Custom Attributes

Overview

Custom attributes allow you to attach additional metadata to every event tracked by the analytics script. These attributes are automatically included in the payload field of your analytics_events datasource and can be used for filtering, segmentation, and custom analysis.

Attribute Naming Convention

All custom attributes must use the data-tb- prefix to be recognized and stored.

The prefix ensures that custom attributes are:

Distinguished from standard HTML data attributes
Automatically captured by the tracking script
Included in every event payload

Adding Custom Attributes

Basic Usage

Add custom attributes directly to your tracking script tag:

<script
  defer
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-environment="production"
  data-tb-app-version="2.5.0"
  data-tb-customer-tier="premium"
></script>

How Attributes are Processed

The tracking script converts attribute names and stores them in the payload:

Strip prefix: data-tb- is removed
Convert hyphens: Hyphens are converted to underscores
Store in payload: Attributes are added to the JSON payload

Example transformation:

data-tb-app-version → stored as app_version in payload
data-tb-customer-tier → stored as customer_tier in payload

Resulting Payload

With the above script, every event will include:

{
  "environment": "production",
  "app_version": "2.5.0",
  "customer_tier": "premium",
  "user-agent": "Mozilla/5.0...",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "location": "US",
  "referrer": "https://example.com",
  "pathname": "/dashboard",
  "href": "https://app.example.com/dashboard"
}

Implementation Details

The tracking script processes custom attributes using this code:

let globalAttributes = {}

if (document.currentScript) {
  for (const attr of document.currentScript.attributes) {
    if (attr.name.startsWith('data-tb-')) {
      globalAttributes[attr.name.slice(8).replace(/-/g, '_')] = attr.value
    }
  }
}

Attributes are then merged into every event:

processedPayload = Object.assign({}, payload, globalAttributes)

Common Use Cases

Application Environment

Track which environment events are coming from:

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-environment="production"
  data-tb-region="us-east-1"
></script>

User Segmentation

Include user plan or tier information:

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-plan="enterprise"
  data-tb-trial="false"
  data-tb-onboarding-complete="true"
></script>

Application Version

Track app version for correlating analytics with releases:

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-app-version="3.1.2"
  data-tb-build="20240115-a3f2e1c"
></script>

Feature Flags

Monitor usage of experimental features:

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-feature-new-editor="enabled"
  data-tb-feature-ai-assist="enabled"
></script>

A/B Testing

Track experiment variations:

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  data-tb-experiment-checkout="variant-b"
  data-tb-experiment-pricing="control"
></script>

Dynamic Attributes

For single-page applications or when attributes need to be set dynamically:

Setting Attributes at Runtime

// Create script element
const script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = 'https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js';
script.setAttribute('data-token', 'YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN');

// Add custom attributes dynamically
script.setAttribute('data-tb-user-role', currentUser.role);
script.setAttribute('data-tb-workspace-id', currentWorkspace.id);
script.setAttribute('data-tb-feature-flags', JSON.stringify(featureFlags));

// Append to document
document.head.appendChild(script);

Server-Side Rendering

For frameworks like Next.js, Nuxt, or SvelteKit:

// React/Next.js example
import Script from 'next/script';

export default function AnalyticsScript({ user, workspace }) {
  return (
    <Script
      src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
      data-token={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_TINYBIRD_TOKEN}
      data-tb-user-id={user.id}
      data-tb-user-role={user.role}
      data-tb-workspace-id={workspace.id}
      data-tb-subscription-tier={workspace.tier}
    />
  );
}

Querying Custom Attributes

Extracting JSON Fields

Custom attributes are stored in the payload column as JSON. Use ClickHouse JSON functions to query them:

SELECT
  JSONExtractString(payload, 'customer_tier') as tier,
  JSONExtractString(payload, 'app_version') as version,
  count() as events
FROM analytics_events
WHERE toDate(timestamp) = today()
GROUP BY tier, version
ORDER BY events DESC

Creating Custom Pipes

Create a custom endpoint to analyze by custom attributes:

export const eventsByTier = defineEndpoint("events_by_tier", {
  nodes: [
    node({
      sql: `
        SELECT
          JSONExtractString(payload, 'customer_tier') as tier,
          toDate(timestamp) as date,
          uniq(session_id) as visits,
          count() as events
        FROM analytics_events
        WHERE timestamp >= {{ DateTime(date_from) }}
          AND timestamp < {{ DateTime(date_to) }}
        GROUP BY tier, date
        ORDER BY date DESC, events DESC
      `,
    }),
  ],
  params: {
    date_from: p.dateTime().describe("Start date"),
    date_to: p.dateTime().describe("End date"),
  },
  output: {
    tier: t.string(),
    date: t.date(),
    visits: t.uint64(),
    events: t.uint64(),
  },
});

