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Elixir

Canonical URL: https://posthog.com/docs/libraries/elixir

Cloud region: This page uses US Cloud hosts. For an EU Cloud project, use https://eu.i.posthog.com instead of https://us.i.posthog.com (ingestion host).

On this page

• Install with the wizard

• Installation

• Identifying users

• Capturing events

• Request context

• Trace context

• Feature flags

• Error tracking

• Advanced configuration

• Thanks

This library provides an Elixir HTTP client for PostHog. See the repository for more information.

Install with the wizard

Run this command in your project directory to add PostHog to your Elixir project. The wizard detects your framework, installs the SDK, and sets up your first events.

npx @posthog/wizard

Or set it up manually by following the rest of this guide.

Installation

This library was built by the community but it's being maintained by the PostHog core team since v1.0.0. Thank you to Nick Kezhaya for building it originally. Thank you to Alex Martsinovich for contributing v2.0.0.

The package can be installed by adding posthog to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:posthog, "~> 2.0"}
  ]
end

Configuration

config/config.exs

config :posthog,
  enable: true,
  api_host: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
  api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
  in_app_otp_apps: [:my_app]

You can see all the available configuration options in the PostHog.Config module.

Optionally, you might want to enable the Plug integration to attach request metadata and tracing context in Plug-based applications including Phoenix. You still need to capture events explicitly with PostHog.capture/2 or PostHog.capture/3.

Development/Test mode

For a test environment, you can pass in test_mode: true value to the config. This causes events to be dropped instead of sent to PostHog.

Identifying users

Identifying users is required. Backend events need a distinct_id that matches the ID your frontend uses when calling posthog.identify(). Without this, backend events are orphaned — they can't be linked to frontend event captures, session replays, LLM traces, or error tracking.

See our guide on identifying users for how to set this up.

Capturing events

To capture an event, use PostHog.capture/2:

PostHog.capture("user_signed_up", %{distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_the_user"})

Tip: We recommend using a [object] [verb] format for your event names, where [object] is the entity that the behavior relates to, and [verb] is the behavior itself. For example, project created, user signed up, or invite sent.

Setting event properties

Optionally, you can include additional information with the event by including a properties object:

PostHog.capture("user_signed_up", %{
  distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_the_user",
  login_type: "email",
  is_free_trial: true
})

Context

Carrying distinct_id around all the time might not be the most convenient approach, so PostHog lets you store it and other properties in a context.

The context is stored in the Logger metadata and PostHog automatically attaches these properties to any events you capture with PostHog.capture/2, as long as they happen in the same process.

PostHog.set_context(%{distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_the_user"})
PostHog.capture("page_opened")

You can also scope the context to a specific event name:

PostHog.set_event_context("sensitive_event", %{"$process_person_profile": false})

Batching events

Events are automatically batched and sent to PostHog via a background job.

Special events

PostHog.capture/2 is very powerful and enables you to send events that have special meaning.

In other libraries you'll usually find helpers for these special events, but they must be explicitly sent in Elixir.

For example:

Create alias

PostHog.capture("$create_alias", %{distinct_id: "frontend_id", alias: "backend_id"})

Group analytics

PostHog.capture("$groupidentify", %{
  distinct_id: "static_string_used_for_all_group_events",
  "$group_type": "company",
  "$group_key": "company_id_in_your_db"
})

Request context

For Phoenix or Plug apps, add PostHog.Integrations.Plug before your router to attach request metadata and PostHog tracing headers to events captured during the request.

lib/my_app_web/endpoint.ex

plug PostHog.Integrations.Plug
plug MyAppWeb.Router

For plain Plug routers, add it before :match and :dispatch:

defmodule MyRouter do
  use Plug.Router

  plug PostHog.Integrations.Plug
  plug :match
  plug :dispatch

  # ... routes
end

The plug adds request metadata such as $current_url, $host, $pathname, $request_method, $user_agent, and $ip. It also reads X-PostHog-Distinct-Id and X-PostHog-Session-Id as analytics context so backend events and errors can be linked to frontend users and sessions.

If you're using PostHog JS on the frontend, configure tracing_headers for your Phoenix or Plug backend hostname so browser requests include these headers.

Tracing headers are client-controlled analytics context, not authentication or authorization. Pass an authenticated distinct_id explicitly for security-sensitive server-side decisions.

