Handling anonymous and identified users in the client and on the server

User identity in the client side Avo functions

Anonymous users

When working with anonymous users, analytics SDKs automatically assign anonymous user ids on a per-client level. When a user is identified the anonymous events are associated with the identified user. You don't need to do additional actions for this logic to work on the client side, so you are not required to provide anonymousUserId anywhere.

Identified users

Client side Analytics SDKs can store the information about the currently logged in user. It makes possible to identify user once and then send all subsequent tracking calls on behalf of the identified user.

To make an Avo function identify a user you add the Identify action to the corresponding Avo event in your tracking plan.

Avo functions corresponding to the events with Identify action will require a userId parameter automatically.

User identity in the server side Avo functions

Anonymous users

Server side Avo functions do not have a way to maintain user identity. That's why if you want to associate events with particular users before they identify, you need to pass the anonymousUserId string parameter to your Avo functions. An optional anonymousUserId parameter is available in all server languages, contact us if you need to use it and don't see it in your Avo functions.

Identified users

Given the server side functions can not maintain user identity, once the user is identified you still have to provide the userId with every function call. An optional userId parameter is automatically required in all the server side Avo functions.

Though both anonymousUserId and userId are optional make sure to provide one of them to be able to identify the user.