Overview

Segment is a customer data platform — collect events once, route them to every tool in your stack. Instead of adding SDKs for Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, Intercom, and BigQuery separately (each with their own tracking code), send events to Segment and it forwards them to all destinations. One API, one event schema, 400+ integrations. Toggle destinations on/off without code changes.

When to Use

Sending analytics events to multiple tools (Mixpanel + BigQuery + Intercom)
Don't want to add/remove tracking SDKs when switching tools
Need a single source of truth for customer events
Unifying web + mobile + server-side event tracking
Building a data warehouse pipeline (events → BigQuery/Snowflake)

Instructions

Setup

bash

# Browser (Analytics.js)
# Add to your site:

html

<script>
  !function(){var analytics=window.analytics=window.analytics||[];if(!analytics.initialize)if(analytics.invoked)window.console&&console.error&&console.error("Segment snippet included twice.");else{analytics.invoked=!0;analytics.methods=["trackSubmit","trackClick","trackLink","trackForm","pageview","identify","reset","group","track","ready","alias","debug","page","screen","once","off","on","addSourceMiddleware","addIntegrationMiddleware","setAnonymousId","addDestinationMiddleware","register"];analytics.factory=function(e){return function(){if(window.analytics.initialized)return window.analytics[e].apply(window.analytics,arguments);var i=Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);if(["track","screen","alias","group","page","identify"].indexOf(e)>-1){var c=document.querySelector("link[rel='canonical']");i.push({__t:"bpc",c:c&&c.getAttribute("href")||void 0,p:location.pathname,u:location.href,s:location.search,t:document.title,r:document.referrer})}i.unshift(e);analytics.push(i);return analytics}};for(var i=0;i<analytics.methods.length;i++){var key=analytics.methods[i];analytics[key]=analytics.factory(key)}analytics.load=function(key,i){var t=document.createElement("script");t.type="text/javascript";t.async=!0;t.setAttribute("data-global-segment-analytics-key","analytics");t.src="https://cdn.segment.com/analytics.js/v1/" + key + "/analytics.min.js";var n=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];n.parentNode.insertBefore(t,n);analytics._loadOptions=i};analytics._writeKey="YOUR_WRITE_KEY";analytics.SNIPPET_VERSION="5.2.1";analytics.load("YOUR_WRITE_KEY");analytics.page();}}();
</script>

bash

# Node.js
npm install @segment/analytics-node

Core API Calls

typescript

// tracking.ts — The 5 Segment API calls
import { Analytics } from "@segment/analytics-node";

const analytics = new Analytics({ writeKey: process.env.SEGMENT_WRITE_KEY! });

// 1. IDENTIFY — Who is the user?
analytics.identify({
  userId: "user_123",
  traits: {
    email: "kai@example.com",
    name: "Kai",
    plan: "pro",
    company: "Acme",
    createdAt: "2026-01-15T00:00:00Z",
  },
});

// 2. TRACK — What did they do?
analytics.track({
  userId: "user_123",
  event: "Order Completed",
  properties: {
    orderId: "ord_456",
    total: 99.99,
    currency: "USD",
    products: [
      { id: "prod_1", name: "Widget", price: 49.99, quantity: 2 },
    ],
  },
});

// 3. PAGE — What page are they on? (browser-side)
analytics.page({
  userId: "user_123",
  name: "Pricing",
  properties: { url: "https://myapp.com/pricing", referrer: "https://google.com" },
});

// 4. GROUP — What company/team are they part of?
analytics.group({
  userId: "user_123",
  groupId: "company_789",
  traits: { name: "Acme Corp", industry: "Technology", employees: 50, plan: "enterprise" },
});

// 5. ALIAS — Link anonymous to known user (on signup)
analytics.alias({ userId: "user_123", previousId: "anon_abc" });

React Integration

tsx

// hooks/useTracking.ts — React hook for Segment tracking
export function useTracking() {
  const track = (event: string, properties?: Record<string, any>) => {
    window.analytics?.track(event, properties);
  };

  const identify = (userId: string, traits?: Record<string, any>) => {
    window.analytics?.identify(userId, traits);
  };

  const page = (name?: string, properties?: Record<string, any>) => {
    window.analytics?.page(name, properties);
  };

  return { track, identify, page };
}

// Usage
function PricingPage() {
  const { track, page } = useTracking();

  useEffect(() => { page("Pricing"); }, []);

  return (
    <button onClick={() => track("Plan Selected", { plan: "pro", price: 49 })}>
      Choose Pro
    </button>
  );
}

Examples

Example 1: Set up tracking for a SaaS product

User prompt: "Track user signups, feature usage, and purchases — send to Mixpanel, BigQuery, and Intercom."

The agent will set up Segment with identify on signup, track events for key actions, and configure destinations in the Segment dashboard.

Example 2: Migrate from multiple tracking SDKs

User prompt: "We have separate Mixpanel, Amplitude, and GA4 SDKs. Consolidate into one."

The agent will replace individual SDKs with Segment's single tracking code, map existing events to Segment's schema, and enable destinations.

Guidelines

Identify first, then track — always identify users before tracking events
Event naming convention — "Object Action" format: "Order Completed", "Page Viewed"
Traits for user properties — email, plan, company go in identify traits
Properties for event data — order total, product ID go in track properties
Server-side for sensitive events — payments, subscriptions tracked from backend
Client-side for UI events — clicks, page views, form interactions
Destinations via dashboard — toggle integrations without code changes
Tracking plan — document events before implementing; prevents data sprawl
Anonymous → identified — use alias() when anonymous user signs up
Free tier: 1,000 visitors/month — or self-host with Segment's open-source alternatives

segment

Usage

Getting Started

Example Prompts

Documentation