First Time Event Tracker

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What does the First Time Event Tracker do?

This app adds two new properties to events which you specify:

  • is_event_first_ever
  • is_event_first_for_user

Using these events, you can track if each event is the first time that event has run for a individual user, the first time it has run ever, both of these, or neither.

Note: For Pageview and Identify events, use the event names $pageview and $identify respectively.

What are the requirements for this app?

The First Time Event Tracker requires either PostHog Cloud, or a self-hosted PostHog instance running version 1.30.0 or later.

Not running 1.30.0? Find out how to update your self-hosted PostHog deployment!

How do I install the First Time Event Tracker app?

  1. Visit the 'Apps' page in your instance of PostHog.
  2. Search for 'First Time Event Tracker' and select the app, press Install.
  3. Follow the on-screen steps to configure the app.

This app will only work on events ingested after the app was enabled.

Does this app work retroactively?

No. This app will only work on events ingested after the app was enabled.

This means it will register events as being the first if there were events that occurred before it was enabled. To mitigate this, you could consider renaming the relevant events and creating an action that matches both the old event name and the new one.

Configuration

OptionDescription
List of events to track first time occurences on:
Type: string
Required: True
Separate events with commas, without using spaces, like so: event1,event2,event3

Is the source code for this app available?

PostHog is open-source and so are all apps on the platform. The source code for the First Time Event Tracker is available on GitHub.

Who created this app?

We'd like to thank PostHog team member Yakko Majuri for creating the First Time Event Tracker. Thanks Yakko!

Who maintains this app?

This app is maintained by PostHog. If you have issues with the app not functioning as intended, please raise a bug report to let us know!

What if I have feedback on this app?

We love feature requests and feedback! Please create an issue to tell us what you think.

What if my question isn't answered above?

We love answering questions. Ask us anything via our Support page.

You can also join the PostHog Community Slack group to collaborate with others and get advice on developing your own PostHog apps.

Questions?

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