Visitors, sessions & identity

StatsKit attributes every event to a visitor and a session. Understanding how those are assigned, and how you can attach a known user, is the key to reading your results correctly.

Visitors

A visitor is a persistent identity for a browser. The tracker assigns each one a UUID (visitor_id) and stores it in the statskit_visitor_id cookie, so the same person is recognized across visits.

Sessions

A session groups a burst of activity. The session_id is stored in the statskit_session_id cookie and rolls over after 30 minutes of inactivity, starting a fresh session on the visitor’s next event.

Tying in a known user

When you know who someone is (after they log in, for example), attach that identity to the visitor:

statskit.identify('user_123', { plan: 'growth', email: 'jo@example.com' });

This links the known user ID to the current visitor_id, along with any traits you pass. On logout, clear the identity so the next person on the same browser isn’t merged into it:

statskit.reset();

Call reset on logout

Always call statskit.reset() when a user signs out. Without it, a shared or public browser can stitch two different people into one visitor.

See Identify users for the full API.

Cookieless mode

If you’d rather not set cookies, run the tracker in cookieless mode:

<script defer src="https://cdn.statskit.ai/v.js"
  data-site-id="vpk_live_…"
  data-api="https://edge.statskit.ai"
  data-mode="cookieless"></script>

In this mode the tracker uses sessionStorage instead of cookies, and the visitor identity rotates roughly every 24 hours. That trades away cross-session stitching (you can’t recognize a returning visitor after rotation) in exchange for not needing a consent banner.

See Advanced tracking for more configuration options.