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Browser SDK Migration Guide

The new version of Amplitude's Browser SDK (@amplitude/analytics-browser) features a plugin architecture, built-in type definition and broader support for front-end frameworks. The new version isn't backwards compatible with amplitude-js.

To migrate to @amplitude/analytics-browser, update your dependencies and instrumentation.

Terminology

  • amplitude-js: Maintenance Browser SDK
  • @amplitude/analytics-browser: New Browser SDK

Dependency

For snippet installation, update your project's snippet loader.

For Node projects, update your dependency list in package.json.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "amplitude-js": "^8"
  }
}
{
  "dependencies": {
    "@amplitude/analytics-browser": "^1"
  }
}

Instrumentation

The new Browser SDK offers an API to instrument events. To migrate to the new SDK, you need to update a few calls. The following sections detail which calls have changed.

Initialization

Like all other calls, getInstance() has been removed. To initialize the SDK, call init(), with the same parameters. However, config comes in a different shape. See Configuration.

import amplitude from "amplitude-js"

amplitude.getInstance().init(API_KEY, OPTIONAL_USER_ID, config)
import * as amplitude from "@amplitude/analytics-browser"

amplitude.init(API_KEY, OPTIONAL_USER_ID, config)

Configuration

The new Browser SDK configuration comes in a different shape. The configurations are simpler and more consistent across runtimes. Some configurations are no longer supported.

amplitude-js @amplitude/analytics-browser
config.apiEndpoint config.serverUrl
config.batchEvents config.flushQueueSize
config.cookieExpiration config.cookieExpiration
config.cookieName NOT SUPPORTED
config.sameSiteCookie config.cookieSameSite
config.cookieForceUpgrade NOT SUPPORTED
config.deferInitialization NOT SUPPORTED. See Defer initialization.
config.disableCookies config.disableCookies
config.deviceId config.deviceId
config.deviceIdFromUrlParam NOT SUPPORTED
config.domain NOT SUPPORTED
config.eventUploadPeriodMillis config.flushIntervalMillis
config.eventUploadThreshold config.flushQueueSize
config.forceHttps NOT SUPPORTED
config.includeFbclid NOT SUPPORTED. See Web attribution.
config.includeGclid NOT SUPPORTED. See Web attribution.
config.includeReferrer NOT SUPPORTED. See Web attribution.
config.includeUtm NOT SUPPORTED. See Web attribution.
config.language NOT SUPPORTED. See Plugins.
config.library NOT SUPPORTED. See Plugins.
config.logLevel config.logLevel
config.logAttributionCapturedEvent NOT SUPPORTED
config.optOut config.optOut
config.onError NOT SUPPORTED
config.onExitPage NOT SUPPORTED. See Flush.
config.platform NOT SUPPORTED. See Plugins.
config.savedMaxCount NOT SUPPORTED
config.saveEvents NOT SUPPORTED
config.saveParamsReferrerOncePerSession config.attribution.trackNewCampaigns. Opposite of saveParamsReferrerOncePerSession. See configuration.
config.secureCookie config.cookieSecure
config.sessionTimeout config.sessionTimeout
config.storage config.storageProvider
config.trackingOptions config.trackingOptions
config.transport config.transportProvider
config.unsetParamsReferrerOnNewSession NOT SUPPORTED. Default behavior.
config.unsentKey NOT SUPPORTED
config.unsentIdentifyKey NOT SUPPORTED
config.uploadBatchSize config.flushQueueSize
config.headers NOT SUPPORTED
config.serverZone config.serverZone
config.useDynamicConfig NOT SUPPORTED
config.serverZoneBasedApi NOT SUPPORTED
config.sessionId config.sessionId
config.partnerId config.partnerId

Tracking events

The maintenance Browser SDK offered a variety of logEvent APIs like logEventWithTimestamp, logEventWithGroups to override specific properties in the event payload. Amplitude has simplified all these variations into a unified track API in @amplitude/analytics-browser.

logEvent()

The logEvent() API maps to track().

const eventType = "Button Clicked"
const eventProperties = {
  type: "primary",
}
amplitude.getInstance().logEvent(
  eventType,
  eventProperties,
)
const eventType = "Button Clicked"
const eventProperties = {
  type: "primary",
}
amplitude.track(
  eventType,
  eventProperties,
)

logEventWithTimestamp()

The logEventWithTimestamp() API maps to track().

const eventType = "Button Clicked"
const eventProperties = {
  type: "primary",
}
const timestamp = Date.now()
amplitude.getInstance().logEventWithTimestamp(
  eventType,
  eventProperties,
  timestamp,
)
const eventType = "Button Clicked"
const eventProperties = {
  type: "primary",
}
const eventOptions = {
  time = Date.now()
}
amplitude.track(
  eventType,
  eventProperties,
  eventOptions
)

logEventWithGroups()

The logEventWithGroups() API maps to track().

const eventType = "Button Clicked"
const eventProperties = {
  type: "primary",
}
const groups = {
  orgId: "12345",
}
amplitude.getInstance().logEventWithGroups(
  eventType,
  eventProperties,
  groups,
)
const event_type = "Button Clicked"
const event_properties = {
  type: "primary",
}
const groups = {
  orgId: "12345",
}
const event = {
  event_type,
  event_properties,
  groups
}
amplitude.track(event)

sendEvents()

The sendEvents() API maps to flush().

amplitude.getInstance().sendEvents()
amplitude.flush()

