Analytics Module: Quantum Metric

Welcome to the Quantum Metric Analytics Plugin for Backstage! This plugin aims to provide a quick and robust means to integrate Quantum Metric analytics with your Backstage instance.

This plugin requires an account with Quantum Metric

Installation

Install the plugin

yarn --cwd packages/app add @quantum-metric/plugin-analytics-module-qm

Open the packages/app/src/apis.ts file and import the required dependencies

import {
  analyticsApiRef,
  configApiRef,
  identityApiRef,
} from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';
import { QuantumMetric } from '@quantum-metric/plugin-analytics-module-qm';

Next, add the following code to packages/app/src/apis.ts to create the Quantum Metric Analytics API

  createApiFactory({
    api: analyticsApiRef,
    deps: { configApi: configApiRef, identityApi: identityApiRef },
    factory: ({ configApi, identityApi }) =>
      QuantumMetric.fromConfig(configApi, {
        identityApi,
      }),
  }),

Configuration

After installing the plugin, the Quantum Metric Analytics plugin will need to be configured. The options and reference example are detailed below.

Configuration Options

The table below lists the available configuration options for the Quantum Metric Analytics plugin:

Field Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
enabled	boolean	Yes		Disables plugin.
src	string	Yes		CDN location of Quantum Metric API. The value is qtm.src on your subscriptions Install page.
debug	boolean	No	false	Turns on console.debug messages.
test	boolean	No	false	When enabled, events are logged to console instead of sent to Quantum Metric.
async	boolean	No	false	Sets the async attribute of the resulting HTML <script> element.
events.mappings	list of {name: string, id: integer}	Yes	{}	Maps Backstage AnalyticsEvent actions to Quantum Metric Event ID's as a list of objects with name and id.
events.attributes	list of {name: string, value: string}	Yes	{}	Included on every event sent to Quantum Metric under Event Details as a list of objects with name and value.

Example Configuration

Below is a reference configuration file:

app:
analytics:
  qm:
    enabled: true
    src: https://cdn.quantummetric.com/qscripts/quantum-$SUB_NAME.js
    debug: false
    test: false
    async: false
    events:
      mappings:
        - name: navigate
          id: $QUANTUM_NAVIGATE_EVENT_ID
        - name: click
          id: $QUANTUM_CLICK_EVENT_ID
        - name: search
          id: $QUANTUM_SEARCH_EVENT_ID
        - name: discover
          id: $QUANTUM_DISCOVER_EVENT_ID
      attributes:
        - name: environment
          value: development
        - name: version
          value: 0.0.1

Where the event mappings IDs are the Quantum Metric event IDs you wish to send.

Event Transformers

The plugin comes with default Event Transformers for each predefined Backstage key event as described in Default Transformers. However, you can customize or extend these transformers. To override a default transformer or add transformers for new actions, modify the Analytics API configuration as follows:

  createApiFactory({
    api: analyticsApiRef,
    deps: { configApi: configApiRef },
    factory: ({ configApi }) =>
      QuantumMetric.fromConfig(configApi, {
        eventTransforms: {
          discover: (event, mapping) => {
            return { eventId: mapping[event.action], eventValue: event.attributes.to, attributes: { ...event.attributes, event.subject } };
          },
        },
      }),
  })

In the above example, the default transformer for the discover key event is overridden. The value sent to Quantum Metric is changed to event.attributes.to instead of the provided event.subject, and the event.subject is added as an attribute.

Default Transformers

There is a transformer for every Backstage key event, and a default transformer when an action is not found in the eventTransforms record. The definitions can be found in src/api/util/transforms.ts.

Backstage Analytics Action	Quantum Metric Event ID	Quantum Metric Event Value	Quantum Metric Event Attributes	Quantum Metric Event Conversion
sendEvent	Set to Backstage event subject	Set to Backstage event value	Event attributes	Set to false
navigate	Mapped from configuration event.mappings	Set to Backstage event subject	Combined attributes from context and event attributes	Set to false
search	Mapped from configuration event.mappings	Set to Backstage event subject	Combined attributes from context, event attributes, and results-found from event value	Set to false
discover	Mapped from configuration event.mappings	Set to Backstage event subject	Combined attributes from context, event attributes, and search-position from event value	Set to false
click	Mapped from configuration event.mappings	Set to Backstage event subject	Combined attributes from context and event attributes	Set to false
defaultEventTransform	Mapped from configuration event.mappings	Set to Backstage event value and if not present then subject	Combined attributes from context and event attributes	Set to false

Identity

To configure identity from Backstage to Quantum Metric provide the IdentityAPI to the plugin like so:

  createApiFactory({
    api: analyticsApiRef,
    deps: { configApi: configApiRef },
    factory: ({ configApi, identityApi }) =>
      QuantumMetric.fromConfig(configApi, {
        identityApi
      }),
  }),

This will identify users in Quantum Metric by their Backstage profile email.

Global Attributes

Global attributes allow you to add attributes to all events sent through the Quantum Metric analytics plugin. When configured, these attributes will be included in the event details in Quantum Metric.

To configure global attributes, use the following format in your configuration file:

app:
  analytics:
    qm:
      events:
        attributes:
          - name: environment
            value: development
          - name: version
            value: 0.0.1

With the above configuration, the event details in Quantum Metric will include the following attributes:

{
  "environment": "development",
  "version": "0.0.1"
}

If the event is generated from Backstage events and includes attributes via the event transformers, those attributes will also be included along with the global attributes.

