React Installation Guide

This is the canonical Virent installation guide for React single-page applications, especially Vite-based React apps.

Install Virent analytics on my React website.

Read the canonical guide first and follow its code exactly:
https://virent.app/docs/installation/react.md

Install two separate things:
1. Human Analytics (browser): Install the pageview script in the Vite index.html head and optionally add the browser SDK for events.
2. AI Crawler Analytics (server): Add server-side capture to the host or backend in front of the React static build.

Values I will give you (they are in Virent under Settings > Connection):
- Publishable browser key, starts with vha_pk_. Safe in browser code.
- Site ID (VIRENT_SITE_ID) and server secret (VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET, starts with vha_sk_). Server only.
Ask me for them. Never invent a key or use a masked preview such as vha_sk_••••.

Human Analytics best practices:
- Add the browser script to index.html because Vite treats index.html as the app entry point.
- Use a literal publishable key in the script tag or a VITE_ public variable for SDK event code.
- Initialize the npm SDK only once if you also send custom product events.

AI Crawler Analytics best practices:
- Install AI Analytics at the edge, CDN, reverse proxy, or backend that serves the React app because crawler requests do not execute browser JavaScript.
- Keep the server secret in the edge/server runtime environment, not in VITE_ variables.
- Exclude static assets from crawler capture to avoid noisy events.

Rules:
- Keep VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET in server environment variables. Never put it in client code, public env variables (NEXT_PUBLIC_, VITE_, PUBLIC_) or committed files.
- Exclude API routes, static assets, images, favicons, robots.txt and sitemaps from crawler capture.
- If the site sends a Content-Security-Policy, allow https://app.virent.app in script-src and connect-src.
- Do not change unrelated code.

When you finish, list the files you changed and how I verify each path:
- Run a production preview and inspect the rendered head for the Virent script.
- Navigate between routes and confirm pageview requests are sent.
- Refresh Virent installation status after visiting the site.
- Request the deployed app with curl -A "GPTBot" https://your-domain.com/.
- Confirm the edge/backend logs one ingest attempt for the HTML route.
- Refresh Virent installation status and confirm AI Analytics receives crawler events.

Research Notes#

• Vite treats index.html as source code and as the entry point for React applications.
• React SPA code runs in the browser, so it cannot capture AI crawler requests that never execute JavaScript.
• AI Analytics must be installed in the CDN, edge function, reverse proxy, or backend that serves the React build.

Primary references:

• https://vite.dev/guide/
• https://vite.dev/guide/env-and-mode.html

Human Analytics#

Add the Virent browser script to the root index.html file.

<!doctype html><html lang="en">  <head>    <meta charset="UTF-8" />    <script      defer      data-write-key="vha_pk_..."      src="https://app.virent.app/js/script.js"    ></script>  </head>  <body>    <div id="root"></div>    <script type="module" src="/src/main.tsx"></script>  </body></html>

Use the browser SDK for custom events.

pnpm add @virent.app/sdk

import { initVirent, trackEvent } from "@virent.app/sdk/browser"initVirent({ writeKey: import.meta.env.VITE_VIRENT_WRITE_KEY })await trackEvent({  name: "signup_started",  properties: { plan: "pro" },})

Best practices:

• Put the script in index.html, not inside a React component.
• Use VITE_ variables only for publishable browser values.
• Keep custom tracking helpers in one small module and import them from components that need events.
• Test React Router navigation after installation.

Verification:

• Run a production build and preview it.
• Inspect the rendered HTML for the Virent script.
• Navigate across client routes and confirm pageview requests.
• Refresh Virent installation status.

Troubleshooting:

• If the script is missing, confirm the root index.html was edited.
• If CSP blocks the script, allow the Virent origin in script-src and connect-src.
• If local test traffic is needed, temporarily add data-allow-localhost="true".

