Skill: Configure Analytics

Skill: Configure Analytics

Repeatable skill for setting up Plausible, PostHog, and GA4 analytics keys in both local .env and Railway production environment variables.

When to use

• New session notices analytics env vars are missing
• After rotating any analytics API key
• After creating a new GA4 property

Prerequisites

• Chrome logged into: plausible.io, us.posthog.com, analytics.google.com
• Railway MCP authenticated OR Chrome logged into railway.com

Steps

1. Gather keys from dashboards

Plausible API key:

• Navigate to https://plausible.io/settings/api-keys
• If no key exists, create one named "thumbgate-railway-prod"
• Copy the key value

PostHog project API key:

• Navigate to https://us.posthog.com/settings/project#variables
• Copy the "Project API Key" (starts with phc_)

GA4 Measurement ID:

• Navigate to https://analytics.google.com
• Select the ThumbGate property (or create one: Admin → Create Property)
• Go to Data Streams → Web stream → copy Measurement ID (format: G-XXXXXXXXXX)
• If no ThumbGate property exists, skip — Plausible is primary

2. Set local .env

Write/update repo/.env with:

PLAUSIBLE_API_KEY=<key>
PLAUSIBLE_SITE_ID=thumbgate-production.up.railway.app
POSTHOG_API_KEY=<phc_key>
THUMBGATE_GA_MEASUREMENT_ID=<G-ID or leave commented>

3. Set Railway production vars

Option A — Railway CLI or GitHub deploy variables (preferred):

gh secret list --repo IgorGanapolsky/ThumbGate
gh variable list --repo IgorGanapolsky/ThumbGate

If Railway CLI auth works, set variables with railway variables set. If Railway CLI reports invalid_grant, use the GitHub PR/deploy path and the Railway dashboard in Chrome. Do not direct-push to main; use a focused branch, PR, required checks, and branch-protected merge.

Option B — Chrome (if MCP not authenticated):

• Navigate to railway.com dashboard
• Click into the ThumbGate project → production service
• Go to Variables tab
• Add/update each key-value pair
• Railway auto-redeploys on variable change

4. Verify

# Local: run Plausible poller
npm run social:poll:plausible

# Production: check instrumentation scripts and health
curl -fsS https://thumbgate.ai/health
curl -fsS https://thumbgate.ai/checkout/pro | grep -E 'plausible|posthog|G-[A-Z0-9]+'

Current values (last updated 2026-05-26)

• Plausible site: thumbgate-production.up.railway.app
• PostHog project: US Cloud, project ID 299775
• GA4: use THUMBGATE_GA_MEASUREMENT_ID when present; do not assume the dashboard is export-ready without provider credentials.