Set user properties

The APIs for setting user properties are the same, except for the removal of getInstance(). Here are code snippets to migrate APIs for user properties.

setUserId()

Setting a user ID can be invoked on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const userId = "1"
amplitude.getInstance().setUserId(userId)
const userId = "1"
amplitude.setUserId(userId)

setDeviceId()

Setting a device ID can be invoked on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const deviceId = "1"
amplitude.getInstance().setDeviceId(deviceId)
const deviceId = "1"
amplitude.setDeviceId(deviceId)

setSessionId()

Set a session ID on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const sessionId = Date.now()
amplitude.getInstance().setSessionId(sessionId)
const sessionId = Date.now()
amplitude.setSessionId(sessionId)

clearUserProperties()

The clearUserProperties API has been removed, but you can now use the unified identify API to remove user properties.

amplitude.getInstance().clearUserProperties()
amplitude.identify(
  new amplitude.Identify().identify.clearAll()
)

setUserProperties()

The setUserProperties API has been removed, but you can now use the unified identify API to add user properties.

amplitude.getInstance().setUserProperties({
  membership, "paid",
  payment, "bank",
})
const identify = new amplitude.Identify()
identify
  .set("membership", "paid")
  .set("payment", "bank")
amplitude.identify(identify)

identify()

You can now make an identify call on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const identify = new amplitude.Identify()
identify.set("membership", "paid")
amplitude.getInstance().identify(identify)
const identify = new amplitude.Identify()
identify.set("membership", "paid")
amplitude.identify(identify)

Set group properties

groupIdentify()

You can now make an identify call on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const identify = new amplitude.Identify()
identify.set("membership", "paid")
amplitude.getInstance().groupIdentify(identify)
const identify = new amplitude.Identify()
identify.set("membership", "paid")
amplitude.groupIdentify(identify)

Tracking revenue

logRevenueV2()

Track revenue using revenue() API on amplitude without calling getInstance().

const revenue = new amplitude.Revenue()
revenue
  .setProductId("productId")
  .setPrice(10)
amplitude.getInstance().logRevenueV2(revenue)
const revenue = new amplitude.Revenue()
revenue
  .setProductId("productId")
  .setPrice(10)
amplitude.revenue(revenue)

Patterns

Plugins

The configs config.language, config.library, config.platform were available in amplitude-js to allow modification of event payloads for these specific fields. Although @amplitude/analytics-browser doesn't support these configurations, you can add plugins to the new Browser SDK to enrich event payloads.

import { BrowserConfig, EnrichmentPlugin, Event, PluginType } from "@amplitude/analytics-types"

export class LibraryModifierPlugin implements EnrichmentPlugin {
  name = 'library-modifier'
  type = PluginType.ENRICHMENT as const

  /**
  * setup() is called on plugin installation
  * example: client.add(new LibraryModifierPlugin());
  */
  setup(config: BrowserConfig): Promise<undefined> {
    this.config = config
  }

  /**
  * execute() is called on each event instrumented
  * example: client.track('New Event');
  */
  execute(event: Event): Promise<Event> {
    event.library = 'my-library-name/1.0.0'
    return Promise.resolve(event)
  }
}

To install your custom plugin, use add() with your custom plugin as parameter.

import { add } from "@amplitude/analytics-browser"

add(new LibraryModifierPlugin())

Defer initialization

To defer initialization in amplitude-js, call init with config.deferInitialization set to true, and eventually call enableTracking() to formalize initialization and send all enqueued events.

amplitude.getInstance().init(API_KEY, OPTIONAL_USER_ID, {
  deferInitialization: true,
})

amplitude.getInstance().logEvent("Event 1")
amplitude.getInstance().logEvent("Event 2")
amplitude.getInstance().logEvent("Event 3")

amplitude.getInstance().enableTracking()

For @amplitude/analytics-browser, you can call init() at a later time than track(). All track() calls are then processed after initialization completes.

amplitude.track("Event 1")
amplitude.track("Event 2")
amplitude.track("Event 3")

amplitude.init(API_KEY, OPTIONAL_USER_ID)

Web attribution

In amplitude-js, web attribution is enabled by enabling the following configurations:

  • config.includeGclid
  • config.includeFbclid
  • config.includeReferrer
  • config.includeUtm

In @amplitude/analytics-browser, the web attribution is controlled by a single configuration config.attribution.disabled which by default is set to false and captures all campaign parameters. This configuration collects the same campaign parameters supported in amplitude-js.

Flush or onExitPage

There are certain scenarios that warrant sending events immediately, like when a user navigates away from a page. This is a common scenario when tracking button clicks that directs the user to another page while sending event payload in batches.

In amplitude-js do this by using onExitPage() callback.

amplitude.getInstance().init(API_KEY, OPTIONAL_USER_ID, {
  onExitPage: () => {
    amplitude.sendEvents()
  },
})

For @amplitude/analytics-browser, Amplitude recommends adding your own event listener for pagehide event.

window.addEventListener('pagehide',
  () => {
    amplitude.setTransport('beacon') // Optional. Sets https transport to use `sendBeacon` API
    amplitude.flush()
  },
);

Callback

For amplitude-js, two separate callback functions are passed for success and error. With @amplitude/analytics-browser supporting Promises (and async/await), the asynchronous methods like track(), identify(), groupIdentify() return a custom promise interface.

const result = await amplitude.track("Button Clicked").promise
if (result.code === 200) {
  // success logic
} else {
  // errr logic
}

Still have questions? Ask them in the Community.