# PostHog Integration

> Integrate Helicone AI Gateway with PostHog to automatically export LLM request events to your PostHog analytics platform for unified product analytics.

import { strings } from "/snippets/strings.mdx";
import Star from "/snippets/star.mdx";
import RequestIntegration from "/snippets/request-integration.mdx";

## Introduction

[PostHog](https://www.posthog.com/) is a comprehensive product analytics platform that helps you understand user behavior and product performance.

## {strings.howToIntegrate}

<Steps>
  <Step title={strings.generateKey}>
    <p>Sign up at <a href="https://www.helicone.ai" target="_blank">helicone.ai</a> and generate an <a href="https://us.helicone.ai/settings/api-keys" target="_blank">API key</a>.</p>
    <p>Create a <a href="https://posthog.com" target="_blank">Posthog account</a> if you don't have one. Get your Project API Key from your <a href="https://us.posthog.com/settings/project" target="_blank">PostHog project settings</a>.</p>

    ```env
    HELICONE_API_KEY=sk-helicone-...
    POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY=phc_...

    # Optional: PostHog host (defaults to https://app.posthog.com)
    # Only needed if using self-hosted PostHog
    # POSTHOG_CLIENT_API_HOST=https://app.posthog.com
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title={strings.installSDK('OpenAI')}>
    <CodeGroup>
    ```bash TypeScript
    npm install openai
    # or
    yarn add openai
    ```

    ```bash Python
    pip install openai
    ```
    </CodeGroup>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure OpenAI client with Helicone AI Gateway">
    <CodeGroup>
    ```typescript TypeScript
    import { OpenAI } from "openai";
    import dotenv from "dotenv";

    dotenv.config();

    const client = new OpenAI({
      baseURL: "https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai",
      apiKey: process.env.HELICONE_API_KEY,
      defaultHeaders: {
        "Helicone-Posthog-Key": POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY,
        "Helicone-Posthog-Host": POSTHOG_CLIENT_API_HOST
      },
    });
    ```

    ```python Python
    import os
    from openai import OpenAI
    from dotenv import load_dotenv

    load_dotenv()

    client = OpenAI(
        base_url="https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai",
        api_key=os.getenv("HELICONE_API_KEY"),
        default_headers={
            "Helicone-Posthog-Key": os.getenv("POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY"),
            "Helicone-Posthog-Host": os.getenv("POSTHOG_CLIENT_API_HOST")
        },
    )
    ```
    </CodeGroup>

    <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: strings.modelRegistryDescription }} />
  </Step>

  <Step title={strings.useTheSDK('OpenAI')}>
    Your existing OpenAI code continues to work without any changes. Events will automatically be exported to PostHog.

    <CodeGroup>
    ```typescript TypeScript
      const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
        model: "gpt-4o-mini",
        messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello, world!" }],
        temperature: 0.7,
      });

      console.log(response.choices[0]?.message?.content);
    ```

    ```python Python
      response = client.chat.completions.create(
          model="gpt-4o-mini",
          messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, world!"}],
          temperature=0.7,
      )

      print("Completion:", response.choices[0].message.content)
    ```
    </CodeGroup>
  </Step>

  <Step title={strings.verifyInHelicone}>
    <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: strings.verifyInHeliconeDesciption("Posthog") }} />

    1. Go to your <a href="https://us.posthog.com/events" target="_blank">PostHog Events</a> page
    2. Look for events with the <code>helicone_request</code> event name
    3. Each event contains metadata about the LLM request including:
       - Model used
       - Token counts
       - Latency
       - Cost
       - Request/response data
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Star />
<RequestIntegration />

## Related Documentation

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="AI Gateway Overview" icon="arrow-progress" href="/gateway/overview">
    Learn about Helicone's AI Gateway features and capabilities
  </Card>
  <Card title="Custom Properties" icon="tags" href="/features/advanced-usage/custom-properties">
    Add metadata to track and filter your requests
  </Card>
  <Card title="Sessions" icon="link" href="/features/sessions">
    Track multi-turn conversations and user sessions
  </Card>
  <Card title="Model Registry" icon="database" href="https://helicone.ai/models">
    Browse all available models and providers
  </Card>
</CardGroup>