Identify Users

By default, OpenPanel tracks visitors anonymously. To connect these events to a specific user in your database, you need to identify them.

How it works

When a user logs in or signs up, you should call the identify method. This associates their current session and all future events with their unique ID from your system.

op.identify({
  profileId: 'user_123'
});

Adding user traits

You can also pass user traits (like name, email, or plan type) when you identify them. These traits will appear in the user's profile in your dashboard.

op.identify({
  profileId: 'user_123',
  firstName: 'Jane',
  lastName: 'Doe',
  email: 'jane@example.com',
  company: 'Acme Inc'
});

Standard traits

We recommend using these standard keys for common user information so they display correctly in the OpenPanel dashboard:

• firstName
• lastName
• email
• phone
• avatar

Best Practices

1. Call on login: Always identify the user immediately after they log in.
2. Call on update: If a user updates their profile, call identify again with the new information.
3. Unique IDs: Use a stable, unique ID from your database (like a UUID) rather than an email address or username that might change.