Typewriter v7

Prerequisites

Typewriter is built with Node.js, and requires node@8.x or later, and npm@5.2.x or later.

Run the following commands to verify your installed versions of Node and NPM:

$ node --version
v10.15.3

$ npm --version
6.9.0

$ npx --version
6.9.0

If you don’t have these, install node. Installing node also installs thenpm and npx package managers . If you’re on macOS, you can install it with Homebrew:

$ brew install node

Once you’ve installed Node and NPM, run the --version commands again to verify that they were installed correctly.

iOS Quickstart

To get started using Typewriter with iOS:

1. Make sure you have node installed using the instructions in the prerequisites above.
2. Install analytics-ios in your app. You just need to complete Step 1: Install the SDK from the analytics-ios Quickstart Guide.
3. Run npx typewriter@7 init to use the Typewriter quickstart wizard that generates a typewriter.yml configuration along with your first Typewriter client. When you run the command, it creates a typewriter.yml file in your repo. For more information on the format of this file, see the Typewriter Configuration Reference.

You can now import your new Typewriter client into your project using XCode. If you place your generated files into a folder in your project, import the project as a group not a folder reference.

To use your Typewriter client in an Objective-C application:

// Import your auto-generated Typewriter client:
#import "SEGTypewriterAnalytics.h"

// Issue your first Typewriter track call!
[SEGTypewriterAnalytics orderCompletedWithOrderID: "ck-f306fe0e-cc21-445a-9caa-08245a9aa52c" total: @39.99];

To use your Typewriter client in a Swift application, add a Bridging Header like the example below:

// TypewriterSwiftExample-Bridging-Header.h
//
// Make sure to include all generated headers from your Typewriter client:
#import "Analytics/SEGTypewriterAnalytics.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGGarage.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGObjectItem.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGOccupantsItem.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGSubterraneanLab.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGTunnel.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGUniverse.h"
#import "Analytics/SEGUniverseCharactersItemItem.h"

Then, you can use your Typewriter client in Swift:

// Issue your first Typewriter track call!
SEGTypewriterAnalytics.orderCompleted(
  orderID: "ck-f306fe0e-cc21-445a-9caa-08245a9aa52c",
  total: 39.99
)

Android Quickstart

To get started using Typewriter with Android:

1. Make sure you have node installed using the instructions in the prerequisites above.
2. Install analytics-android in your app, and configure the singleton analytics instance by following the first three steps in in the Android Quickstart.
3. Run npx typewriter@7 init to use the Typewriter quickstart wizard that generates a typewriter.yml configuration along with your first Typewriter client. When you run the command, it creates a typewriter.yml file in your repo. For more information on the format of this file, see the Typewriter Configuration Reference.

You can now use your Typewriter client in your Android Java application:

// Import your auto-generated Typewriter client:
import com.segment.generated.*

// Issue your first Typewriter track call!
TypewriterAnalytics.with(this).orderCompleted(
  OrderCompleted.Builder()
    .orderID("ck-f306fe0e-cc21-445a-9caa-08245a9aa52c")
    .total(39.99)
    .build()
);

Adding Events

To update or add a new event to a Typewriter client, first apply your changes to your Tracking Plan. Then run the following:

# Run this in the directory with your repo's `typewriter.yml`.
$ npx typewriter@7

API Token Configuration

You must be a Workspace Owner to create Segment API tokens. For more information about roles in the Segment app, see the Roles documentation.

To create an API token:

1. Click on the Tokens tab on the Access Management page and click Create Token.
2. Select Segment’s Config API. If you don’t see this option, reach out to friends@segment.com for assistance.
3. Add a description for the token and assign access. If you choose Workspace Member, you only need to select Tracking Plan Read-Only for the Resource Role, as Typewriter only needs the Tracking Plan Read-Only role.
4. Click Create.

Typewriter looks for an API token in three ways, in the following order:

1. If a token is piped through, it will use that token. For example, echo $TW_TOKEN | typewriter build.
2. Typewriter executes a token script from the typewriter.yml. See Token Script for more information.
3. Typewriter reads the contents of the ~/.typewriter file.

The quickstart wizard prompts you for an API token and stores it in ~/.typewriter for you.

Segment recommends you use a Token Script to share an API token with your team. When you use a token script, you can supply your API token as an environment variable (echo $TYPEWRITER_TOKEN), from an .env. file (source .env; echo $TYPEWRITER_TOKEN) or using any other CLI tool for providing secrets.

Segment also recommends you to pipe through your API Token as this allows you to keep your token secret, but it also allows you to share it across your team.