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Chapter 199 · Omnibus Instrument Product Analytics
Subchapter 199.4
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PostHog makes it easy to get data about traffic and usage of your Django app. Integrating PostHog enables analytics, custom events capture, feature flags, and more.
This guide walks you through integrating PostHog into your Django app using the Python SDK.
Install PostHog for Django in seconds with our wizard by running this prompt with LLM coding agents (opens in a new tab) like Cursor and Bolt, or by running it in your terminal.
npx @posthog/wizard@latest
Or, to integrate manually, continue with the rest of this guide.
To start, run pip install posthog to install PostHog’s Python SDK.
Then, set the PostHog API key and host in your AppConfig in your your_app/apps.py so that’s it’s available everywhere:
your_app/apps.py
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from django.apps import AppConfig
import posthog
class YourAppConfig(AppConfig):
name = "your_app_name"
def ready(self):
posthog.api_key = '<ph_project_token>'
posthog.host = 'https://us.i.posthog.com'You can find your project token and instance address in your project settings (opens in a new tab).
Next, if you haven’t done so already, make sure you add your AppConfig to your settings.py under INSTALLED_APPS:
settings.py
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INSTALLED_APPS = [
# other apps
'your_app_name.apps.MyAppConfig', # Add your app config
]Lastly, to access PostHog in any file, simply import posthog and call the method you’d like. For example, to capture an event:
Python
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import posthog
def some_request(request):
with posthog.new_context():
posthog.identify_context(request.user.id)
posthog.capture('event_name')Identifying users is required. Backend events need a
distinct_idthat matches the ID your frontend uses when callingposthog.identify(). Without this, backend events are orphaned — they can’t be linked to frontend event captures, session replays (opens in a new tab), LLM traces (opens in a new tab), or error tracking (opens in a new tab).See our guide on identifying users (opens in a new tab) for how to set this up.
The Python SDK provides a Django middleware that automatically wraps all requests with a context (opens in a new tab). This middleware extracts session and user information from request headers and tags all events captured during the request with relevant metadata.
Add the middleware to your Django settings:
Python
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MIDDLEWARE = [
# ... other middleware
'posthog.integrations.django.PosthogContextMiddleware',
# ... other middleware
]The middleware automatically extracts and uses:
X-POSTHOG-SESSION-ID header, if presentX-POSTHOG-DISTINCT-ID header, if present$current_url$request_methodAll events captured during the request (including exceptions) will include these properties and be associated with the extracted session and distinct ID.
If you are using PostHog on your frontend, the JavaScript Web SDK will add the session and distinct ID headers automatically if you enable tracing headers.
JavaScript
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posthog.init('<ph_project_token>', {
__add_tracing_headers: ['your-backend-domain.com']
})By default, the middleware captures exceptions and sends them to PostHog’s error tracking. Disable this by setting:
Python
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# settings.py
POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS = FalseUse POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_TAGS to add custom properties to all requests:
Python
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# settings.py
def add_user_tags(request):
# type: (HttpRequest) -> Dict[str, Any]
tags = {}
if hasattr(request, 'user') and request.user.is_authenticated:
tags['user_id'] = request.user.id
tags['email'] = request.user.email
return tags
POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_TAGS = add_user_tagsSkip tracking for certain requests using POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER:
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PostHog AI
# settings.py
def should_track_request(request):
# type: (HttpRequest) -> bool
# Don't track health checks or admin requests
if request.path.startswith('/health') or request.path.startswith('/admin'):
return False
return True
POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER = should_track_requestUse POSTHOG_MW_TAG_MAP to modify or remove default tags:
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# settings.py
def customize_tags(tags):
# type: (Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]
# Remove URL for privacy
tags.pop('$current_url', None)
# Add custom prefix to method
if '$request_method' in tags:
tags['http_method'] = tags.pop('$request_method')
return tags
POSTHOG_MW_TAG_MAP = customize_tagsPython
PostHog AI
# settings.py
def add_request_context(request):
# type: (HttpRequest) -> Dict[str, Any]
tags = {}
if hasattr(request, 'user') and request.user.is_authenticated:
tags['user_type'] = 'authenticated'
tags['user_id'] = str(request.user.id)
else:
tags['user_type'] = 'anonymous'
# Add request info
tags['user_agent'] = request.META.get('HTTP_USER_AGENT', '')
return tags
def filter_tracking(request):
# type: (HttpRequest) -> bool
# Skip internal endpoints
return not request.path.startswith(('/health', '/metrics', '/admin'))
def clean_tags(tags):
# type: (Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]
# Remove sensitive data
tags.pop('user_agent', None)
return tags
POSTHOG_MW_EXTRA_TAGS = add_request_context
POSTHOG_MW_REQUEST_FILTER = filter_tracking
POSTHOG_MW_TAG_MAP = clean_tags
POSTHOG_MW_CAPTURE_EXCEPTIONS = TrueAll events captured within the request context automatically include the configured tags and are associated with the session and user identified from the request headers.
For any technical questions for how to integrate specific PostHog features into Django (such as analytics, feature flags, A/B testing, etc.), have a look at our Python SDK docs (opens in a new tab).
Alternatively, the following tutorials can help you get started:
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