Analytics Pipeline Project
Build a Complete Web Analytics System
This project takes you from raw browser events to actionable insights. You will build every component of a real analytics data pipeline: a JavaScript collector, server-side ingestion endpoints, a MySQL storage layer, a reporting API, and a dashboard to visualize it all.
By the end, you will understand how tools like Google Analytics, Plausible, and Amplitude work under the hood — because you will have built one yourself.
The Pipeline
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ COLLECT │───>│ PROCESS │───>│ STORE │───>│ REPORT │───>│ DASHBOARD │───>│ DECIDE │
│ │ │ & INGEST │ │ │ │ API │ │ │ │ │
│ Browser │ │ Validate │ │ MySQL │ │ JSON │ │ Charts │ │ Actions │
│ Events │ │ Enrich │ │ Tables │ │ Endpoints │ │ Tables │ │ Budgets │
│ Beacons │ │ Sessionize │ │ Index │ │ Auth │ │ Filters │ │ Triage │
└──────────┘ └──────────────┘ └─────────┘ └────────────┘ └───────────┘ └──────────┘
10 modules 4 modules 3 modules 2 modules 4 modules 1 module
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLIENT (Browser) │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ Page load, clicks, │
│ │collector.js │ errors, performance │
│ │ │ Web Vitals │
│ └──────┬──────┘ │
└─────────┼───────────────────────────────────┘
│ POST /collect (JSON)
│ sendBeacon / fetch
┌─────────▼───────────────────────────────────┐
│ SERVER (Node.js or PHP) │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Validate │─>│ Enrich │─>│Sessionize│ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └────┬─────┘ │
└────────────────────────────────────┼────────┘
│ INSERT
┌────────────────────────────────────▼────────┐
│ MySQL Database │
│ │
│ pageviews │ events │ errors │ performance │
│ sessions │ users │ (dashboard accounts) │
└────────────────────────────────────┬────────┘
│ SELECT
┌────────────────────────────────────▼────────┐
│ Reporting API (Node.js or PHP) │
│ │
│ GET /api/pageviews GET /api/performance │
│ GET /api/sessions GET /api/errors │
│ GET /api/dashboard POST /api/login │
└────────────────────────────────────┬────────┘
│ JSON
┌────────────────────────────────────▼────────┐
│ Dashboard (SPA) │
│ │
│ Login │ Overview │ Reports │ Admin │
│ Charts, tables, date filters, user mgmt │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Pipeline Phases
1. Collection Complete 10 modules
Build a JavaScript analytics collector from scratch — from a first beacon to a production-ready, configurable library with plugins.
sendBeacon & fetch delivery
Performance timing & Web Vitals
Error tracking & extensions
Configuration API & plugins
Collector Tutorial →
2. Server Processing 4 modules
Build server-side endpoints that receive, validate, enrich, and sessionize analytics beacons before storing them.
Node.js Express endpoint
PHP PDO endpoint
Validation & sanitization
Session stitching
Server Processing →
3. Storage 3 modules
Design a MySQL schema for analytics data, write reporting queries, and implement data retention policies.
Schema design (6 tables)
Analytics queries
Partitioning & retention
Storage →
4. Reporting API 2 modules
Build authenticated JSON API endpoints that power the dashboard with aggregated analytics data.
Node.js reporting routes
PHP reporting routes
Session auth & roles
Reporting API →
5. Dashboard 4 modules
Build a single-page dashboard that visualizes analytics data with charts, tables, and filters.
Login & authentication
Overview with charts
Speed & error reports
User admin panel
Dashboard →
6. Decisions 1 module
Close the loop: use analytics data to make engineering decisions about performance budgets, error triage, and optimization.
Actionable vs. vanity metrics
Performance budgets
Error triage workflows
Continuous improvement
Decisions →
Companion Resources