Experiment JavaScript SDK

Official documentation for Amplitude Experiment's Client-side JavaScript SDK implementation.

Install

Install the Experiment JavaScript Client SDK with one of the three following methods:

# Install Experiment SDK only
npm install --save @amplitude/experiment-js-client

# Or install Unified SDK to get access to all Amplitude products
npm install @amplitude/unified

import { Experiment } from '@amplitude/experiment-js-client';

// (1) Initialize the experiment client with Amplitude Analytics.
const experiment = Experiment.initializeWithAmplitudeAnalytics(
    'DEPLOYMENT_KEY'
);

// (2) Fetch variants and await the promise result.
await experiment.fetch();

// (3) Lookup a flag's variant.
const variant = experiment.variant('FLAG_KEY');
if (variant.value === 'on') {
    // Flag is on
} else {
    // Flag is off
}

Initialize

Initialize the SDK in your application on startup. The deployment key argument you pass into the apiKey parameter must live in the same Amplitude project to which you send events.

initializeWithAmplitudeAnalytics(apiKey: string, config?: ExperimentConfig): ExperimentClient

The initializer returns a singleton instance, so subsequent initializations for the same instance name always return the initial instance. To create multiple instances, use the instanceName configuration.

import { Experiment } from '@amplitude/experiment-js-client';

const experiment = initializeWithAmplitudeAnalytics('DEPLOYMENT_KEY');

Configuration

Configure the SDK client during initialization.

Integrations

If you use either Amplitude or Segment Analytics SDKs to track events into Amplitude, set up an integration on initialization. Integrations automatically implement provider interfaces to enable a more streamlined developer experience by making it easier to manage user identity and track exposures events.

Fetch

Fetches variants for a user and stores the results in the client for fast access. The function remote evaluates the user for flags associated with the deployment used to initialize the SDK client.

fetch(user?: ExperimentUser, options?: FetchOptions): Promise<Client>

const user = {
    user_id: 'user@company.com',
    device_id: 'abcdefg',
    user_properties: {
        'premium': true,
    },
};
await experiment.fetch(user);

If you're using an integration or a custom user provider then you can fetch without inputting the user.

await experiment.fetch();

If fetch() times out (default 10 seconds) or fails for any reason, the SDK client returns and retries in the background with back-off. You may configure the timeout or disable retries in the configuration options during SDK client initialization.

Start

Start the SDK by getting flag configurations from the server and fetching remote evaluation variants for the user. The SDK is ready when the returned promise resolves.

start(user?: ExperimentUser): Promise<void>

Call start() when your application is initializing, after user information is available to evaluate or fetch variants. The promise resolves after loading local evaluation flag configurations and fetching remote evaluation variants.

Configure the behavior of start() by setting fetchOnStart in the SDK configuration on initialization to improve performance based on the needs of your application.

• If your application never relies on remote evaluation, set fetchOnStart to false to avoid increased startup latency caused by remote evaluation.
• If your application relies on remote evaluation, but not right at startup, you may set fetchOnStart to false and call fetch() and await the promise separately.

await experiment.start();

Variant

Access a variant for a flag or experiment from the SDK client's local store.

variant(key: string, fallback?: string | Variant): Variant

When determining which variant a user has been bucketed into, you'll want to compare the variant value to a well-known string.

const variant = experiment.variant('<FLAG_KEY>');
if (variant.value === 'on') {
    // Flag is on
} else {
    // Flag is off
}

const variant = experiment.variant('<FLAG_KEY>');
if (variant.value === 'on') {
    const payload = variant.payload;
}

A null variant value means that the user hasn't been bucketed into a variant. You may use the built in fallback parameter to provide a variant to return if the store doesn't contain a variant for the given flag key.

const variant = experiment.variant('<FLAG_KEY>', { value: 'control' });
if (variant.value === 'control') {
    // Control
} else if (variant.value === 'treatment') {
    // Treatment
}

All

Access all variants stored by the SDK client.

all(): Variants

Clear

Clear all variants in the cache and storage.

clear(): void

You can call clear after user logout to clear the variants in cache and storage.

experiment.clear();

Exposure

Manually track an exposure event for the current variant of the given flag key through configured integration or custom exposure tracking provider. Generally used in conjunction with setting the automaticExposureTracking configuration optional to false.

exposure(key: string): void

const variant = experiment.variant('<FLAG_KEY>');

// Do other things...

experiment.exposure('<FLAG_KEY>');
if (variant.value === 'control') {
    // Control
} else if (variant.value === 'treatment') {
    // Treatment
}

Providers

Provider implementations enable a more streamlined developer experience by making it easier to manage user identity and track exposures events.