First-party (recommended)#

Ad blockers and privacy tools often block third-party analytics hosts, which silently drops visits. Relay the script and events through your own domain under /_vr, and load the script with data-api="/_vr" so events go to your domain too. The relay must forward the visitor's IP and country in x-virent-forwarded-for and x-virent-forwarded-country, with your website's secret key (vha_sk_…) in x-virent-proxy-key; without the key Virent ignores the forwarded headers and sees your server's network instead of your visitors'. Relay only /_vr/js/script.js and /_vr/v1/*, and never forward cookies or authorization headers. See First-party analytics for how Virent trusts these headers.

With nginx, add these locations to the site's server block:

location = /_vr/js/script.js {  proxy_pass https://app.virent.app/js/script.js;  proxy_set_header Host app.virent.app;  proxy_ssl_server_name on;  proxy_set_header Cookie "";}location /_vr/v1/ {  proxy_pass https://app.virent.app/v1/;  proxy_set_header Host app.virent.app;  proxy_ssl_server_name on;  proxy_set_header Cookie "";  proxy_set_header Authorization "";  proxy_set_header X-Virent-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;  # Your website's secret key: Virent trusts the forwarded IP only with it.  proxy_set_header X-Virent-Proxy-Key "vha_sk_...";}

On Cloudflare, deploy a Worker on the example.com/_vr/* route that copies only accept-language, content-type, origin and user-agent, sets x-virent-forwarded-for from cf-connecting-ip, x-virent-forwarded-country from request.cf.country and x-virent-proxy-key from a Worker secret holding your website's secret key, and fetches the same path without /_vr from https://app.virent.app. The dashboard install panel has the full Worker.

Then load the script from your domain:

<script  defer  data-api="/_vr"  data-write-key="vha_pk_..."  src="/_vr/js/script.js"></script>

AI Analytics#

React itself is not the AI Analytics install point. Install crawler capture in the layer that serves the static React app.

VIRENT_SITE_ID=site_...VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET=vha_sk_...VIRENT_INGEST_ENDPOINT=https://app.virent.app/v1/ingest/bot

Generic edge/server example:

const staticAssetPattern = /\.(?:png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|ico|webp|css|js|map|txt|xml)$/iconst aiCrawlerPattern = /GPTBot|OAI-SearchBot|ChatGPT-User|ClaudeBot|claudebot|Claude-Web|Claude-User|Claude-SearchBot|PerplexityBot|PerplexityBot\/|Perplexity-User|Perplexity-User\/|Google-CloudVertexBot|DeepSeekBot|DeepSeekSpider|CCBot|Bytespider|meta-externalagent|meta-webindexer|meta-externalfetcher|Amazonbot|DuckAssistBot|YouBot/iexport async function trackVirentCrawler(  request: Request,  response: Response,  waitUntil?: (promise: Promise<unknown>) => void) {  const url = new URL(request.url)  const userAgent = request.headers.get("user-agent") ?? ""  if (staticAssetPattern.test(url.pathname) || !aiCrawlerPattern.test(userAgent)) {    return  }  const report = fetch(process.env.VIRENT_INGEST_ENDPOINT!, {    method: "POST",    headers: {      "Content-Type": "application/json",      "x-api-key": process.env.VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET!,    },    body: JSON.stringify({      siteId: process.env.VIRENT_SITE_ID!,      url: url.toString(),      host: url.host,      path: url.pathname,      method: request.method,      referer: request.headers.get("referer"),      userAgent,      statusCode: response.status,      requestId: crypto.randomUUID(),      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),    }),  })  if (waitUntil) {    waitUntil(report.catch(() => {}))    return  }  await report}

Best practices:

• Prefer the provider-native guide in Virent's Connect your site dialog. If your host requires custom code, call this helper after it produces a Response and pass its waitUntil callback when available.
• Do not expose VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET through VITE_ variables.
• Exclude static assets to avoid noisy crawler events.

Verification:

curl -A "GPTBot" https://your-domain.com/

• Confirm the edge/backend layer posts to Virent once for the HTML route.
• Refresh AI Analytics installation status.

Troubleshooting:

• If no crawler events arrive, confirm the request actually reaches the server layer where tracking was installed.
• If the secret appears in built assets, rotate the key and remove it from public env variables.
• If asset events are counted, add extension exclusions.