Path exploration

Open Analytics → Explore → Paths. Choose an anchor event or page, look before or after it, then Explore paths. Follow any branch to narrow the selection; use the path trail to go back. View matching sessions opens the visits behind that selection, with an exact visitor/session link to the Event explorer.

What the diagram counts

Every branch counts sessions that take the next displayed step, divided by all sessions following the selected path. Line thickness follows that share. Eight branches appear per page; More branches keeps the same denominator. Up to five steps can be followed.

A unit is a recorded session ID plus its resolved visitor identity. Reused session IDs cannot combine different visitors, and person/anonymous/distinct namespaces remain separate. Events without both identifiers are omitted.

• After: the first matching anchor in each unit within the selected dates.
• Before: the last matching anchor; the nearest earlier event appears first.
• Combine repeats: consecutive identical displayed nodes become one step, including repetitions of the anchor. Turn it off to see every occurrence.
• Filters: choose the anchor event. Subsequent events need not match those properties.
• Exclusions: remove named events from steps before repeat collapsing. Identify, alias, page-leave, session-end and web-vital events are always omitted from steps.

Event mode shows event names. Page mode shows pageviews with stored paths. Mixed mode shows page paths alongside custom events. Query strings and fragments are removed from paths. Events use timestamp order, with event IDs breaking exact ties.

Boundaries and limits

No further observed activity means no eligible step was found inside the query window. It does not prove that someone exited. More activity beyond limit means further events exist but the bounded context could not resolve another displayed step.

Queries cover at most 90 retained days and analyze the most recent 2,000 matching session/visitor units. The screen and API report both the full matching count and the analyzed count. Counts describe this selected subset when the limit applies. Each unit inspects its nearest 200 eligible context events; a separate diagnostic counts units exceeding that limit. Late events, identity merges and retention changes can revise paths.

Reads use a consistent snapshot and a 12-second statement budget. A timed-out query asks for a shorter range or narrower anchor filters. No definition or telemetry is written by exploration.

Access and API

The report requires analytics.read and the analytics module. Page paths and custom property filters require people.pii.read. Session identifiers, anchor details and drill-through require both events.read and people.pii.read; otherwise sessions is null. Event explorer deep links preserve the namespaced visitor filter and recheck access.

POST /api/v1/apps/{app}/analytics/paths/query?range=30d&env=production
Authorization: Bearer <management-token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "version": 1,
  "anchor": { "kind": "event", "value": "signup_completed" },
  "direction": "after",
  "nodes": "both",
  "collapse": true,
  "exclude": ["heartbeat"],
  "filters": [],
  "prefix": []
}

A token needs read scope and the permissions above. prefix holds the selected nodes in outward order from the anchor. Node kinds are event, page, or boundary with value observed/limited. A boundary can only be the final selected node.

The response includes the normalized definition, effective dates, cap flag, matching/analyzed/selected/limited session counts, branch counts and shares, and permitted session details. branchPage returns eight branches per page; sessionPage returns 25 sessions. Pages that exceed current results clamp to the last available page. Definitions are bounded to fit shareable URLs.

What the assistant can do here

Ask can run a path query and read it back: the common routes into and out of a page, where journeys end, and how that changed between two ranges. It reports the step limits and the sampling the query applied, so a thin path is visibly thin rather than quietly rounded.

There is nothing to change here — path exploration stores no configuration — so every question in this module is a read that answers immediately.