Other

Note: Metrics is in open alpha. Any team can turn it on — open Metrics (opens in a new tab) and select Enable metrics in the onboarding view. Setup details, including the ingestion endpoint, may change before general availability.

PostHog’s application metrics work with any OpenTelemetry-compatible client. If your app or infrastructure already exports OTLP metrics, point the exporter at PostHog. No PostHog packages required.

1. 1

   Install OpenTelemetry packages

   Required

   The key requirements are:

   • Use OTLP (OpenTelemetry Protocol) for metrics export over HTTP
   • Send metrics to your Metrics endpoint (see configuration step below)
   • Include your project token in the Authorization header or as a ?token= query parameter

   Find the OpenTelemetry SDK for your language in the official registry (opens in a new tab). If you already run an OpenTelemetry Collector, you can add PostHog as an additional exporter without touching application code.

2. 2

   Get your project token

   Required

   You’ll need your PostHog project token to authenticate metrics requests. This is the same key you use for capturing events and exceptions with the PostHog SDK.

   Important: Use your project token which starts with phc_. Do not use a personal API key (which starts with phx_).

   You can find your project token in Project Settings (opens in a new tab).

3. 3

   Configure the exporter

   Required

   Most OpenTelemetry SDKs pick up standard environment variables, so configuration is often no more than:

   Terminal

   bashCopy

   OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_ENDPOINT="https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v1/metrics"
   OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_HEADERS="Authorization=Bearer <ph_project_token>"
   OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-app"

   Set OTEL_SERVICE_NAME so metrics from different systems stay easy to tell apart. It’s attached to every series and used by the Metrics UI for filtering.

   If you configure the exporter in code instead:

   Endpoint:

   Copy

   https://us.i.posthog.com/i/v1/metrics

   Authentication: Include your project token either as an Authorization header:

4. 4

   Test your setup

   Recommended

   1. Trigger the code path that records a metric
   2. Open Metrics in the PostHog sidebar and pick your metric from the name picker
   3. Data points should appear within a minute of sending

   If nothing shows up, check that the endpoint ends in /i/v1/metrics, that the token starts with phc_, and see the troubleshooting section (opens in a new tab).

   View your metrics in PostHog (opens in a new tab)

5. Next steps

   Checkpoint

   What you can do with your metrics

   Action	Description
   Why you need metrics (opens in a new tab)	What metrics show you that events and logs don’t
   Getting started guide (opens in a new tab)	Pick the right metric type, add attributes carefully, and chart what matters
   Group and filter	Group by an attribute for one line per value, or filter with key=value chips
   How metrics works

Still have questions?

Ask PostHog AI

Was this page useful?

HelpfulCould be better

Or as a query parameter on the endpoint:

Continue with the getting started guide (opens in a new tab)