Events

An event is the core unit of data in Leanbase. It represents any interaction a user has with your app or website — such as button clicks, page views, searches, or signups.

Each event includes:

• Event name – for example, $pageview or query completed.
  Events beginning with $ are Leanbase defaults.

• distinct_id – a unique user identifier, often a uuidv7 value such as 018daf23-89b3-7cf8-a4f1-94064c96df90.

• Timestamp – the exact time the event occurred, in ISO 8601 format (for example, 2024-05-22T17:09:29.220Z).

• Properties – additional event data, such as color or $current_url.
  Properties starting with $ are Leanbase defaults.

You can capture custom events using any Leanbase SDK or the API.
Leanbase’s client-side SDKs — such as JavaScript Web or React Native — can also automatically capture key user interactions.

You can view live event streams in the Activity tab, which refreshes every 30 seconds for real-time visibility into what’s happening inside your app.

How Events Power Leanbase

Leanbase is an event-based analytics platform, meaning most of its features and insights are driven by events.
While much of this is handled seamlessly by our SDKs, events remain the foundation. For example:

• Updating person properties using $set and $unset.

• Identifying anonymous users with $identify.

• Linking multiple user profiles using $create_alias.

• Managing groups via $groupidentify and $group properties.

• Calculating bounce rate through $pageleave events.

• Measuring exposure and experiment significance with $feature_flag_called and $feature/experiment-feature-flag-key.

• Sending data to webhooks triggered by specific events.

Anonymous vs. Identified Events

Leanbase captures two types of events: anonymous and identified.
Identified events can be attributed to a specific user profile, while anonymous events cannot.

For details, see our guide on Anonymous vs. Identified Events.

Event Properties

Just like persons and sessions, events have properties. These are used for filtering, cohort creation, breakdowns, and feature targeting.

When Leanbase ingests events, it automatically detects property types, including:

• String (default)

• Boolean

• Date/Timestamp

• Number

• Array

• Object

If a property type is detected incorrectly, you can manually edit it in Data Management → Properties.
From there, you can also add tags or mark a property as verified for better data hygiene.

Default Properties

Below are some of the default properties captured by Leanbase in client-side applications.
For the full list, visit the Leanbase SDK documentation.

Managing Event Definitions

In the Events Management page, you can add tags and descriptions to your events.
These appear when searching for events throughout Leanbase, providing clearer context and better discoverability.

You can also set the status of each event to one of the following:

• Visible (default): The standard visibility for active events.

• Verified: Marks an event with a checkmark to confirm it’s trusted and validated.

• Hidden: Hides an event from search results without deleting it — useful for deprecating old events while keeping historical data intact.