PostHog Debug Bundle

Current State

!node --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'N/A' !npm list posthog-js posthog-node 2>/dev/null | grep posthog || echo 'No PostHog SDK found'

Overview

Collect diagnostic evidence for PostHog support tickets. Gathers SDK versions, API connectivity, feature flag status, event flow verification, and redacted configuration. All secrets are automatically redacted.

Prerequisites

PostHog SDK installed in project
Access to environment variables
curl and jq available

Instructions

Step 1: Run Full Diagnostic Script

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

BUNDLE_DIR="posthog-debug-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
mkdir -p "$BUNDLE_DIR"

echo "=== PostHog Debug Bundle ===" > "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "Generated: $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

# --- Environment ---
echo "--- Runtime Environment ---" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "Node: $(node --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'not found')" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "npm: $(npm --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'not found')" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "Python: $(python3 --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'not found')" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "OS: $(uname -srm)" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

# --- SDK Versions ---
echo "--- PostHog SDK Versions ---" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
npm list posthog-js posthog-node 2>/dev/null >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" || echo "No npm PostHog packages" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
pip3 show posthog 2>/dev/null | grep -E "Name|Version" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" || true
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

# --- API Connectivity ---
echo "--- API Connectivity ---" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo -n "US Cloud ingest: " >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} (%{time_total}s)" https://us.i.posthog.com/healthz >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" 2>&1
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo -n "EU Cloud ingest: " >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} (%{time_total}s)" https://eu.i.posthog.com/healthz >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" 2>&1
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo -n "App API: " >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} (%{time_total}s)" https://app.posthog.com/api/ >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" 2>&1
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

# --- Environment Variables (redacted) ---
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "--- Environment Variables (redacted) ---" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
env | grep -i posthog | sed 's/=.*/=***REDACTED***/' >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt" 2>/dev/null || echo "No POSTHOG env vars found" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

# --- Key Type Detection ---
echo "--- API Key Types ---" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
if [ -n "${NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY:-}" ]; then
  echo "Project key prefix: $(echo "$NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY" | head -c 4)_..." >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
fi
if [ -n "${POSTHOG_PERSONAL_API_KEY:-}" ]; then
  echo "Personal key prefix: $(echo "$POSTHOG_PERSONAL_API_KEY" | head -c 4)_..." >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
fi

echo "" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
echo "Bundle complete: $BUNDLE_DIR/" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"

Step 2: Test Event Capture Flow

set -euo pipefail
# Send a test event and verify it was accepted
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -w "\n%{http_code}" -X POST 'https://us.i.posthog.com/capture/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{
    \"api_key\": \"${NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY}\",
    \"event\": \"debug_bundle_test\",
    \"distinct_id\": \"debug-$(date +%s)\",
    \"properties\": {\"test\": true}
  }")

HTTP_CODE=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | tail -1)
BODY=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | head -1)

echo "Capture test: HTTP $HTTP_CODE"
echo "Response: $BODY"

# Expected: HTTP 200, Response: {"status": 1}

Step 3: Check Feature Flag Status

set -euo pipefail
# Evaluate flags via the /decide endpoint
curl -s -X POST 'https://us.i.posthog.com/decide/?v=3' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{
    \"api_key\": \"${NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY}\",
    \"distinct_id\": \"debug-test\"
  }" | jq '{
    featureFlags: .featureFlags,
    errorsWhileComputingFlags: .errorsWhileComputingFlags,
    sessionRecording: (.sessionRecording != false)
  }'

Step 4: Verify Admin API Access

set -euo pipefail
# Test personal API key (if available)
if [ -n "${POSTHOG_PERSONAL_API_KEY:-}" ]; then
  curl -s "https://app.posthog.com/api/projects/" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTHOG_PERSONAL_API_KEY" | \
    jq '[.[] | {id, name, created_at}]' > "$BUNDLE_DIR/projects.json" 2>/dev/null || \
    echo "Personal API key failed" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/summary.txt"
fi

Step 5: Package and Review

set -euo pipefail
# Review for any accidentally included secrets
grep -rn "phc_\|phx_\|Bearer " "$BUNDLE_DIR/" | grep -v REDACTED | grep -v "prefix:" && \
  echo "WARNING: Potential secret found — review before sharing" || \
  echo "No secrets detected in bundle"

# Package
tar -czf "$BUNDLE_DIR.tar.gz" "$BUNDLE_DIR"
echo "Bundle created: $BUNDLE_DIR.tar.gz ($(du -h "$BUNDLE_DIR.tar.gz" | cut -f1))"

Checklist

Item	Collected	Purpose
Node/Python versions	Yes	SDK compatibility
PostHog SDK versions	Yes	Version-specific bugs
API connectivity	Yes	Network/firewall issues
Event capture test	Yes	End-to-end verification
Feature flag status	Yes	Flag evaluation issues
Environment vars (redacted)	Yes	Configuration problems
Key type detection	Yes	Wrong key type errors

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
All connectivity fails	Corporate firewall	Check proxy settings, try VPN
Capture returns non-200	Invalid API key	Verify `phc_` key in project settings
`/decide` fails	Key/host mismatch	Ensure key matches the host region
Personal API 401	Expired key	Regenerate in Settings > Personal API Keys

Output

posthog-debug-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz archive containing:
- summary.txt — Runtime, SDK versions, connectivity, redacted config
- projects.json — Project list (if personal key available)
- Test event capture and flag evaluation results

Resources

Next Steps

For rate limit issues, see posthog-rate-limits.