How to add analytics to a Django site

Every template that extends base.html gets the tag, and nothing changes in your views. Django's admin uses its own templates, so staff activity in /admin/ is never counted.

How to install VisitTrack on Django

1. 1

   Step 1: Add the settings

   Read the site id and a secret API key (VisitTrack Settings → API / MCP) from the environment. Leave VISITRACK_SITE_ID empty in development and the tag isn't rendered.

   settings.pyCopy

   # settings.py
   import os
   
   VISITRACK_SITE_ID = os.environ.get("VISITRACK_SITE_ID", "")
   VISITRACK_API_KEY = os.environ.get("VISITRACK_API_KEY", "")  # server-side only

2. 2

   Step 2: Expose the site id to templates

   A context processor makes VISITRACK_SITE_ID available in every template. Register it in TEMPLATES[0]["OPTIONS"]["context_processors"] as "myproject.context_processors.visitrack".

   myproject/context_processors.pyCopy

   # myproject/context_processors.py
   from django.conf import settings
   
   def visitrack(request):
       return {"VISITRACK_SITE_ID": settings.VISITRACK_SITE_ID}

3. 3

   Step 3: Add the tag to base.html

   Inside <head>. Django auto-escapes the value.

   templates/base.htmlCopy

   <head>
     <meta charset="utf-8">
     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
     <title>{% block title %}My site{% endblock %}</title>
     {% if VISITRACK_SITE_ID %}
       <script defer data-site="{{ VISITRACK_SITE_ID }}" src="https://visitrack.app/tracker.js"></script>
     {% endif %}
   </head>

4. 4

   Step 4: Allow it in your Content-Security-Policy

   Django 6.0 added CSP support in core (ContentSecurityPolicyMiddleware and SECURE_CSP). On older versions the same sources go into django-csp's settings.

   settings.pyCopy

   # settings.py (Django 6.0+, with ContentSecurityPolicyMiddleware enabled)
   from django.utils.csp import CSP
   
   SECURE_CSP = {
       "default-src": [CSP.SELF],
       "script-src": [CSP.SELF, "https://visitrack.app"],
       "connect-src": [CSP.SELF, "https://visitrack.app"],
   }

How to check VisitTrack is working on Django

1. Set VISITRACK_SITE_ID in production, deploy, and view source — the tag is in <head>.
2. Browse two pages; the VisitTrack live view shows you and the Pages tab lists both URLs.
3. If nothing arrives, the browser console shows any CSP violation naming visitrack.app.

Does VisitTrack track Django page navigation?

Server-rendered Django pages are full page loads — one pageview each. With htmx, boosted links (hx-boost="true") and requests with hx-push-url update the address bar through the History API, which the tracker follows, so those count as pageviews too. Partial swaps that don't push a URL aren't pageviews.

Turbo (via django-turbo or Hotwire) behaves the same way: Turbo Drive visits push a URL and are counted, and the tag in <head> is loaded once.

How to track custom events and goals in Django

Send signups from the view that creates the account. In standard mode the tracker keeps the visitor id in a first-party _vt_vid cookie on your domain, so the request already carries it.

# accounts/visitrack.py
import httpx
from django.conf import settings

def send_event(request, name, props=None):
    visitor_id = request.COOKIES.get("_vt_vid")
    if not (visitor_id and settings.VISITRACK_API_KEY):
        return
    try:
        httpx.post(
            "https://visitrack.app/api/track",
            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {settings.VISITRACK_API_KEY}"},
            json={"type": "event", "visitorId": visitor_id, "name": name, "props": props or {}},
            timeout=3,
        )
    except httpx.HTTPError:
        pass  # analytics must never break signup

# in your signup view, after user.save():
#   send_event(request, "signup", {"method": "email"})

Using django-allauth? Its user_signed_up signal passes the request, so you can call send_event from a receiver. To link the visitor to your user id and traits, send a type: "identify" call the same way — see People & identify. In templates, data-vt-goal and data-vt-scroll work on any element.

Revenue attribution on Django

If you create Stripe Checkout Sessions in a view, pass the same cookie value as client_reference_id, then connect Stripe in VisitTrack's Settings → Revenue. Each payment is credited to the visitor's first referrer, UTM campaign and landing page. Details: Stripe revenue attribution.

session = stripe.checkout.Session.create(
    mode="subscription",
    line_items=[{"price": price_id, "quantity": 1}],
    success_url=request.build_absolute_uri("/thanks/") + "?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}",
    cancel_url=request.build_absolute_uri("/pricing/"),
    client_reference_id=request.COOKIES.get("_vt_vid"),
)

import httpx
from django.conf import settings

def crawler_tracking_middleware(get_response):
    def middleware(request):
        try:
            httpx.post("https://visitrack.app/api/collect-bot", json={
                "siteId": settings.VISITRACK_SITE_ID,
                "path": request.path,
                "userAgent": request.headers.get("user-agent"),
                "ip": request.META.get("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR", "").split(",")[0].strip(),
            }, timeout=2)
        except Exception:
            pass
        return get_response(request)
    return middleware

Script options you might need on Django

All optional — add them to the same tag. Full reference: script configuration.

Django troubleshooting

Not on Django? See all 29 integration guides.