Mixpanel SDKs: Java

Getting Started

The Mixpanel Java library is useful for tracking events from Java servers.

The Full API Reference, Library Source Code and an Example Application is documented in our GitHub repo.

Installing the Library

To install the library, declare it as a dependency in your project’s pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.mixpanel</groupId>
    <artifactId>mixpanel-java</artifactId>
    <version>1.5.2</version>
</dependency>

If you’re not using Maven to build your project, you can browse and download the library jar directly from Maven central.

To use the library, import the MessageBuilder, MixpanelAPI, and ClientDelivery classes in to your code.

The library sends data by using MessageBuilder to create payload messages, using ClientDelivery to bundle the messages, then using MixpanelAPI to push the bundles into Mixpanel.

The MessageBuilder instance must be initialized with your project token.

// import the classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder; // create messages
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.ClientDelivery; // bundle messages
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI; // send bundles to Mixpanel
 
// initialize MessageBuilder class
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");

Sending Events

To send events, use the event() method under the MessageBuilder class to create the event message payload by providing a distinct_id, event name, and any event properties. The JSONObjects produced by MessageBuilder are completely self-contained, and can be sent over a network or enqueued for later processing.

Then bundle the events using ClientDelivery, and send them to your project with MixpanelAPI. This will trigger a request to the /track API endpoint to ingest the events into your project.

The /track endpoint will only validate events with timestamps within the last 5 days of the request. Events with timestamps older than 5 days will not be ingested. See below on best practices for historical imports.

Example Usage

// import library classes
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.ClientDelivery;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder with your project token
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create an event
JSONObject someEvent =
    messageBuilder.event(distinctId, "some_event", null);
 
// Create event properties
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put("Location", "San Francisco");
props.put("Plan", "Premium");
 
// create an event with event properties
JSONObject otherEvent =
    messageBuilder.event(distinctId, "other_event", props);
 
// initialize ClientDelivery, and bundle the 2 events above
ClientDelivery delivery = new ClientDelivery();
delivery.addMessage(someEvent);
delivery.addMessage(otherEvent);
 
// Initialize MixpanelAPI, then use it to send the bundle to your project
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
mixpanel.deliver(delivery);

Mixpanel determines default geolocation data ($city, $region, mp_country_code) using the IP address on the incoming request. As all server-side calls will likely originate from the same IP (that is, the IP of your server), this can have the unintended effect of setting the location of all of your users to the location of your data center. Learn more about best practices for geolocation..

Importing Historical Events

The Java SDK is a tracking SDK designed for real-time tracking in a server-side environment. When MixpanelAPI detects an event message, it triggers a request to our /track API endpoint to send the payload to your project, which will validate for events with a timestamp that is within the last 5 days of the request. Events older than 5 days will not be ingested.

For bulk import of historical events older than 5 days, we will need to use the /import API endpoint which is optimized for scripting and supports ingesting historical data. We recommend the Python SDK (see the .import_data() function) and mixpanel-utils module (see the import_events() function) which both leverages the /import API for event ingestion.

Managing User Identity

Since the Java SDK is a server-side library, IDs are not generated by the SDK. Instead, you will need to generate and manage the distinct_id yourself and include it in your events and profile data.

Learn more about server-side identity management.

Storing User Profiles

Create user profiles by setting profile properties to describe them. Example profile properties include “name”, “email”, “company”, and any other demographic details about the user.

The Java SDK provides a few methods for setting profile properties, which will trigger requests to the /engage API endpoint.

Setting Profile Properties

To set profile properties, create a profile update message payload with MessageBuilder.set. Then send it to your project with MixpanelAPI.

If a profile property already exist, if will be overwritten with the latest value provided in the method. If a profile property does not exist, it will be added to the profile.