For example, if a search event is triggered with the default event transformer it includes the attribute results-found and also has the global attributes configured, the event details will look like this:

{
  "results-found": 10,
  "environment": "development",
  "version": "0.0.1"
}

Note: In the case of attribute name collisions between global attributes and event-specific attributes, the global attributes will take precedence and be included in the event details.

Capturing Events

With the Quantum Metric plugin fully installed and configured, Backstage key events will be captured without extra effort.

Instrumenting events

To send events that are defined in the configuration's event mappings or event transformers, you can use the useAnalytics hook provided by @backstage/core-plugin-api.

Here's an example of capturing a basic event:

import { useAnalytics } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';

const analytics = useAnalytics();

analytics.captureEvent('catalog-updated', catalogEntityName);

If you want to add more information sent to Quantum Metric, you can include additional attributes:

analytics.captureEvent('catalog-updated', catalogEntityName {
  value: numOfEntitiesUpdated,
  attributes: {
    entityOwner,
    entityType,
    userTeam,
  },
});

These additional attributes will show up under the events details in Quantum Metric.

The specific configuration for the catalog-updated event can be defined either in the event mappings or with an event transformer.

Example event mappings configuration:

app:
analytics:
  qm:
    events:
      mappings:
        - name: catalog-updated
          id: $QUANTUM_METRIC_CATALOG_UPDATED_EVENT_ID

Alternatively, the default event transformer can be extended to capture more attributes for catalog-updated:

  createApiFactory({
    api: analyticsApiRef,
    deps: { configApi: configApiRef },
    factory: ({ configApi }) =>
      QuantumMetric.fromConfig(configApi, {
        eventTransforms: {
          'catalog-updated': (event, mapping) => {
            return {
                eventId: mapping[event.action],
                eventValue: event.subject,
                attributes: { ...event.attributes, ...event.context, numberOfAffectedEntities: event.value }
            };
          },
        },
      }),
  })

Context

Additional information can also be added to Quantum Metric event details with the context React component.

import { AnalyticsContext, useAnalytics } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';

const GreetingComponent = ({ name }) => {
  const analytics = useAnalytics();
  const handleClick = () => analytics.captureEvent('greeted', name);
  return <button onClick={handleClick}>Say Hello to {name}</button>;
};

const GreetingComponentWrapper = () => {
  return (
    <AnalyticsContext attributes={{ admin: true }}>
      <GreetingComponent name={'Alice'} />
    </AnalyticsContext>
  );
};

When the GreetingComponent button is clicked, it will send a greeted event to Quantum Metric with the value of Alice, and the event details will include information about Alice being an admin.

Contributing

Before submitting your pull request, ensure your title follows the semantic commit format. This not only helps our maintainers but also improves the overall transparency and readability of our project history.

For more detailed contributions guidelines, check our CONTRIBUTING.md file.

Local Development

Install dependencies

yarn install

Build dist folder

yarn build

From your Backstage directory run the following where $INSTALL_PATH is the path of this repo

yarn add @quantum-metric/plugin-analytics-module-qm@link:$INSTALL_PATH

Note: If making changes to config.d.ts against a Backstage instance started with backstage-cli package start, changes will not take effect till the next backstage-cli package start

Semantic Commit Messages

In this project, we enforce the use of semantic commit messages to streamline our release and changelog generation process. This ensures our commit history is readable and understandable.

What are Semantic Commit Messages?

Semantic commit messages follow a structured format to clearly describe the purpose and intent of each commit. The general format is:

• <type>: This denotes the kind of change you're making. Common types include feat (new features), fix (bug fixes), docs (documentation changes), style (code styling, no functional changes), refactor (code changes that neither fix bugs nor add features), perf (performance improvements), test (adding missing tests), and chore (maintenance tasks).

• <scope>: A scope provides additional contextual information, such as the part of the codebase affected (optional).

• <description>: A brief, imperative mood description of the change.

Examples:

• feat(auth): implement JWT authentication
• fix(server): resolve memory leak issue
• chore(readme): update installation instructions

Enforcing Semantic Commits

This project uses the amannn/action-semantic-pull-request GitHub Action to ensure all pull requests follow the semantic commit format. The action checks your pull request titles, not the individual commit messages. Make sure your PR titles follow the semantic format.

If your pull request title does not meet the semantic requirements, the check will fail, and you'll need to update the title accordingly. You can also add multiple types if your pull request covers more than one scope, separated by commas (e.g., feat, fix: implement new feature and fix a bug).

Semantic Versioning

Semantic versioning works by interpreting your semantic commit as described in the previous section and assigning it a classification based on the level of severity of the work. That classification then translates into a version number that follows the sequence: Major.Minor.Patch.

When a major, minor, or patch update is made, the corresponding number is increased.

• Major version changes when incompatible API changes are made.
• Minor version changes when new functionality is added backward-compatible manner.
• Patch version changes when backward-compatible bug fixes are made.

The table below describes the relationship between the semantic commit message and the semantic version sequence:

Commit Message	Inferred Type	Example Sequence Update
feat(auth): implement JWT authentication	Major	1.0.0
fix(server): resolve memory leak issue	Minor	0.1.0
chore(readme): update installation instructions	Patch	0.0.1