RudderStack Python SDK Reference

Complete Python SDK API reference for tracking and sending server-side events from your Python applications.

7 minute read

RudderStack’s Python SDK provides a comprehensive API for tracking and sending events from your Python applications to various destinations.

For implementation examples and source code, see the SDK’s GitHub repository.

Prerequisites

A Python source set up in the RudderStack dashboard
The write keyThe write key (or source write key) is a unique identifier for your source. RudderStack uses this key to send events from a source to the specified destination. for your Python source — you can find it the Setup tab of the source
The data plane URLThe data plane URL is the location where events are routed and sent to the RudderStack backend for processing. You can find this URL in the home page of your RudderStack dashboard. associated with your RudderStack workspace

Installation

To install the RudderStack Python SDK using pip, run the following command:

pip install rudder-sdk-python

Initialization

To initialize the SDK, run the following code snippet:

import rudderstack.analytics as rudder_analytics

rudder_analytics.write_key = WRITE_KEY
rudder_analytics.dataPlaneUrl = DATA_PLANE_URL

Configuration options

The Python SDK provides the following configuration options:

Parameter	Description	Default value
`on_error`	Callback for exception thrown while uploading the messages.	`None`
`debug`	The SDK prints the logs if set to `True`.	`False`
`send`	The SDK does not send the data to the RudderStack backend if set to `False`.	`True`
`sync_mode`	The SDK sends the data immediately instead of queueing it, if set to `True`.	`False`
`max_queue_size`	Maximum queue size the SDK uses to enqueue the events.	`10000`
`gzip`	The SDK disables gzipping the event data if set to `False`.	`True`
`timeout`	The timeout for sending POST requests to the RudderStack backend.	`15`
`max_retries`	Maximum number of retry requests the SDK makes to the RudderStack backend.	`10`
`upload_interval`	Maximum duration between two upload (flush) activities.	`0.5s`
`upload_size`	Number of events in the queue that triggers a flush.	`100`

Event methods

The Python SDK does not persist user state. You must specify either user_id or anonymous_id with every event API call.

Identify

The identify method records user identity and traits.

Example:

rudder_analytics.identify('1hKOmRA4GRlm', {
    'email': 'alex@example.com',
    'name': 'John Doe',
    'friends': 16
})

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required, if `anonymous_id` is absent.	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`anonymous_id` Required, if `user_id` is absent.	String	Identifier set in cases where no unique user identifier is available.
`traits`	Object	Dictionary of the user’s traits like `name`, `email`, etc.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Track

The track method records user actions and their associated properties.

Method signature:

rudder_analytics.track(user_id=None, anonymous_id=None, event=None, properties=None, context=None, integrations=None, timestamp=None)

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required, if `anonymous_id` is absent.	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`anonymous_id` Required, if `user_id` is absent.	String	Identifier set in cases where no unique user identifier is available.
`event` Required	String	Name of the event.
`properties`	Object	Optional dictionary of the properties associated with the event.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Example:

rudder_analytics.track('1hKOmRA4GRlm', 'Article Read', {
    'title': 'The Independence',
    'subtitle': 'Story of the Weak',
    'author': 'John Doe'
})

Page

The page call records page views in your application along with the relevant page information.

Example:

rudder_analytics.page('1hKOmRA4GRlm', 'Documentation', 'Sample Documentation', {
    'url': 'http://rudderstack.com'
})

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required, if `anonymous_id` is absent.	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`anonymous_id` Required, if `user_id` is absent.	String	Identifier set in cases where no unique user identifier is available.
`name` Required	String	Name of the viewed page.
`category` Required	String	Category of the viewed page.
`properties`	Object	Optional dictionary of the properties associated with the page, like `url` or `referrer`.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Screen

The screen call records screen views in your mobile app.

Example:

rudder_analytics.screen('userid', 'Settings', 'Brightness', {
    'from': 'Settings Screen'
})

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required, if `anonymous_id` is absent.	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`anonymous_id` Required, if `user_id` is absent.	String	Identifier set in cases where no unique user identifier is available.
`name` Required	String	Name of the viewed screen.
`category` Required	String	Category of the viewed screen.
`properties`	Object	Optional dictionary of the properties associated with the screen, like `url` or `referrer`.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Group

The group call links an identified user with a group and records any custom traits associated with that group.

Example:

rudder_analytics.group('1hKOmRA4GRlm', '12', {
    'name': 'Company',
    'domain': 'IT'
})

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required, if `anonymous_id` is absent.	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`anonymous_id` Required, if `user_id` is absent.	String	Identifier set in cases where no unique user identifier is available.
`group_id` Required	String	Unique identifier for the group in your database.
`traits`	Object	Dictionary of the group’s traits like `name` or `email`.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Alias

RudderStack supports sending alias events only to some destinations. See the destination-specific documentation for more information.

The alias call merges different identities of a known user.

Example:

rudder_analytics.alias('previous_id', 'user_id')

Parameters:

Field	Type	Description
`user_id` Required	String	Unique identifier for a user in your database.
`previous_id` Required	String	Previous identifier for the user.
`context`	Object	Optional dictionary of information that provides context about the event.
`integrations`	Object	Optional dictionary containing the destinations to be enabled or disabled.
`timestamp`	Datetime	The timestamp of the event. If not provided, it defaults to the current UTC time. The SDK automatically converts it in the ISO 8601 format before sending to the server.

Event flushing

The Python SDK batches the events and flushes them in the background, for faster and more efficient operation. By default, the SDK flushes a batch of 100 events every 0.5 seconds since the last flush.

You can control the event flushing by tweaking the following parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default value
`max_queue_size`	Maximum queue size the SDK uses to enqueue the events.	`10000`
`upload_interval`	Maximum duration between two upload (flush) activities.	`0.5s`

Manual flush

You can also flush the events explicitly by using the SDK’s flush() method to make sure no events are left in the queue.

The SDK blocks the calling thread until all messages are flushed from the queue. Hence, avoid using it as a part of your request lifecycle.

A sample flush call is shown below:

rudder_analytics.flush()

Event request compression

Self-hosted data planes require rudder-server version 1.4+ to support event request compression.

The Python SDK automatically gzips requests. However, you can disable this feature by setting the gzip parameter to false while initializing the SDK:

import rudderstack.analytics as rudder_analytics

rudder_analytics.write_key = WRITE_KEY
rudder_analytics.dataPlaneUrl = DATA_PLANE_URL
rudder_analytics.gzip = False

Error handling

The Python SDK provides a on_error callback that lets you handle any errors that might occur when sending events.

def on_error(error, events):
    print("Error response:", error)

rudder_analytics.on_error = on_error

The on_error callback only returns the errors that occur with the HTTP requests to the RudderStack gateway. It does not return any errors that occur while sending data to your downstream destinations.

The on_error callback function takes the following objects:

Object	Type
error	APIError type.
events	List of events that failed while being sent to the RudderStack data plane (backend). It is the raw events data which gets buffered in the SDK. Also, each event contains all the fields included in it.

The below table lists some of the common request responses:

Status	Code
OK	200
Request has neither `anonymousId` nor `userId`	400
Invalid write key	401
Invalid JSON	400

FAQ

How does the Python SDK handle events larger than 32KB?

The Python SDK drops any events greater than 32KB.

Does the Python SDK support event ordering?

The Python SDK does not support event ordering by default.

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