Interactions

Generates: Spans

Tracks user journeys across your app. An interaction is a server-defined sequence of events (e.g. cart → payment → confirmation) that, when completed, is emitted as a single OTel span with all constituent steps captured as span events.

Interactions are defined and controlled entirely from the Pulse dashboard — no code changes are needed to define new flows.

How It Works

The SDK continuously listens to trackEvent() calls. When a sequence of events matches a server-configured interaction definition, it creates a span covering the full duration of that flow.

Configuration

Enabled by default via interaction { } in initialize(). The SDK fetches interaction flow definitions from the Pulse backend at startup — the URL is automatically derived from your endpointBaseUrl.

PulseSDK.INSTANCE.initialize(
    application = this,
    endpointBaseUrl = "https://your-backend.com",
    apiKey = "your-api-key",
    dataCollectionState = PulseDataCollectionConsent.ALLOWED,
) {
    interaction { enabled(true) }
}

If your interaction config is served from a different host, you can override the URL locally:

interaction {
    setConfigUrl { "https://your-config-host.com/v1/interaction-configs/" }
}

Telemetry Events Feed

Interactions are built from trackEvent() calls. Any event tracked via the SDK can participate in an interaction flow:

PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent("cart_viewed", System.currentTimeMillis())
PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent("checkout_started", System.currentTimeMillis())
PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent("payment_completed", System.currentTimeMillis())

When the server defines this as an interaction named "CheckoutFlow", the SDK emits a span covering the full duration with each event as a span event.

Example: Checkout Flow

Here's how a 3-step checkout interaction looks in practice. Each trackEvent() call lives wherever that action happens in your app:

// Step 1 — user opens cart (CartFragment.onResume)
PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent(
    "cart_viewed",
    System.currentTimeMillis(),
    mapOf("cart.item_count" to 3, "cart.total" to 149.99)
)

// Step 2 — user taps "Proceed to Pay" (CheckoutFragment)
PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent(
    "checkout_started",
    System.currentTimeMillis(),
    mapOf("payment.method" to "upi")
)

// Step 3 — payment confirmed (PaymentResultFragment)
PulseSDK.INSTANCE.trackEvent(
    "payment_completed",
    System.currentTimeMillis(),
    mapOf("order.id" to "ORD-8821", "payment.status" to "success")
)

On the Pulse dashboard, define an interaction named CheckoutFlow with the trigger sequence cart_viewed → checkout_started → payment_completed. The SDK then emits a single span:

Field	Value
Span name	CheckoutFlow
Span duration	Time from cart_viewed to payment_completed
Span events	3 events, each with its attributes and timestamp
Span status	OK (or ERROR if any event in the sequence is marked errored)

What Gets Tracked

Telemetry	Description
Span name	Interaction name (defined in dashboard)
Span timing	Start of first event → end of last event
Span events	Each constituent event with its attributes and timestamp
Span status	ERROR if any event in the sequence is marked as errored

Next Steps

• Pulse dashboard — View and define interaction flows
• Custom Events — The event tracking that feeds interactions