Trace context

To link application spans to people and sessions, install the optional opentelemetry dependency and add this entry before the export processors in your existing OpenTelemetry :processors list:

{PostHog.OpenTelemetry.ContextSpanProcessor, %{supervisor_name: PostHog}}

Use your named PostHog supervisor in place of PostHog if needed. Keep your existing provider, exporter, and sampler. The processor supports OpenTelemetry SDK 1.7.0 or later. It adds missing sessionId and posthogDistinctId attributes from the current process's PostHog context when spans start. Existing canonical attributes take precedence.

The PostHog plug sets context for child spans. Phoenix with Cowboy starts its request span before the endpoint plugs run. To also link that earlier span, change your existing Cowboy instrumentation setup to capture only the two PostHog headers:

:opentelemetry_cowboy.setup(%{
  request_headers: ["x-posthog-session-id", "x-posthog-distinct-id"]
})

OpentelemetryPhoenix.setup(adapter: :cowboy2)

Configure instrumentation once, before the endpoint starts. Keep other existing options in the same configuration. Do not capture all request headers. Configure tracing_headers in the browser SDK so it sends these headers to your selected backend hostname.

Cowboy supplies the captured headers as initial span attributes. The processor sanitizes them and uses them only when no process identity or explicit canonical span attribute is present. Without header capture, an earlier request span stays unchanged. Missing IDs stay absent.

This request path was tested with Phoenix 1.8.15, opentelemetry_phoenix 2.0.1, and opentelemetry_cowboy 1.0.0. The same setup has not been verified with Bandit. HTTP request context does not transfer into LiveView processes automatically.

Context is process-local and ends when the request process exits. Clear it before you reuse the same process for unrelated work. Tasks and other processes need their own explicit context. Spans keep the IDs captured when they start. No trace provider, exporter, session, or recording is created by this bridge.

Feature flags

PostHog's feature flags enable you to safely deploy and roll back new features as well as target specific users and groups with them.

There are two steps to implement feature flags in Elixir:

Step 1: Evaluate flags once

Call PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags/1 once for the user, then read values from the returned snapshot.

Boolean feature flags

{:ok, snapshot} = PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags("distinct_id_of_your_user")

if PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.enabled?(snapshot, "flag-key") do
  # Do something differently for this user
  # Optional: fetch the payload
  payload = PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag_payload(snapshot, "flag-key")
end

Multivariate feature flags

{:ok, snapshot} = PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags("distinct_id_of_your_user")

enabled_variant = PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag(snapshot, "flag-key")

if enabled_variant == "variant-key" do
  # Do something differently for this user
  # Optional: fetch the payload
  payload = PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag_payload(snapshot, "flag-key")
end

PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag/2 returns the variant string for multivariate flags, true for enabled boolean flags, false for disabled flags, and nil when the flag wasn't returned by the evaluation.

Note: PostHog.FeatureFlags.check/2, PostHog.FeatureFlags.check!/2, PostHog.FeatureFlags.get_feature_flag_result/2, and PostHog.FeatureFlags.get_feature_flag_result!/2 still work during the migration period, but they're deprecated. Prefer evaluate_flags/1 for new code.

Step 2: Include feature flag information when capturing events

If you want use your feature flag to breakdown or filter events in your insights, you'll need to include feature flag information in those events. This ensures that the feature flag value is attributed correctly to the event.

Note: This step is only required for events captured using our server-side SDKs or API.

There are two methods you can use to include feature flag information in your events:

Method 1: Put the evaluated flags snapshot in context

Put the same snapshot object that you used for branching into context. Subsequent captures from the same process attach the exact flag values from that evaluation and don't make another /flags request.

{:ok, snapshot} = PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags("distinct_id_of_your_user")

if PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.enabled?(snapshot, "flag-key") do
  # Do something differently for this user
end

PostHog.FeatureFlags.set_in_context(snapshot)
PostHog.capture("event_name", %{distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_your_user"})

By default, this attaches every flag in the snapshot using $feature/<flag-key> properties and $active_feature_flags.

To reduce event property bloat, put a filtered snapshot in context:

{:ok, snapshot} = PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags("distinct_id_of_your_user")

# Attach only flags accessed with enabled?/2 or get_flag/2 before this call
PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.enabled?(snapshot, "flag-key")
PostHog.FeatureFlags.set_in_context(
  PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.only_accessed(snapshot)
)

# Or attach only specific flags
PostHog.FeatureFlags.set_in_context(
  PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.only(snapshot, ["checkout-flow", "new-dashboard"])
)

only_accessed/1 is order-dependent. If you call it before accessing any flags with enabled?/2 or get_flag/2, no feature flag properties are attached.

