Integrate Segment CDP for Customer Data

Provides expert implementation patterns for the Segment Customer Data Platform, covering Analytics.js browser tracking, server-side Node.js tracking, typed tracking plans enforced via Protocols, identity resolution, destinations configuration, and data governance.

Use this skill when implementing client-side Analytics.js tracking, server-side event tracking for webhooks or backend events, designing a typed tracking plan with required properties, merging anonymous and identified users, routing events to specific destinations, or tracking from edge/serverless environments via the HTTP API. Not a fit for A/B testing integration, data warehouse pipelines, or consent-management setup, which route to dedicated skills.

Client-side patterns use @segment/analytics-next's AnalyticsBrowser, with typed identify/track/page/group helpers and a Next.js usePageTracking hook that fires a page call on route change. Server-side patterns use @segment/analytics-node with batched, non-blocking identify/track calls, a closeAndFlush on shutdown, and a Stripe-webhook example that tracks Order Completed and Subscription Started events with graceful SIGTERM handling.

Tracking-plan design uses Object + Action event naming, a conceptual Protocols YAML schema defining required properties and enums per event, and a TypeScript TrackingEvents interface with a type-safe trackEvent function that catches missing required properties at compile time. Identity resolution covers anonymous tracking, identify() to merge anonymous history into a user profile, group() for B2B company association, and alias() to link a temporary ID to a permanent user ID (one-way, called once at signup) - with a full signup flow example chaining identify, track, and group.

Destinations configuration shows per-destination integrations overrides (e.g., routing revenue events only to GA4/Mixpanel/Amplitude, or PII only to HubSpot/Salesforce/Warehouse while excluding analytics tools) and context enrichment for every event. An HTTP Tracking API section covers direct calls for edge/serverless environments (500KB batch limit, 32KB per event) with a Cloudflare Worker example.

Documents eight sharp edges (anonymous ID persistence, device-mode bypassing Protocols blocking, HTTP API size limits, tracking-before-consent GDPR violations) and nine validation checks covering dynamic event names, inconsistent casing, missing identify before revenue tracking, hardcoded write keys, and oversized property values.

Built on @segment/analytics-next (browser), @segment/analytics-node (server), and Segment's raw HTTP Tracking API for edge/serverless use, with destination routing to tools like Google Analytics 4, Mixpanel, Amplitude, HubSpot, and Salesforce, and Protocols for tracking-plan enforcement.

Frontend and backend engineers implementing Segment tracking who need typed, validated event schemas and destination-aware routing rather than untyped analytics.track() calls scattered across the codebase.

export function trackEvent<T extends keyof TrackingEvents>(event: T, properties: TrackingEvents[T]) {
  analytics.track(event, properties);
}