Python SDK

RudderStack’s Python SDK lets you track and send the events from your Python applications to the specified destinations.

Refer to the SDK’s GitHub codebase for the implementation-specific details.

SDK setup requirements

1. Sign up to RudderStack Cloud.
2. Set up a Python source in your dashboard. You should be able to see a write key for this source.

You will also need a data plane URL. Refer to the Dashboard Overview guide for more information on the data plane URL and where to find it.

The Setup tab in the RudderStack dashboard has the SDK installation snippet containing both the write key and the data plane URL. Use it to integrate the Python SDK into your application.

Installing the Python SDK

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

pip install rudder-sdk-python

Initializing the SDK

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

Initialization options

Sending events

RudderStack does not store or persist the user state in any of the server-side SDKs.

Unlike the client-side SDKs that deal with only a single user at a given time, the server-side SDKs deal with multiple users simultaneously. Therefore, you must specify either the user_id or anonymous_id every time while making any API calls supported by the Python SDK.

Identify

The identify call lets you identify a visiting user and associate them to their actions. It also lets you record the traits about them like their name, email address, etc.

A sample identify call made using the Python SDK is shown below:

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

The identify method parameters are as shown:

Track

The track call lets you record the user actions along with their associated properties. Each user action is called an event.

A sample track call is shown below:

rudder_analytics.track('123456', 'Article Read', {
    'title': 'The Independence',
    'subtitle': 'Story of the Weak',
    'author': 'John Doe'
})

The track method parameters are as shown:

Page

The page call lets you record the page views on your application along with the other relevant information about the page.

A sample page call is as shown:

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

The page method parameters are as shown:

Screen

The screen call is the mobile equivalent of the page call. It lets you record the screen views on your mobile app along with other relevant information about the screen.

A sample screen call is as shown:

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

The screen method parameters are as shown:

Group

The group call lets you link an identified user with a group, such as a company, organization, or an account. It also lets you record any custom traits or properties associated with that group.

A sample group call made using the Python SDK is shown below:

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

The group method parameters are as shown:

Alias

The alias call lets you merge different identities of a known user. It is an advanced method that lets you change the tracked user’s ID explicitly. You can use alias for managing the user’s identity in some of the downstream destinations.

RudderStack supports sending alias events only to select downstream destinations. Refer to the destination-specific documentation for more details.

A sample alias call is as shown:

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

The alias method parameters are as shown:

Gzipping requests

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

Gzip requires rudder-server v1.4 or higher. Otherwise, your events might fail.

Flushing events

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:

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

A sample flush call is shown below:

rudder_analytics.flush()

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.

Error handling

To handle errors that may occur when sending the events via the Python SDK, you can declare a callback called on_error.

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

rudder_analytics.on_error = on_error

The on_error callback function takes the following objects:

This callback only returns the errors that occur with the HTTP requests to the gateway. It will not return any errors that occur while sending data to your downstream destinations.

Some of the common request responses are listed in the following table:

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.

Questions? Contact us by email or on Slack