JavaScript SDK ⁠-⁠ 'start' method

This method is used to start the tracker. By starting the tracker, the recording of the session starts.

start(startOpts?: Partial<StartOptions>): Promise<StartPromiseReturn>

The start method accepts an optional parameter where you can customize different aspects of the recording:

• userID: string: used to manually set the user ID to track it across sessions. This is a string value and it can be anything you want.
• metadata: Record<string, string>: manually set metadata values. Check the Metadata section to learn more about this feature.
• forceNew: boolean: used to force a new session after page refresh. By default it’s set to false, so after a refresh the session is kept.
• sessionHash: string: used for sticky sessions. Useful if you have a multi-site application or if you have to redirect the user outside and then back into your site (like to a payment gateway).
• assistOnly: boolean: launches tracker in assist-only mode which will skip sending session data to backend (EE edition feature)
• startCallback?: (result: StartPromiseReturn) => void: A callback triggered when the tracker starts or fails to start. Returns either success or failure information.

Once started, the method will return a promise with a session info object containing:

• sessionID: string: A string value representing the ID of the started session.
• sessionHash: string: The hash of the session.
• userUUID: string: A unique identifier for the user.

The StartPromiseReturn can be either:

// Successful start
interface OnStartInfo {
  sessionID: string;
  sessionToken: string;
  userUUID: string;
}

const SuccessfulStart = (body: OnStartInfo): SuccessfulStart => ({
  ...body,
  success: true,
});

// Unsuccessful start
const UnsuccessfulStart = (reason: string): UnsuccessfulStart => ({
  reason,
  success: false,
});

// Type for start promise return
export type StartPromiseReturn = SuccessfulStart | UnsuccessfulStart;

• Success case: If successful, the promise will return sessionID, sessionToken, and userUUID.
• Failure case: If unsuccessful, it will return reason and success: false.