module Native Analytics — a native analytics module for ProcessWire

[Roych]

7 hours ago, adrian said:

Sorry, I might start becoming a bit of an annoyance, but what do you think about removing anayltics data that is added to every page's edit interface if the page isn't viewable (no template file, etc), because it will always show zeros.

There is already a setting for this in the "module settings" to disable this on every page. 😉
 

7 hours ago, adrian said:

I am seeing a LOT of bot traffic showing up in the stats - it's effectively making the data useless. ..............

Already working on this, and will probably post an update later today. Working on:
Aggressive bot detection: IP blocklist, 404 filter and some other updates.. 😉

R

[Roych]

just a small update about the next NativeAnalytics version, v1.0.24.

A lot has already been done, but I’m still testing and polishing everything before I publish the full release.

One of the main things I’ve been working on is better bot and crawler filtering. NativeAnalytics should now do a much better job at filtering out AI crawlers, SEO bots, social preview bots, uptime monitors, common HTTP libraries and other automated requests, so the analytics data should be cleaner.

I also added support for the Matomo device-detector library. Thanks to @adrian The module can use a site-wide Composer installation if available, or fall back to the bundled version included with the module. There is now also a clearer status section in the module settings, so it is easier to see what detection method is currently being used.

404 handling has also been improved. The module now tries to avoid logging false 404s when the URL can actually be resolved by modules such as PagePathHistory, ProcessRedirects or Jumplinks.

There are also two new cleanup buttons:

• Cleanup resolvable 404s
• Cleanup suspicious probes

Suspicious probes are now detected better as well. This includes common scanner URLs like WordPress/Joomla/Drupal/Magento/admin login probes, .env, .git, config files, shell upload attempts, path traversal attempts and similar noise.

I also added an optional URL/path filter, so if someone wants to exclude some custom patterns from tracking, this can now be done directly from the module settings.

The module settings page has also been cleaned up and reorganized. It should now be much easier to understand, with clearer sections for tracking, filters, bot detection, privacy/consent, retention, reports and advanced settings.

There are also several smaller improvements around realtime visitors, IP blocking, cleanup tools, bundled library fallback handling and general admin/dashboard styling.

This is not the final release post yet, but the next upgrade is getting close and should be available soon.

[Roych]

NativeAnalytics 1.0.24 is out

Major update focused on getting rid of bot noise that was inflating stats and skewing single-page rates.

What's new:

• Bundled matomo/device-detector — thousands of bot signatures, smart TV / mobile / console detection. No Composer required, but a site-wide Composer install is auto-detected and preferred.
• JavaScript-first tracking mode (new default for fresh installs) — server-side recording disabled by default, JS tracker is the source of truth. Cuts bot traffic by 60–80% because bots don't execute JS. Existing installs keep the legacy "Both" mode on upgrade — switch in module settings when ready.
• Stronger 404 / scanner filtering — IP-rate-limited 404 scanners, unidentifiable user-agents on 404s, and paths that resolve via PagePathHistory redirects are now filtered out of all three entry points (server-side, JS pageview, JS event).
• HTTP libraries treated as bots — curl, wget, python-requests, GuzzleHttp, RSS readers etc. are now correctly filtered.
• Expanded regex fallback with 2025/2026 AI scrapers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, ByteSpider, Meta-ExternalAgent and ~25 more).
• GitHub-based update check for the bundled device-detector — settings page shows when a newer release is available with manual update instructions (24h cached, no auto-downloads for safety).
• Module settings page reorganized into 7 collapsible fieldsets with two-column layouts.

Upgrade is safe — your tracking mode stays at "Both" unless you change it. After upgrade I recommend switching to "JavaScript first" in module settings and watching the difference.

A note on the bundled matomo/device-detector — the version shipped with this module (6.4.2) is intentionally a bit behind the latest release. Bundled libraries are meant as a fallback to keep the module self-contained; pinning a known-tested version avoids surprises when matomo introduces new detection rules or minor API changes between releases.

The module checks GitHub for newer matomo releases in the background and shows an "Update available" notice in the settings when one is out. If you want the latest detection rules, the recommended path is to install matomo/device-detector site-wide via Composer (composer require matomo/device-detector) — the module will automatically prefer the Composer copy over the bundled one. Alternatively, you can replace the contents of /site/modules/NativeAnalytics/lib/matomo-device-detector/ with a newer release from the matomo GitHub page (instructions are in the module settings under the version notice).

The release has been tested, but with this many changes some edge cases may still slip through. If you notice anything off, please let me know so we can fix it. 😉

Cheers
R