How to add analytics to a Ruby on Rails app

If your app sends a Content-Security-Policy (Rails generates config/initializers/content_security_policy.rb), allow the VisitTrack origin there. For conversions, record signups and payments on the server with the visitor id from the tracker's first-party _vt_vid cookie — Rails reads it with cookies[:_vt_vid].

How to install VisitTrack on Ruby on Rails

1. 1

   Step 1: Store the ids in credentials or ENV

   The site id is public; the API key (VisitTrack Settings → API / MCP) is secret and stays on the server. ENV is used below — Rails credentials work the same.

2. 2

   Step 2: Add the tag to the application layout

   Inside <head>. javascript_include_tag turns the data: hash into a data-site attribute.

   app/views/layouts/application.html.erbCopy

   <head>
     <title><%= content_for(:title) || "My app" %></title>
     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">
     <%= csrf_meta_tags %>
     <%= csp_meta_tag %>
     <%= stylesheet_link_tag :app, "data-turbo-track": "reload" %>
     <%= javascript_importmap_tags %>
     <% if Rails.env.production? %>
       <%= javascript_include_tag "https://visitrack.app/tracker.js", defer: true, data: { site: ENV.fetch("VISITRACK_SITE_ID") } %>
     <% end %>
   </head>

3. 3

   Step 3: Allow the origin in your CSP initializer

   Add it to your existing policy; keep whatever else you already allow.

   config/initializers/content_security_policy.rbCopy

   Rails.application.configure do
     config.content_security_policy do |policy|
       policy.script_src  :self, "https://visitrack.app"
       policy.connect_src :self, "https://visitrack.app"
     end
   end

4. 4

   Step 4: Deploy and browse

   Deploy, open the production site and click around. bin/dev on localhost renders no tag and would be ignored anyway.

How to check VisitTrack is working on Ruby on Rails

1. View source in production: a <script> tag with src="https://visitrack.app/tracker.js" and your data-site is in the head.
2. Click links between pages (Turbo Drive) — the VisitTrack live view shows you, and each page appears in the Pages tab.
3. DevTools → Network: one POST to visitrack.app/api/collect per Turbo visit, with no full page reload.

Does VisitTrack track Ruby on Rails page navigation?

Turbo Drive fetches the next page and updates the URL with history.pushState, which the tracker wraps — so every Drive visit is a pageview, and back/forward (popstate) too. Turbo merges the new <head> and doesn't re-run scripts that are already there, so the tracker starts once per full page load.

Turbo Frames don't change the URL unless they set data-turbo-action="advance"; when they do, that's a pageview too. Plain frame swaps aren't.

How to track custom events and goals in Ruby on Rails

Send signups from the server. With Devise, override the registrations controller and report the event once the user is saved:

# app/controllers/users/registrations_controller.rb
class Users::RegistrationsController < Devise::RegistrationsController
  def create
    super do |user|
      VisitTrack.event(cookies[:_vt_vid], "signup", method: "email") if user.persisted?
    end
  end
end

# app/lib/visit_track.rb
require "net/http"

module VisitTrack
  def self.event(visitor_id, name, props = {})
    return if visitor_id.blank?
    Net::HTTP.post(
      URI("https://visitrack.app/api/track"),
      { type: "event", visitorId: visitor_id, name: name, props: props }.to_json,
      "Authorization" => "Bearer #{ENV.fetch("VISITRACK_API_KEY")}",
      "Content-Type" => "application/json"
    )
  rescue StandardError
    nil # analytics must never break signup
  end
end

Route Devise to the controller with devise_for :users, controllers: { registrations: "users/registrations" }. Move the call into a background job if you prefer, passing the cookie value as an argument. In views, data: { vt_goal: "pricing_cta" } on link_to renders data-vt-goal.

Revenue attribution on Ruby on Rails

Creating Stripe Checkout Sessions from a controller? Pass the visitor id as client_reference_id, then connect Stripe in VisitTrack's Settings → Revenue — payments are credited to the visitor's first source. See Stripe revenue attribution.

session = Stripe::Checkout::Session.create({
  mode: "subscription",
  line_items: [{ price: params[:price_id], quantity: 1 }],
  success_url: "#{root_url}thanks?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}",
  cancel_url: pricing_url,
  client_reference_id: cookies[:_vt_vid]
})
redirect_to session.url, allow_other_host: true

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  after_action :report_crawl

  private

  def report_crawl
    Thread.new(request.path, request.user_agent, request.remote_ip) do |path, ua, ip|
      Net::HTTP.post(
        URI("https://visitrack.app/api/collect-bot"),
        { siteId: ENV.fetch("VISITRACK_SITE_ID"), path: path, userAgent: ua, ip: ip }.to_json,
        "Content-Type" => "application/json"
      )
    rescue StandardError
      nil
    end
  end
end

Script options you might need on Ruby on Rails

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

Ruby on Rails troubleshooting

Not on Ruby on Rails? See all 29 integration guides.