Method 2: Include the $feature/feature_flag_name property manually

In the event properties, include $feature/feature_flag_name: variant_key:

PostHog.capture("event_name", %{
  "$feature/feature-flag-key" => "variant-key",
  distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_your_user"
})

Evaluating only specific flags

By default, evaluate_flags/1 evaluates every flag for the user. If you only need a few flags, pass flag_keys to request only those flags:

{:ok, snapshot} =
  PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags(%{
    distinct_id: "distinct_id_of_your_user",
    flag_keys: ["checkout-flow", "new-dashboard"]
  })

Sending $feature_flag_called events

Capturing $feature_flag_called events enables PostHog to know when a flag was accessed by a user and provide analytics and insights on the flag. With evaluate_flags/1, the SDK sends this event when you call PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.enabled?/2 or PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag/2 for a flag.

PostHog.FeatureFlags.Evaluations.get_flag_payload/2 doesn't send $feature_flag_called events.

Local feature flag evaluation

Local evaluation is available in version 2.15.0 and later. Follow the server-side local evaluation guide to find your secure key and see how to pass the person properties, groups, and group properties that your flag conditions require.

Store the secure key in a server-side environment variable. Don't expose it to client-side applications:

config/runtime.exs

config :posthog,
  api_host: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
  api_key: "<ph_project_token>",
  secret_key: System.fetch_env!("POSTHOG_FEATURE_FLAGS_SECURE_API_KEY")

When secret_key is set, the SDK fetches definitions when it starts and polls for updates every 30 seconds. PostHog.FeatureFlags.evaluate_flags/1 evaluates each flag locally first. If a flag can't be evaluated locally, the SDK makes one /flags request to resolve the remaining flags. Set only_evaluate_locally: true in the evaluation map to prevent this remote fallback. The SDK then omits unresolved flags from the snapshot.

Use these configuration options to control local evaluation:

For multiple server instances, you can implement PostHog.FeatureFlags.FlagDefinitionCacheProvider and set flag_definition_cache_provider: {module, state}. This optional provider shares definitions and coordinates which instance polls PostHog. See local evaluation in distributed environments for the callback contract and configuration.

Error tracking

Error tracking is enabled by default. It will automatically captures exceptions thrown by the application.

As a matter of fact, since this is built on top of Elixir's Logger module, it automatically captures any Logger.error calls.

You can always disable it by setting enable_error_tracking to false:

config :posthog,
  enable_error_tracking: false

Advanced configuration

By default, PostHog starts its own supervision tree and attaches a logger handler.

In certain cases, you might want to run this supervision tree yourself. You can do this by disabling the default supervisor and adding PostHog.Supervisor to your application tree with its own configuration:

config.exs

config :posthog, enable: false

config :my_app, :posthog,
  api_host: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
  api_key: "<ph_project_token>"

application.ex

defmodule MyApp.Application do
  use Application

  def start(_type, _args) do
    posthog_config = Application.fetch_env!(:my_app, :posthog) |> PostHog.Config.validate!()

    :logger.add_handler(:posthog, PostHog.Handler, %{config: posthog_config})

    children = [
      {PostHog.Supervisor, posthog_config}
    ]

    Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
  end
end

Multiple instances

In even more advanced cases, you might want to interact with more than one PostHog project. In this case, you can run multiple PostHog supervision trees, one of which can be the default one:

config.exs

config :posthog,
  api_host: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
  api_key: "<ph_project_token>"

config :my_app, :another_posthog,
  api_host: "https://us.i.posthog.com",
  api_key: "a_different_project_api_key",
  supervisor_name: AnotherPostHog

application.ex

defmodule MyApp.Application do
  use Application

  def start(_type, _args) do
    posthog_config = Application.fetch_env!(:my_app, :another_posthog) |> PostHog.Config.validate!()

    children = [
      {PostHog.Supervisor, posthog_config}
    ]

    Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
  end
end

Then, each function in the PostHog module accepts an optional first argument with the name of the PostHog supervisor tree that will process the capture:

PostHog.capture(AnotherPostHog, "user_signed_up", %{distinct_id: "user123"})

Thanks

The library is maintained by the PostHog team since February 2025. Thanks to nkezhaya for contributing v0.1.0. Thanks to martosaur for contributing v2.0.0.