Redshift Import

What does the Redshift Import app do?

The Redshift Import app for PostHog enables you, predictably, to import data from a Redshift table into PostHog. Data appears in PostHog as a stream of events.

What are the requirements for this app?

Using the Redshift Import app requires either PostHog Cloud, or a self-hosted PostHog instance running version 1.30.0 or later.

Not running 1.30.0? Find out how to update your self-hosted PostHog deployment!

You'll also need access to a Redshift table to import from.

How do I install the Redshift Import app?

First, create and select a Redshift table to use. You will also need to create a new user with sufficient privileges to access data in your selected table.

Next, create a new table to store events and execute INSERT queries. You can and should block PostHog from doing anything else on any other tables. Giving PostHog table creation permissions should be enough to ensure this:

CREATE USER posthog WITH PASSWORD '123456yZ';
GRANT CREATE ON DATABASE your_database TO posthog;

Next, visit the "Apps" page in your instance of PostHog and search for 'Redshift Import'. Select the app, press Install. Follow the on-screen steps to configure the app.

Finally, you must determine what transformation to apply to your Redshift data. This app receives data from your table and transforms it into a PostHog event. You can check the available transformations below.

IMPORTANT: Make sure your Redshift table has a sort key and use the sort key column in the "Order by column" field of the app config.

What transformations are available?

This app receives data from your table and transforms it into a PostHog event.

The default transformation looks for the following columns in your table: event, timestamp, distinct_id, and properties, and maps them to the equivalent PostHog event fields of the same name.

async function transform (row, _) {
    const { timestamp, distinct_id, event, properties } = row
    const eventToIngest = {
        event,
        properties: {
            timestamp,
            distinct_id,
            ...JSON.parse(properties),
            source: 'redshift_import',
        }
    }
    return eventToIngest
}

Another available transformation is the JSON Map. This transformation asks the user for a JSON file containing a map between their columns and fields of a PostHog event. For example:

{
    "event_name": "event",
    "some_row": "timestamp",
    "some_other_row": "distinct_id"
}

A version of the code is below, with error handling and type definitions removed for the sake of brevity.

async function transform (row, { attachments }) {
    let rowToEventMap = JSON.parse(attachments.rowToEventMap.contents.toString())

    const eventToIngest = {
        event: '',
        properties: {}
    }

    for (const [colName, colValue] of Object.entries(row)) {
        if (!rowToEventMap[colName]) {
            continue
        }
        if (rowToEventMap[colName] === 'event') {
            eventToIngest.event = colValue
        } else {
            eventToIngest.properties[rowToEventMap[colName]] = colValue
        }
    }

    return eventToIngest
}

How can I contribute a transformation?

If none of the transformations listed above suits your use case, you're more than welcome to contribute your own transformation!

To do so, just add your transformation to the transformations object in the index.ts file of the repo and list it in the plugin.json choices list for the field transformationName.

A transformation entry looks like this:

'<transformation name here>': {
    author: '<your github username here>',
    transform: async (row, meta) => {
        /*

        Fill in your transformation here and
        make sure to return an event according to
        the TransformedPluginEvent interface:

        interface TransformedPluginEvent {
            event: string,
            properties?: PluginEvent['properties']
        }

        */
    }
}

Your GitHub username is important so that we only allow changes to transformations by the authors themselves.

Configuration

Is the source code for this app available?

PostHog is open-source and so are all apps on the platform. The source code for the Redshift Import app is available on GitHub.

Who created this app?

We'd like to thank PostHog team member Yakko Majuri and community member Utsavkumar Lal for creating the Redshift Import app. Thank you, both!

Who maintains this app?

This app is maintained by PostHog. If you have issues with the app not functioning as intended, please raise a bug report to let us know!

What if I have feedback on this app?

We love feature requests and feedback! Please create an issue to tell us what you think.

What if my question isn't answered above?

We love answering questions. Ask us anything via our Support page.

You can also join the PostHog Community Slack group to collaborate with others and get advice on developing your own PostHog apps.