User provider

The SDK client uses the user provider to access the most up-to-date user information only when needed (for example, when fetch() is called). The user provider is optional, but helps if you have a user information store already set up in your application. With a user provider, you don't need to manage two separate user info stores in parallel. Separate stores can create divergent user state if the application user store is updated and experiment isn't (or vice versa).

interface ExperimentUserProvider {
  getUser(): ExperimentUser;
}

To use your custom user provider, set the userProvider configuration option with an instance of your custom implementation on SDK initialization.

const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
    userProvider: new CustomUserProvider(),
});

Exposure tracking provider

Amplitude highly recommends implementing an exposure tracking provider. Exposure tracking increases the accuracy and reliability of experiment results and improves visibility into which flags and experiments a user is exposed to.

export interface ExposureTrackingProvider {
  track(exposure: Exposure): void;
}

The implementation of track() should track an event of type $exposure (a.k.a name) with two event properties, flag_key and variant, corresponding to the two fields on the Exposure object argument. Finally, the event tracked must eventually end up in Amplitude Analytics for the same project that the [deployment] used to initialize the SDK client lives within, and for the same user that variants were fetched for.

To use your custom user provider, set the exposureTrackingProvider configuration option with an instance of your custom implementation on SDK initialization.

const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
    exposureTrackingProvider: new CustomExposureTrackingProvider(),
});

Bootstrapping

You may want to bootstrap the experiment client with an initial set of flags or variants when variants come from an external source (for example, not from calling fetch() on the SDK client). Use cases include local evaluation, server-side rendering, or integration testing on specific variants.

Bootstrapping variants

To bootstrap the client with a predefined set of variants, set the flags and variants in the initialVariants configuration object, then set the source to Source.InitialVariants so that the SDK client prefers the bootstrapped variants over any previously fetched & stored variants for the same flags.

const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
    // Map flag keys to variant objects. The variant object may either be
    // pre-evaluation (SSR) or input manually in for testing.
    initialVariants: {
        "<FLAG_KEY>": {
            "value": "<VARIANT>"
         }
    },
    source: Source.InitialVariants,
});

Bootstrapping flag configurations

You may choose to bootstrap the SDK with an initial set of local evaluation flag configurations using the initialFlags configuration. The SDK evaluates these flag configurations when variant is called, unless an updated flag config or variant is loaded with start or fetch.

To download initial flags, use the evaluation flags API

const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
    initialFlags: "<FLAGS_JSON>",
});

HTTP client

You can provide a custom HTTP client implementation to handle network requests made by the SDK. This is useful for environments with specific networking requirements or when you need to customize request handling.

export interface SimpleResponse {
  status: number;
  body: string;
}

export interface HttpClient {
  request(
    requestUrl: string,
    method: string,
    headers: Record<string, string>,
    data: string,
    timeoutMillis?: number,
  ): Promise<SimpleResponse>;
}

To use your custom HTTP client, set the httpClient configuration option with an instance of your implementation on SDK initialization.

const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
    httpClient: new CustomHttpClient(),
});

Custom logging

Control log verbosity with the logLevel configuration, or implement the Logger interface to integrate your own logging solution.

Log levels

• LogLevel.Disable - No logging
• LogLevel.Error - Errors only (default)
• LogLevel.Warn - Errors and warnings
• LogLevel.Info - Errors, warnings, and informational messages
• LogLevel.Debug - Errors, warnings, info, and debug messages
• LogLevel.Verbose - All messages including verbose details

import { Experiment, LogLevel } from '@amplitude/experiment-js-client';

// Only log errors
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  logLevel: LogLevel.Error
});

// Log errors and warnings
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  logLevel: LogLevel.Warn
});

// Log everything (verbose)
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  logLevel: LogLevel.Verbose
});

Custom logger

Implement the Logger interface to use your own logging solution:

import { Experiment, Logger, LogLevel } from '@amplitude/experiment-js-client';

// Implement the Logger interface
class CustomLogger implements Logger {
  error(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void {
    // Send errors to your logging service
    myLoggingService.error(message, ...optionalParams);
  }

  warn(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void {
    myLoggingService.warn(message, ...optionalParams);
  }

  info(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void {
    myLoggingService.info(message, ...optionalParams);
  }

  debug(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void {
    myLoggingService.debug(message, ...optionalParams);
  }

  verbose(message?: any, ...optionalParams: any[]): void {
    myLoggingService.verbose(message, ...optionalParams);
  }
}

// Initialize with custom logger
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  loggerProvider: new CustomLogger(),
  logLevel: LogLevel.Warn
});

Debug flag (deprecated)

The debug configuration flag is deprecated. Use logLevel instead.

// Deprecated: Sets logLevel to Debug
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  debug: true
});

// Preferred: Use logLevel instead
const experiment = Experiment.initialize('<DEPLOYMENT_KEY>', {
  logLevel: LogLevel.Debug
});