fathom-client

Fathom Client

This library is a JavaScript client for Fathom Analytics.

• Asynchronous script loading. We provide a load function that will asynchronously inject the Fathom <script> tag (great for single-page app environments).
• import-able tracking functions. We provide tracking functions (trackPageview and trackEvent) that you can import and safely call anywhere (even if the Fathom script has not yet finished loading).

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Maintained with ♥️ by the SavvyCal team

Installation

Run the following to install in your project:

npm install fathom-client

Motivation

The standard installation flow for Fathom is to drop their snippet on your page, which will automatically load the library and track a pageview. This approach works great for server-rendered sites with full page refreshes, but gets tricky when:

• Routing happens on the client-side (e.g. an SPA)
• The DOM is abstracted away (e.g. Next.js)

This library provides an interface you can use to orchestrate Fathom calls at various points in your page lifecycle:

import * as Fathom from 'fathom-client';

// Upon initial page load...
Fathom.load('MY_FATHOM_ID');

// In the route changed event handler...
const onRouteChangeComplete = () => {
  Fathom.trackPageview();
};

// In an event handler where a goal is achieved...
const onSignUp = () => {
  Fathom.trackEvent('Sign Up');
};

API Reference

load(siteId: string, opts?: object)

Injects the Fathom script into the DOM and loads the script asynchronously.

Arguments

• siteId - The site ID provided in the Fathom UI.
• opts - An Object of options:
  • auto - When false, skips automatically tracking page views on script load (defaults to true).
  • honorDNT - When true, honors the DNT header in the visitor's browser
  • canonical - When false, ignores the canonical tag if present (defaults to true).
  • spa - Accepts one of the following values: auto, history, or hash (see advanced docs).

Example

import { load } from 'fathom-client';

load('MY_FATHOM_ID', {
  // Add options here
});

trackPageview(opts?: object)

Tracks a pageview.

Arguments

• opts - An Object of options:
  • url - When set, overrides window.location.
  • referrer - When set, overrides document.referrer.

Example

import { trackPageview } from 'fathom-client';

trackPageview();

trackEvent(eventName: string, opts?: object)

Tracks an event.

See Creating and using events.

Arguments

• eventName - This can be nearly anything you want. Avoid special chars and emojis.
• opts - An Object of options:
  • _site_id - The Fathom site ID.
  • _value - The value of the event (in cents).

Example

import { trackEvent } from 'fathom-client';

trackEvent('checkout completed', { _value: 100 });

trackGoal(code: string, cents: number)

Tracks a goal. This is now deprecated, see trackEvent instead.

Arguments

• code - the code provided in the Fathom UI.
• cents - the value of the goal conversion.

Example

import { trackGoal } from 'fathom-client';

trackGoal('MY_GOAL_CODE', 100);

enableTrackingForMe()

Enables tracking for the current visitor.

See https://usefathom.com/docs/features/exclude.

Arguments

None.

Example

import { enableTrackingForMe } from 'fathom-client';

enableTrackingForMe();

blockTrackingForMe()

Blocks tracking for the current visitor.

See https://usefathom.com/docs/features/exclude.

Arguments

None.

Example

import { blockTrackingForMe } from 'fathom-client';

blockTrackingForMe();

isTrackingEnabled()

Checks if tracking is enabled for the current visitor.

See https://usefathom.com/docs/features/exclude.

Arguments

None.

Returns

Boolean.

Example

import { isTrackingEnabled } from 'fathom-client';

const check = isTrackingEnabled(); // `true` by default

setSite(id: string)

Sets the site ID for tracking (overrides the ID used when loading Fathom).

Arguments

• id - The site ID provided in the Fathom UI.

Example

import { load, setSite } from 'fathom-client';

load('MY_FATHOM_ID');

setSite('A_DIFFERENT_FATHOM_ID');

Allowed Domains

Manage your allowed domains within your Fathom site's Firewall settings. Doing so enables the usage of wildcards (e.g., *.example.com). See https://usefathom.com/docs/script/firewall#allowed

The includedDomains and excludedDomains options, while deprecated, are still supported to ensure backward compatibility.

Usage

This library is JavaScript framework-agnostic. Below are some usage examples with popular frameworks.

Next.js

Using pages directory (v12 and older)

If you are using the latest Next.js beta with the app directory, see the modified instructions below.

Create an _app.js file in your pages directory, like this:

import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
import Router from 'next/router';
import * as Fathom from 'fathom-client';

// Record a pageview when route changes
Router.events.on('routeChangeComplete', (as, routeProps) => {
  if (!routeProps.shallow) {
    Fathom.trackPageview();
  }
});

function App({ Component, pageProps }) {
  // Initialize Fathom when the app loads
  useEffect(() => {
    Fathom.load('MY_FATHOM_ID', {
      // Add options here
    });
  }, []);

  return <Component {...pageProps} />;
}

export default App;

Using the experimental app directory (v13)

Create a Fathom client component:

// Fathom.tsx
'use client';

import { load, trackPageview } from 'fathom-client';
import { useEffect, Suspense } from 'react';
import { usePathname, useSearchParams } from 'next/navigation';

function TrackPageView() {
  const pathname = usePathname();
  const searchParams = useSearchParams();

  // Load the Fathom script on mount
  useEffect(() => {
    load('MY_FATHOM_ID', {
      auto: false
    });
  }, []);

  // Record a pageview when route changes
  useEffect(() => {
    if (!pathname) return;

    trackPageview({
      url: pathname + searchParams?.toString(),
      referrer: document.referrer
    });
  }, [pathname, searchParams]);

  return null;
}

export default function Fathom() {
  return (
    <Suspense fallback={null}>
      <TrackPageView />
    </Suspense>
  );
}

Note that we explicitly pass the url to trackPageview to avoid race conditions that occur when we allow the Fathom script to infer the URL from the browser.

Then, add the client component to your root layout.tsx file:

// layout.tsx

import Fathom from './Fathom';

export default function RootLayout({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <head></head>
      <body>
        <Fathom />
        {children}
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Upgrading to 3.x

The 3.0 release comes with a new way to load Fathom:

- Fathom.load();
- Fathom.setSiteId('MY_FATHOM_ID');
+ Fathom.load('MY_FATHOM_ID');

The load function also accepts an object of options:

Fathom.load('MY_FATHOM_ID', {
  // Add options here
});

See advanced options for tracking.

Releasing

Run the following to publish a new version:

npm run release

Changelog

3.7.0

• Make the load function idempotent