Node.js
Installation and Setup
- Install the TypeScript library using your package manager of choice:
-
Issue an API key for the appropriate environment using the Schematic app. Be sure to capture the secret key when you issue the API key; you’ll only see this key once, and this is what you’ll use with schematic-typescript-node.
-
Using this secret key, initialize a client in your application:
By default, the client will do some local caching for flag checks. If you would like to change this behavior, you can do so using an initialization option to specify the max size of the cache (in terms of number of records) and the max age of the cache (in milliseconds):
You can also disable local caching entirely with an initialization option; bear in mind that, in this case, every flag check will result in a network request:
You may want to specify default flag values for your application, which will be used if there is a service interruption or if the client is running in offline mode (see below). You can do this using an initialization option:
Usage examples
Sending identify events
Create or update users and companies using identify events.
This call is non-blocking and there is no response to check.
Sending track events
Track activity in your application using track events; these events can later be used to produce metrics for targeting.
This call is non-blocking and there is no response to check.
Creating and updating companies
Although it is faster to create companies and users via identify events, if you need to handle a response, you can use the companies API to upsert companies. Because you use your own identifiers to identify companies, rather than a Schematic company ID, creating and updating companies are both done via the same upsert operation:
You can define any number of company keys; these are used to address the company in the future, for example by updating the company’s traits or checking a flag for the company.
You can also define any number of company traits; these can then be used as targeting parameters.
Creating and updating users
Similarly, you can upsert users using the Schematic API, as an alternative to using identify events. Because you use your own identifiers to identify users, rather than a Schematic user ID, creating and updating users are both done via the same upsert operation:
You can define any number of user keys; these are used to address the user in the future, for example by updating the user’s traits or checking a flag for the user.
You can also define any number of user traits; these can then be used as targeting parameters.
Checking flags
When checking a flag, you’ll provide keys for a company and/or keys for a user. You can also provide no keys at all, in which case you’ll get the default value for the flag.
Other API operations
The Schematic API supports many operations beyond these, accessible via the API modules on the client, Accounts
, Billing
, Companies
, Entitlements
, Events
, Features
, and Plans
.
Testing
Offline mode
In development or testing environments, you may want to avoid making network requests to the Schematic API. You can run Schematic in offline mode by specifying the offline
option; in this case, it does not matter what API key you specify:
Offline mode works well with flag defaults: