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Contentful Logo

Contentful Personalization & Analytics

Optimization Node SDK

Warning

The Optimization SDK Suite is pre-release (alpha). Breaking changes may be published at any time.

The Optimization Node SDK implements functionality specific to Node environments, based on the Optimization Core Library. This SDK is part of the Contentful Optimization SDK Suite.

Table of Contents

Getting Started

Install using an NPM-compatible package manager, pnpm for example:

pnpm install @contentful/optimization-node

Import the Optimization class; both CJS and ESM module systems are supported, ESM preferred:

import ContentfulOptimization from '@contentful/optimization-node'

Configure and initialize the Optimization Node SDK:

const optimization = new ContentfulOptimization({ clientId: 'abc123' })
const requestOptions = { locale: 'en-US' }

await optimization.page({}, requestOptions)

Create optimization once per module or process, then pass request-scoped Experience options as the final argument to stateless event methods inside each incoming request.

Caching Guidance

The Node SDK is stateless, but that does not mean all request work is cacheable.

  • Cache raw Contentful delivery payloads in your application layer.
  • Treat cached Contentful entries as immutable.
  • Use resolveOptimizedEntry() and getMergeTagValue() as request-local helpers when rendering.
  • Do not memoize page(), identify(), screen(), track(), trackView(), trackClick(), trackHover(), or trackFlagView(). Those methods emit outbound events and/or return profile state for the current request.

For a step-by-step Express-style walkthrough that covers request context, profile persistence, Contentful entry resolution, and hybrid Node + browser setups, see Integrating the Optimization Node SDK in a Node App.

Development Harness

The package-local dev harness runs from packages/node/node-sdk/dev/ and reads .env from this package directory.

  1. Start from .env.example and create or update packages/node/node-sdk/.env.

  2. Prefer the repo-standard PUBLIC_... variable names shown in .env.example.

  3. Start the harness from the repo root:

    pnpm --filter @contentful/optimization-node dev

Reference Implementations

Reference implementations illustrate how the SDK may be used under common scenarios, as well as select less-common scenarios, with the most basic example solution possible.

  • Node SSR Only: Example application that uses the Node SDK to render an optimized Web page
  • Node SSR + Web Vanilla: Example application demonstrating simple profile synchronization between the Node and Web SDKs via cookie

Configuration

Top-level Configuration Options

Option Required? Default Description
api No See "API Options" Unified configuration for the Experience API and Insights API endpoints
app No undefined The application definition used to attribute events to a specific consumer app
clientId Yes N/A Shared API key for Experience API and Insights API requests
environment No 'main' The environment identifier
eventBuilder No See "Event Builder Options" Event builder configuration (channel/library metadata, etc.)
fetchOptions No See "Fetch Options" Configuration for Fetch timeout and retry functionality
logLevel No 'error' Minimum log level for the default console sink

API Options

Option Required? Default Description
experienceBaseUrl No 'https://experience.ninetailed.co/' Base URL for the Experience API
insightsBaseUrl No 'https://ingest.insights.ninetailed.co/' Base URL for the Insights API
enabledFeatures No ['ip-enrichment', 'location'] Enabled features the Experience API may use for each request

Request-scoped Experience API options are passed to stateless event methods as their final argument instead of the SDK constructor:

Option Required? Default Description
ip No undefined IP address override used by the Experience API for location analysis
locale No undefined Locale used to translate location.city and location.country
plainText No undefined Sends performance-critical Experience API endpoints in plain text
preflight No undefined Instructs the Experience API to aggregate a new profile state but not store it

Event Builder Options

Event builder options should only be supplied when building an SDK on top of the Optimization Node SDK or any of its descendent SDKs.

Option Required? Default Description
channel No 'server' The channel that identifies where events originate from (e.g. 'web', 'mobile')
library No { name: '@contentful/optimization-node', version: '0.0.0' } The client library metadata that is attached to all events

Fetch Options

Fetch options allow for configuration of a Fetch API-compatible fetch method and the retry/timeout logic integrated into the SDK's bundled API clients. Specify the fetchMethod when the host application environment does not offer a fetch method that is compatible with the standard Fetch API in its global scope.

Option Required? Default Description
fetchMethod No undefined Signature of a fetch method used by the API clients
intervalTimeout No 0 Delay (in milliseconds) between retry attempts
onFailedAttempt No undefined Callback invoked whenever a retry attempt fails
onRequestTimeout No undefined Callback invoked when a request exceeds the configured timeout
requestTimeout No 3000 Maximum time (in milliseconds) to wait for a response before aborting
retries No 1 Maximum number of retry attempts

Configuration method signatures:

  • fetchMethod: (url: string | URL, init: RequestInit) => Promise<Response>
  • onFailedAttempt and onRequestTimeout: (options: FetchMethodCallbackOptions) => void

Optimization Methods

Arguments marked with an asterisk (*) are always required.

