-GB",
      "res": "1728x1117",
      "cd": "30",
      "tz": "Asia/Calcutta",
      "dtm": "1742205324496",
      "vp": "1920x331",
      "ds": "1920x1694",
      "vid": "720",
      "sid": "1574509e-5d6d-43d1-9e76-e42801ae2e55",
      "duid": "9e5500ac-3437-4457-a007-351911d54983",
      "cx": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy...",
      "stm": "1742205324501"
    }
  ]
}

Self-describing Events

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/payload_data/jsonschema/1-0-4",
  "data": [
    {
      "e": "ue",
      "eid": "67ae8ec1-3ec0-46b7-89e0-fd944d90acc6",
      "tv": "js-3.24.2",
      "tna": "gl",
      "aid": "gitlab",
      "p": "web",
      "cookie": "1",
      "cs": "UTF-8",
      "lang": "en-GB",
      "res": "1728x1117",
      "cd": "30",
      "tz": "Asia/Calcutta",
      "dtm": "1742205393772",
      "vp": "1920x331",
      "ds": "1920x1694",
      "vid": "720",
      "sid": "1574509e-5d6d-43d1-9e76-e42801ae2e55",
      "duid": "9e5500ac-3437-4457-a007-351911d54983",
      "refr": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "ue_px": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy...",
      "cx": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy...",
      "stm": "1742205393774"
    }
  ]
}

This is part of link click tracking. The ue_px field is base64 encoded and contains the following JSON:

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/unstruct_event/jsonschema/1-0-0",
  "data": {
    "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/link_click/jsonschema/1-0-1",
    "data": {
      "targetUrl": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "elementId": "",
      "elementClasses": [
        "brand-logo"
      ],
      "elementTarget": ""
    }
  }
}

Structured Events

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/payload_data/jsonschema/1-0-4",
  "data": [
    {
      "e": "se",
      "se_ca": "root:index",
      "se_ac": "render_duo_chat_callout",
      "eid": "12c18f54-ef65-489e-99f8-00922f9c3249",
      "tv": "js-3.24.2",
      "tna": "gl",
      "aid": "gitlab",
      "p": "web",
      "cookie": "1",
      "cs": "UTF-8",
      "lang": "en-GB",
      "res": "1728x1117",
      "cd": "30",
      "tz": "Asia/Calcutta",
      "dtm": "1742205394848",
      "vp": "1920x331",
      "ds": "1920x388",
      "vid": "720",
      "sid": "1574509e-5d6d-43d1-9e76-e42801ae2e55",
      "duid": "9e5500ac-3437-4457-a007-351911d54983",
      "refr": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/",
      "cx": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy...",
      "stm": "1742205395080"
    }
  ]
}

Backend Events

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
        "e": "se",
        "eid": "2e78c447-c18e-4087-a3a8-35723ecfb602",
        "aid": "asdfsadf",
        "cx": "eyJzY2hlbWEiOiJpZ2x1OmNvbS5zbm93cGxvd2FuYWx5dGljcy...",
        "tna": "gl",
        "stm": "1742268163018",
        "tv": "rb-0.8.0",
        "se_ac": "perform_action",
        "se_la": "redis_hll_counters.manage.unique_active_users_monthly",
        "se_ca": "Users::ActivityService",
        "p": "srv",
        "dtm": "1742268163016"
      }

cx field is base64 encoded and contains the following JSON:

 JSON Copy to clipboard  
{
  "schema": "iglu:com.snowplowanalytics.snowplow/contexts/jsonschema/1-0-1",
  "data": [
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.gitlab/gitlab_standard/jsonschema/1-1-1",
      "data": {
        "environment": "development",
        "source": "gitlab-rails",
        "correlation_id": "01JPKMCRCBSMB07DPGVSJJ708F",
        "plan": null,
        "extra": {},
        "user_id": 1,
        "global_user_id": "KaAjqePKpCsnc6P40up8ZOi4+BUwEUIyab6W5jWIg5M=",
        "is_gitlab_team_member": null,
        "namespace_id": null,
        "project_id": null,
        "feature_enabled_by_namespace_ids": null,
        "realm": "self-managed",
        "instance_id": "e1baa3de-7e45-4fbc-b17e-95995935cf09",
        "host_name": "nbelokolodov--20220811-Y26WJ",
        "instance_version": "17.10.0",
        "context_generated_at": "2025-03-18 03:22:43 UTC"
      }
    },
    {
      "schema": "iglu:com.gitlab/gitlab_service_ping/jsonschema/1-0-1",
      "data": {
        "data_source": "redis_hll",
        "event_name": "unique_active_user"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Internal Events Payload Samples contribute