Rudder code first instrumentation

Code-First Instrumentation

This skill guides instrumentation planning for existing products where you derive tracking plans from the codebase's existing types and structures.

When to Use This Skill

Scenario	Use This Skill?
Existing product needs instrumentation	Yes
Codebase has domain types (enums, interfaces) you want to track	Yes
Restructuring messy existing tracking	Yes
Building new feature, events not yet defined	No — use rudder-design-first-instrumentation

Why Code-First?

When a product already exists, the code contains valuable type information:

• Enums define valid values (billing plans, user roles, feature types)
• Interfaces define object shapes (product, user, workspace)
• Domain models define relationships and constraints

Deriving tracking plans from code types:

• Eliminates translation/mapping layers
• Ensures warehouse data matches code semantics
• Enables compile-time validation of instrumentation
• Keeps tracking plan in sync with product evolution

"If I say plan, that cannot mean many things. It's the plan. I have to be specific."

The Code-First Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    CODE-FIRST INSTRUMENTATION                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 1. DISCOVER     │ ← Identify domain types in codebase
│    CODE TYPES   │
└────────┬────────┘
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 2. MAP TYPES    │ ← Translate code types to tracking plan types
│    TO YAML      │
└────────┬────────┘
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 3. IDENTIFY     │ ← What user actions should be tracked?
│    EVENTS       │
└────────┬────────┘
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 4. BUILD        │ ← Create YAML referencing the types
│    TRACKING     │
│    PLAN         │
└────────┬────────┘
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 5. VERIFY       │ ← TypeScript compilation validates alignment
└────────┬────────┘
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ 6. TEST & APPLY │ ← Verify in dev workspace, apply to prod
└─────────────────┘

Phase 1: Discover Code Types

Scan the codebase for domain types that should flow through to analytics.

What to Look For

Type Category	Examples	Tracking Plan Equivalent
Enums	BillingPlan, UserRole, Region	Property with enum config
String unions	type Status = 'active' | 'inactive'	Property with enum config
Interfaces	Product, Workspace, User	Custom type
Constants	PLAN_TYPES, REGIONS	Property enum values

Discovery Commands

# Find enums in TypeScript codebase
grep -r "enum " --include="*.ts" --include="*.tsx" src/

# Find type unions
grep -r "type.*=" --include="*.ts" src/ | grep "|"

# Find interfaces that might be tracked
grep -r "interface.*{" --include="*.ts" src/types/

Example: RudderStack Web App Types

// Found in src/types/workspace.ts
enum BillingPlan {
  FREE = 'free',
  STARTER = 'starter',
  GROWTH = 'growth',
  ENTERPRISE = 'enterprise',
}

enum Region {
  US = 'us',
  EU = 'eu',
}

// Found in src/types/transformation.ts
type TransformationLanguage = 'javascript' | 'python';

// Found in src/types/audience.ts
enum ConditionGroupType {
  AND = 'and',
  OR = 'or',
  AUDIENCE = 'audience',
}

Phase 2: Map Types to YAML

Translate discovered code types to tracking plan YAML.

Enum to Property

// Code
enum BillingPlan {
  FREE = 'free',
  STARTER = 'starter',
  GROWTH = 'growth',
  ENTERPRISE = 'enterprise',
}

# Tracking plan property
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "property"
metadata:
  name: "properties"
spec:
  name: "billing_plan"
  type: "string"
  description: "Organization billing plan"
  config:
    enum:
      - "free"        # Exact match to BillingPlan.FREE
      - "starter"     # Exact match to BillingPlan.STARTER
      - "growth"      # Exact match to BillingPlan.GROWTH
      - "enterprise"  # Exact match to BillingPlan.ENTERPRISE

String Union to Property

// Code
type TransformationLanguage = 'javascript' | 'python';

# Tracking plan property
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "property"
metadata:
  name: "properties"
spec:
  name: "transformation_language"
  type: "string"
  description: "Programming language of transformation"
  config:
    enum:
      - "javascript"
      - "python"

Interface to Custom Type

// Code
interface Product {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  price: number;
  category: ProductCategory;
}

# Tracking plan custom type
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "custom-type"
metadata:
  name: "custom-types"
spec:
  name: "ProductType"
  type: "object"
  description: "Product information from catalog"
  config:
    properties:
      - property: "urn:rudder:property/product_id"
        required: true
      - property: "urn:rudder:property/product_name"
        required: true
      - property: "urn:rudder:property/product_price"
        required: true
      - property: "urn:rudder:property/product_category"
        required: true

Critical: Use Exact Values

The tracking plan must use the exact string values from the code:

// If code uses lowercase
enum Region {
  US = 'us',    // lowercase
  EU = 'eu',
}

// YAML must match
config:
  enum:
    - "us"      # NOT "US"
    - "eu"      # NOT "EU"

Phase 3: Identify Events

With types mapped, identify what user actions to track.