Optimization Data Resolution Methods

getFlag

Get the specified Custom Flag's value from the provided changes array.

Arguments:

  • name*: The name/key of the Custom Flag
  • changes: Changes array

Returns:

  • The resolved value for the specified Custom Flag, or undefined if it cannot be found.

Behavior notes:

  • Node SDK is stateless; getFlag(...) does not auto-emit trackFlagView.
  • If full map resolution is needed for advanced use cases, use optimization.flagsResolver.resolve(changes).

Note

If the changes argument is omitted, the method will return undefined.

resolveOptimizedEntry

Resolve a baseline Contentful entry to an optimized variant using the provided selected optimizations.

Type arguments:

  • S: Entry skeleton type
  • M: Chain modifiers
  • L: Locale code

Arguments:

  • entry*: The baseline entry to resolve
  • selectedOptimizations: Selected optimizations

Returns:

  • The resolved optimized entry variant, or the supplied baseline entry if baseline is the selected variant or a variant cannot be found.

Note

If the selectedOptimizations argument is omitted, the method will return the baseline entry.

getMergeTagValue

Resolve a "Merge Tag" to a value based on the provided profile. A "Merge Tag" is a special Rich Text fragment supported by Contentful that specifies a profile data member to be injected into the Rich Text when rendered.

Arguments:

  • embeddedNodeEntryTarget*: The merge tag entry node to resolve
  • profile: The user profile

Note

If the profile argument is omitted, the method will return the merge tag's fallback value.

Experience API and Insights API Event Methods

Pass request-scoped Experience options as the final argument to stateless event methods:

const requestOptions = {
  locale: req.acceptsLanguages()[0] ?? 'en-US',
}

await optimization.page({ ...requestContext, profile }, requestOptions)

Request-scoped Experience options stay separate from the event payload. Event context such as page data, locale metadata on the event, and user agent belong in payload, while ip, locale, plainText, and preflight belong in requestOptions.

Only the following methods may return an OptimizationData object:

  • identify
  • page
  • screen
  • track
  • trackView (when payload.sticky is true)

trackClick, trackHover, and trackFlagView return no data. When returned, OptimizationData contains:

  • changes: Currently used for Custom Flags
  • selectedOptimizations: Selected optimizations for the profile
  • profile: Profile associated with the evaluated events

In stateless runtimes, Insights-backed methods require a profile for delivery. Non-sticky trackView, trackClick, trackHover, and trackFlagView require payload.profile.id. Sticky trackView may omit profile, because the returned Experience profile is reused for the paired Insights event.

identify

Identify the current profile/visitor to associate traits with a profile.

Arguments:

  • payload*: Identify event builder arguments object, including an optional profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options passed as the final argument

page

Record an Experience API page view.

Arguments:

  • payload*: Page view event builder arguments object, including an optional profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options passed as the final argument

screen

Record an Experience API screen view.

Arguments:

  • payload*: Screen view event builder arguments object, including an optional profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options passed as the final argument

track

Record an Experience API custom track event.

Arguments:

  • payload*: Track event builder arguments object, including an optional profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options passed as the final argument

trackView

Record an Insights API entry view event. When the payload marks the entry as "sticky", an additional Experience API entry view is recorded. This method only returns OptimizationData when the entry is marked as "sticky".

Arguments:

  • payload*: Entry view event builder arguments object. When payload.sticky is true, profile is optional and the returned Experience profile is reused for Insights delivery. Otherwise, profile is required and must contain at least an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options passed as the final argument. Only used when payload.sticky is true

trackClick

Record an Insights API entry click event.

Returns:

  • void

Arguments:

  • payload*: Entry click event builder arguments object, including a required profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options accepted for signature consistency; currently unused

trackHover

Record an Insights API entry hover event.

Returns:

  • void

Arguments:

  • payload*: Entry hover event builder arguments object, including a required profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options accepted for signature consistency; currently unused

trackFlagView

Track a feature flag view via the Insights API. This is functionally the same as a non-sticky flag view event.

Returns:

  • void

Arguments:

  • payload*: Flag view event builder arguments object, including a required profile property with a PartialProfile value that requires only an id
  • requestOptions: Optional request-scoped Experience API options accepted for signature consistency; currently unused

Interceptors

Interceptors may be used to read and/or modify data flowing through the Core SDK.

Life-cycle Interceptors

  • event: Intercepts an event's data before it is queued and/or emitted
  • state: Intercepts state data retrieved from an Experience API call before updating the SDK's internal state

Example interceptor usage:

optimization.interceptors.event((event) => {
  event.properties.timestamp = new Date().toISOString()
})

Warning

Interceptors are intended to enable low-level interoperability and should be used with care.