F6 · Telemetry, install tracking and external analytics

Done 2026-10-26 · commit b2687d8 · spec v0.1

What changed

• New spec: telemetry and analytics, covering three systems with separate names:

  • anonymous install telemetry, opt-in with a prompt;
  • local activity analytics;
  • a spectio.analytics plugin kind for the instance owner's tracker: GA4, Umami, Plausible, Matomo, PostHog.

• The plugin kinds table gained the spectio.analytics row.

Why

Thomas asked for telemetry, install tracking, and a way to plug in external analytics.

Decision: decision log, 2026-10-26, telemetry.

Evidence

• Source: an audit of depictio at 0d1aa0a and the tools' own docs (research note, part B).
• What upstream statistics cannot do: GHCR exposes no pull counts through its API, and PyPI counts downloads, not installations.

Figures and media

Follow-up: a sketch of the three systems and where each one's data goes, part of step D6's prompt.

Findings and open questions

• Default for install telemetry. The design is opt-in, which keeps the earlier "off by default" decision; depictio is opt-out (settings_models.py:1974-1988 in depictio at 0d1aa0a). The question is inbox #2.
• Possible depictio bug. The GA4 loader (depictio/viewer/src/googleAnalytics.ts:34-66) sets send_page_view: true while its comment says page views are left to the app.