Configuration

import { Nextlytics } from "@nextlytics/core/server";
import { loggingBackend } from "@nextlytics/core/backends/logging";
 
export const { middleware, analytics } = Nextlytics({
  backends: [loggingBackend()],
});

No configuration required. Just add it to your backends array.

How It Works

The logging backend prints all analytics events to the console using console.log. Each event is formatted with the event type, route, and event ID on the first line, followed by the full event data as formatted JSON.

Output Format

[Nextlytics Log] pageView GET /products (nl_abc123)
{
  "serverContext": {
    "path": "/products",
    "host": "localhost:3000",
    "method": "GET",
    "ip": "::1"
  },
  "properties": {
    "title": "Products"
  },
  "collectedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
  "anonymousUserId": "anon_xyz789"
}

Event Updates

The logging backend also logs event updates:

[Nextlytics Log] Update nl_abc123
{
  "clientContext": {
    "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0...",
    "referer": "https://google.com",
    "locale": "en-US"
  }
}

Use Cases

Development

Add the logging backend during development to see exactly what data Nextlytics is collecting:

import { Nextlytics } from "@nextlytics/core/server";
import { loggingBackend } from "@nextlytics/core/backends/logging";
import { posthogBackend } from "@nextlytics/core/backends/posthog";
 
export const { middleware, analytics } = Nextlytics({
  backends: [
    // Always log in development
    ...(process.env.NODE_ENV === "development" ? [loggingBackend()] : []),
    // Production backend
    posthogBackend({ ... }),
  ],
});

Debugging Production

Temporarily add logging to debug production issues:

backends: [
  loggingBackend(),  // See events in your server logs
  posthogBackend({ ... }),
]

Testing

Use in tests to verify events are being tracked correctly:

// In your test setup
const { middleware, analytics } = Nextlytics({
  backends: [loggingBackend()],
});
 
// Run your test, check console output

Multiple Backends

The logging backend works alongside other backends. Events are sent to all configured backends:

backends: [
  loggingBackend(),           // Logs to console
  posthogBackend({ ... }),    // Sends to PostHog
  segmentBackend({ ... }),    // Sends to Segment
]

Limitations

Console only: Output goes to console.log, not to files or external services
No persistence: Logs are ephemeral and not stored
Performance: In high-traffic production, excessive logging may impact performance

Debug Logging