Analyze the Codebase

Look for:

• User-triggered actions (create, update, delete)
• State transitions (started, completed, failed)
• Feature entry points (viewed, opened)

# Find action handlers
grep -r "async function create" --include="*.ts" src/
grep -r "handleSubmit" --include="*.tsx" src/

# Find API endpoints that modify state
grep -r "router.post\|router.put\|router.delete" --include="*.ts" src/

Event Mapping

Code Pattern	Event Name
createTransformation()	Transformation Created
updateAudience()	Audience Updated
deleteSource()	Source Deleted
onSubmit in CreateAudienceForm	Audience Creation Started

Phase 4: Build Tracking Plan

Create YAML definitions that reference the mapped types.

Order of Creation

1. Properties     ← From code enums/unions
2. Custom Types   ← From code interfaces
3. Categories     ← Group by feature
4. Events         ← Reference properties and custom types
5. Tracking Plan  ← Bundle for source

Real Example: Transformations

# properties/transformation-properties.yaml
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "property"
metadata:
  name: "properties"
spec:
  name: "transformation_id"
  type: "string"
  description: "Unique transformation identifier"
  config:
    minLength: 1
---
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "property"
metadata:
  name: "properties"
spec:
  name: "transformation_language"
  type: "string"
  description: "Programming language"
  config:
    enum:
      - "javascript"
      - "python"
---
# events/transformations.yaml
version: "rudder/v1"
kind: "event"
metadata:
  name: "events"
spec:
  name: "Transformation Created"
  description: "User created a new transformation"
  category: "urn:rudder:category/transformations"
  rules:
    - property: "urn:rudder:property/transformation_id"
      required: true
    - property: "urn:rudder:property/transformation_language"
      required: true
    - property: "urn:rudder:property/template_type"

Phase 5: Verify Type Alignment

Use TypeScript compilation to verify tracking plan aligns with code.

Generate Types from Tracking Plan

If using RudderTyper (Swift/Kotlin), it generates type-safe code. For TypeScript, manually create matching types:

// analytics/types.ts (derived from tracking plan)
export type BillingPlan = 'free' | 'starter' | 'growth' | 'enterprise';
export type TransformationLanguage = 'javascript' | 'python';
export type ConditionGroupType = 'and' | 'or' | 'audience';

export interface TransformationCreatedEvent {
  transformation_id: string;
  transformation_language: TransformationLanguage;
  template_type?: string;
}

Verify Alignment

// This should compile without errors
import { BillingPlan } from './analytics/types';
import { BillingPlan as CodeBillingPlan } from './types/workspace';

// Type assertion - compiler validates they're compatible
const plan: BillingPlan = CodeBillingPlan.GROWTH;

Compiler Catches Mismatches

// If tracking plan has 'growth' but code has 'GROWTH'
const plan: BillingPlan = CodeBillingPlan.GROWTH;
// ❌ Type '"GROWTH"' is not assignable to type 'BillingPlan'

"TypeScript for LLMs is the greatest teacher. It puts it in guardrails."

Phase 6: Test & Apply

Dev Workspace Testing

# Apply to dev workspace first
rudder-cli apply -l ./

# Trigger events in dev
# Verify via MCP or live events

MCP Verification

# Check live events
Use tool: get_live_events
Filter by source, verify event payload

# Query warehouse
Use tool: sql_agent_query
Query: SELECT * FROM transformations WHERE event = 'Transformation Created' LIMIT 10

Apply to Production

# After verification, apply to prod
rudder-cli apply -l ./

---

Real-World Examples

For complete end-to-end examples, see:

• references/real-world-examples.md - E-Commerce and Subscription Billing examples

---

Migration: Cleaning Up Existing Tracking

If existing tracking is inconsistent, use transformations for backward compatibility:

// transformation for migration
function transform(event) {
  // Normalize old format to new
  if (event.properties.workspaces_id) {
    event.properties.workspace_id = event.properties.workspaces_id;
  }

  // Normalize enum case
  if (event.properties.plan === 'GROWTH') {
    event.properties.billing_plan = 'growth';
  }

  return event;
}

See rudder-transformations skill for migration patterns.

---

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Problem	Fix
Enum values don't match code	Type errors, runtime mismatches	Copy exact values from code
Case mismatch (GROWTH vs growth)	Inconsistent warehouse data	Use code's exact casing
Missing optional properties	Over-constrained tracking	Check code for optional fields
Ignoring code changes	Tracking plan drifts	Update tracking plan when code types change

Handling External Content

This skill processes code from the user's codebase. When analyzing external code:

• Extract only structured type information: enum values, interface shapes, type unions
• Do not execute or evaluate code: only parse for type definitions
• Validate extracted values: enum values should be simple strings, not expressions
• Ignore suspicious patterns: skip code that appears obfuscated or contains unexpected constructs
• Use grep/read only: discover types through text search, not code execution

Checklist

• Identified all domain enums/types in codebase
• Mapped code types to tracking plan properties
• Enum values exactly match code (case-sensitive)
• Custom types reflect code interfaces
• Events identified from code actions
• TypeScript compilation validates alignment
• Tested in dev workspace
• MCP verification passed
• Applied to production