Add Request Session Data

By default, the AppSignal integrations will track request session data for web applications in supported libraries. You can set custom request session data on a transaction or span. Modifying the session data will overwrite the data set by the AppSignal instrumentations. All request session data is filtered by our integrations before being sent to our servers.

🔐 Do not send Personal Identifiable Information (PII) to AppSignal. Filter PII (e.g., names, emails) and use an ID, hash, or pseudonymized identifier instead.

Use Link Templates to link them back in your app.

See the table below for a list of accepted root values per language. Each nested object can contain values that result in valid JSON (strings, integers, floats, booleans, nulls, etc.).

Language	Accepted root values
Ruby	Arrays, Hashes
JavaScript	Arrays, Objects
Elixir	Lists, Maps
Python	Lists, Maps
Go	JSON serialized string
Java	JSON serialized string
PHP	Arrays, Objects

# Call `add_session_data` multiple times to set more session data
Appsignal.add_session_data(
  :user_id => "123",
  :menu => { :type => "hamburger" }
)
Appsignal.add_session_data(:menu => { :state => "closed" })
Appsignal.add_session_data(:menu => { :state => "open" })
# Session data:
# {
#   :user_id => "123",
#   :menu => { :state => "open" }
# }

Appsignal.Span.set_sample_data(
  Appsignal.Tracer.root_span,
  "session_data",
  %{user_id: "123", menu: "open"}
)

import { setSessionData } from "@appsignal/nodejs";

setSessionData({ user_id: "123", menu: "open" });

from appsignal import set_session_data

set_session_data({"user_id": "123", "menu": "open"})

// Additional setup is required to first fetch or create a new span
import (
	"encoding/json"

	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
)

session_data := map[string]interface{}{
	"key1": "value1",
	"key2": "value2",
	"nested": map[string]interface{}{
		"key3": "value3",
		"key4": "value4",
	},
}
json, _ := json.Marshal(session_data)
span.SetAttributes(attribute.String("appsignal.request.session_data", string(json)))

// Additional setup is required to first fetch or create a new span
import io.opentelemetry.api.trace.Span;
// We're using the Jackson JSON library
// You may need to add it to your project as a dependency
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

Map<String, Object> sessionData = new HashMap<>();
sessionData.put("user_id", "123");
sessionData.put("menu", "open");

Map<String, String> nested = new HashMap<>();
nested.put("key3", "value3");
nested.put("key4", "value4");
sessionData.put("nested", nested);

try {
    ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
    String jsonString = mapper.writeValueAsString(sessionData);

    Span span = Span.current();
    span.setAttribute("appsignal.request.session_data", jsonString);
} catch (Exception e) {
    // Add error handling here
}

<?php
use Appsignal\Appsignal;

$data = [
    'param1' => 'value1',
    'param2' => 'value2',
    'nested' => [
        'param3' => 'value3',
        'param4' => 'value4',
    ],
];

Appsignal::setSessionData($data);

For certain languages, additional setup is required. Please follow the instructions for these languages:

Go
Java

Limitations

If the application sets session data multiple times, the Ruby gem will merge values at the root level. For other integrations, only the last set value is stored.

Getting started

Guides

Limitations

​Limitations

Limitations