PostHog

Interact with PostHog analytics via its REST API. Capture events, evaluate feature flags, query data with HogQL, manage persons, insights, dashboards, experiments, surveys, cohorts, annotations, and session recordings. Use when the user mentions "PostHog", "PostHog API", "PostHog events", "PostHog feature flags", "PostHog insights", "PostHog query", "HogQL", "PostHog persons", "PostHog dashboards", "PostHog experiments", "PostHog surveys", "PostHog cohorts", "PostHog recordings", "capture events PostHog", or "PostHog analytics".

PostHog API Skill

Interact with PostHog via its REST API. Two types of endpoints:

• Public (POST-only, project API key): capture events, evaluate flags — no rate limits
• Private (personal API key): query, CRUD for all resources — rate limited

Setup

1. Get personal API key: https://us.posthog.com/settings/user-api-keys
2. Get project ID: https://us.posthog.com/settings/project#variables
3. Set env vars:

   bash

   export POSTHOG_API_KEY="phx_..."
   export POSTHOG_PROJECT_ID="12345"
   export POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY="phc_..."  # optional, for capture/flags
   # For EU Cloud:
   # export POSTHOG_HOST="https://eu.posthog.com"
   # export POSTHOG_INGEST_HOST="https://eu.i.posthog.com"
   

4. Verify: bash scripts/posthog.sh whoami

Helper Script

scripts/posthog.sh wraps common operations. Run bash scripts/posthog.sh help for full usage.

Examples

bash

# Capture an event
bash scripts/posthog.sh capture "signup" "user_123" '{"plan":"pro"}'

# Evaluate feature flags
bash scripts/posthog.sh evaluate-flags "user_123"

# HogQL query — top events last 7 days
bash scripts/posthog.sh query "SELECT event, count() FROM events WHERE timestamp >= now() - INTERVAL 7 DAY GROUP BY event ORDER BY count() DESC LIMIT 20"

# List persons
bash scripts/posthog.sh list-persons 10 | jq '.results[] | {name, distinct_ids}'

# List feature flags
bash scripts/posthog.sh list-flags | jq '.results[] | {id, key, active}'

# Create a feature flag
echo '{"key":"new-dashboard","name":"New Dashboard","active":true,"filters":{"groups":[{"rollout_percentage":50}]}}' | \
  bash scripts/posthog.sh create-flag

# List dashboards
bash scripts/posthog.sh list-dashboards | jq '.results[] | {id, name}'

Key Concepts

Two API types

• Public endpoints (/i/v0/e/, /batch/, /flags): Use project API key in body. No auth header. No rate limits.
• Private endpoints (/api/projects/:project_id/...): Use personal API key via Authorization: Bearer. Rate limited.

HogQL Queries

The query endpoint (POST /api/projects/:project_id/query/) is the most powerful way to extract data. Uses SQL-like HogQL syntax against tables: events, persons, sessions, groups, plus data warehouse tables.

Always include time ranges and LIMIT. Use timestamp-based pagination for large exports.

Rate Limits (private endpoints)

Type	Limit
Analytics (insights, persons, recordings)	240/min, 1200/hr
Query endpoint	2400/hr
Feature flag local evaluation	600/min
Other CRUD	480/min, 4800/hr

Limits apply per organization. On 429: back off and retry.

Domains

Cloud	Public	Private
US	us.i.posthog.com	us.posthog.com
EU	eu.i.posthog.com	eu.posthog.com

Events API (deprecated)

The /api/projects/:project_id/events/ endpoint is deprecated. Use HogQL queries or batch exports instead.

Direct curl

bash

# Private endpoint
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTHOG_API_KEY" \
  "$POSTHOG_HOST/api/projects/$POSTHOG_PROJECT_ID/feature_flags/"

# HogQL query
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTHOG_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -X POST -d '{"query":{"kind":"HogQLQuery","query":"SELECT count() FROM events WHERE timestamp >= now() - INTERVAL 1 DAY"}}' \
  "$POSTHOG_HOST/api/projects/$POSTHOG_PROJECT_ID/query/"

# Capture event (public)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -X POST -d '{"api_key":"'$POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY'","event":"test","distinct_id":"u1"}' \
  "$POSTHOG_INGEST_HOST/i/v0/e/"

Full API Reference

See references/api-endpoints.md for complete endpoint listing with parameters, body schemas, scopes, and response formats.

Sections: Public Endpoints (Capture, Batch, Flags), Private Endpoints (Persons, Feature Flags, Insights, Dashboards, Annotations, Cohorts, Experiments, Surveys, Actions, Session Recordings, Users, Definitions), Query API (HogQL).