Filtering by Custom Attributes

SELECT
  pathname,
  count() as views
FROM analytics_events
WHERE action = 'page_hit'
  AND JSONExtractString(payload, 'environment') = 'production'
  AND JSONExtractString(payload, 'customer_tier') = 'enterprise'
GROUP BY pathname
ORDER BY views DESC
LIMIT 10

Best Practices

Do: Use descriptive, kebab-case names for attributes (e.g., data-tb-user-role)

Do: Keep attribute values simple (strings, numbers, booleans)

Do: Document your custom attributes and their possible values

Do: Use consistent naming conventions across your application

Don’t: Include PII (personally identifiable information) in custom attributes

Don’t: Store sensitive data like passwords, tokens, or API keys

Don’t: Use excessively long strings (keep under 100 characters per attribute)

Attribute Validation

The tracking script includes automatic validation:

Payload size limit: Maximum 10KB (10,240 bytes)
Payload structure: Must be valid JSON
Automatic masking: Suspicious fields are automatically masked

Masked Attributes

For security, these attribute names are automatically masked:

username, user, user_id, userid
password, pass, pin, passcode
token, api_token
email, address, phone
sex, gender
order, order_id, orderid
payment, credit_card

Masked values are replaced with "********" before sending to Tinybird.

Advanced: Alternative Prefix

The tracking script also supports the legacy tb_ prefix (without data-):

<script
  src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
  data-token="YOUR_TRACKER_TOKEN"
  tb_environment="production"
></script>

The data-tb- prefix is recommended for better HTML5 compliance and consistency.

Example: Complete Implementation

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>My SaaS App</title>
  
  <script
    defer
    src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
    data-token="p.eyJ1IjogIjdhZGRiOGMy..."
    data-tb-environment="production"
    data-tb-app-version="2.5.0"
    data-tb-build="20240315-a3f2e1c"
    data-tb-region="us-east-1"
    data-tb-plan="enterprise"
    data-tb-feature-new-editor="enabled"
    data-tb-experiment-checkout="variant-b"
  ></script>
</head>
<body>
  <div id="app"></div>
  
  <script>
    // Track custom events with the same attributes
    Tinybird.trackEvent('button_click', {
      button: 'upgrade-plan',
      location: 'header'
    });
    
    // All events will include the custom attributes
    // from the script tag automatically
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Every event (page hits and custom events) will include:

Standard tracking data (user-agent, location, referrer, etc.)
Your custom attributes (environment, app_version, build, etc.)
Event-specific data (button, location, etc.)

Get Started

Tracking

Dashboard

Data Platform

Advanced

Overview

Attribute Naming Convention

Adding Custom Attributes

Basic Usage

How Attributes are Processed

Resulting Payload

Implementation Details

Common Use Cases

Application Environment

User Segmentation

Application Version

Feature Flags

A/B Testing

Dynamic Attributes

Setting Attributes at Runtime

Server-Side Rendering

Querying Custom Attributes

Extracting JSON Fields

Creating Custom Pipes

Filtering by Custom Attributes

Best Practices

Attribute Validation

Masked Attributes

Advanced: Alternative Prefix

Example: Complete Implementation

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Tracking

Dashboard

Data Platform

Advanced

​Overview

​Attribute Naming Convention

​Adding Custom Attributes

​Basic Usage

​How Attributes are Processed

​Resulting Payload

​Implementation Details

​Common Use Cases

​Application Environment

​User Segmentation

​Application Version

​Feature Flags

​A/B Testing

​Dynamic Attributes

​Setting Attributes at Runtime

​Server-Side Rendering

​Querying Custom Attributes

​Extracting JSON Fields

​Creating Custom Pipes

​Filtering by Custom Attributes

​Best Practices

​Attribute Validation

​Masked Attributes

​Advanced: Alternative Prefix

​Example: Complete Implementation

​Related Resources

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Attribute Naming Convention

Adding Custom Attributes

Basic Usage

How Attributes are Processed

Resulting Payload

Implementation Details

Common Use Cases

Application Environment

User Segmentation

Application Version

Feature Flags

A/B Testing

Dynamic Attributes

Setting Attributes at Runtime

Server-Side Rendering

Querying Custom Attributes

Extracting JSON Fields

Creating Custom Pipes

Filtering by Custom Attributes

Best Practices

Attribute Validation

Masked Attributes

Advanced: Alternative Prefix

Example: Complete Implementation

Related Resources