PostHog / PostHog/posthog-elixir

Add server-side identify and person property update helpers

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enhancement
Dominant language
Elixir
Stars
65
Forks
30
Avg merge
1d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
16

Description

Summary

Add server-side public helpers for identifying users and updating person properties.

Why

sdk-specs marks identify as applicable to both client and server SDKs. Server SDKs should be able to emit stateless person profile updates without relying on callers to hand-build $identify, $set, or $set_once capture events.

Current status

public_api.snapshot exposes capture/3 and feature flag APIs, but no public identify, set, or set_once helpers.

Suggested scope

  • Add an idiomatic Elixir API for server-side identify that emits $identify with $set and optional $set_once.
  • Consider separate set / set_once helpers if that matches backend SDK parity better.
  • Support standard event options where possible: timestamp, uuid, and disable_geoip.
  • Route through the same capture/batching path and future before_send hook.
  • Add tests and update public API docs/snapshot.

References

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the public_api.snapshot, existing capture/3 and feature flag APIs, then compare the sdk-specs identify specification. Define the public server-side identify behavior, including optional $set_once and standard event options, and add tests plus public API documentation or snapshot updates. Done means the helpers use the existing capture/batching path and their behavior is covered by tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
elixir
Domain
api, backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
52/100

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