Example Usage

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile update message for "sample_distinct_id"
// with "Plan" property and geolocation disabled
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put("Plan", "Premium");
props.put("$ip", "0"); // do not update profile location
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
 
// Send the message to mixpanel
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);
 
// overwrite "Plan" with "deluxe"
JSONObject updateProps = new JSONObject();
updateProps.put("Plan", "deluxe");
updateProps.put("$ip", "0");
JSONObject updateUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", updateProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateUser);

Other Types of Profile Updates

There are a few other methods for setting profile properties by creating different messages using MessageBuilder. See a complete reference of the available methods here

A few commonly used people methods are highlighted below:

The MessageBuilder.setOnce() method set profile properties only if they do not exist yet. If it is setting a profile property that already exists, it will be ignored.

Use this method if you want to set profile properties without the risk of overwriting existing data.

Example Usage

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile update message for "sample_distinct_id"
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put("name", "Sam");
props.put("$ip", "0"); // do not update profile location
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
 
// Send the message to mixpanel
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);
 
// will be ignored since "name" already exists
JSONObject updateProps = new JSONObject();
updateProps.put("name", "Samantha");
updateProps.put("$ip", "0");
JSONObject updateUser = messageBuilder.setOnce("sample_distinct_id", updateProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateUser);

The MessageBuilder.append() method append values to a list profile property.

Use this method to add additional values to an existing list property instead of redefining the entire list.

Example Usage

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile update message for "sample_distinct_id"
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
String[] roles = {"sales", "engineer"};
props.put("name", "Sam");
props.put("roles", roles);
props.put("$ip", "0");
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);
 
// add "legal" to "roles"  
// new role values are ['sales','engineer','legal']
JSONObject newProps = new JSONObject();
newProps.put("roles","legal")
JSONObject updateUser = messageBuilder.append("sample_distinct_id", newProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateUser);
 
// append allows duplicates
// new "roles" values are ['sales','engineer','legal', 'legal']
JSONObject newerProps = new JSONObject();
newerProps.put("roles","legal")
JSONObject updateUserAgain = messageBuilder.append("sample_distinct_id", newerProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateUserAgain);

The MessageBuilder.union() method append new values to a list property, excluding duplicates.

Use this method to create a list profile property that only contains unique values without duplicates.

Example Usage

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile update message for "sample_distinct_id"
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
String[] roles = {"sales", "engineer"};
props.put('name', 'Sam');
props.put('roles', roles);
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);
 
// append "engineer" to "roles"
// will be ignored since "engineer" already exists in "roles"
JSONObject newProps = new JSONObject();
newProps.put("roles","engineer");
JSONObject updateRoles = messageBuilder.union("sample_distinct_id", newProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateRoles);
 
// append "legal" to "roles"
// new role values are ['sales','engineer','legal']
JSONObject newerProps = new JSONObject();
newerProps.put("roles","legal");
JSONObject updateRolesAgain = messageBuilder.union("sample_distinct_id", newProps);
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateRolesAgain);

The MessageBuilder.increment() method increments a numeric property by a whole number.

Use this method to add to or subtract from your numeric property based on its current value.

Example Usage

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// set profile properties for user "sample_distinct_id"
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put('name', 'Sam');
props.put('age', 25);
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);
 
// increment "age" by 2
JSONObject newAge = new JSONObject();
newAge.put("age", 2);
JSONObject addAge = messageBuilder.increment("sample_distinct_id", newAge);
mixpanel.sendMessage(addAge);
 
// use negative number to decrement
// decrement "age" by 5
JSONObject newerAge = new JSONObject();
newerAge.put("age", -5);
JSONObject subtractAge = messageBuilder.increment("sample_distinct_id", newerAge);
mixpanel.sendMessage(subtractAge);

Group Analytics

Read more about Group Analytics before proceeding. You will need to have the group key defined in your project settings first.

Mixpanel Group Analytics is a paid add-on that allows behavioral data analysis by selected groups, as opposed to individual users.

A group is identified by the group_key and group_id.

group_key is the event property that connects event data to a group. (e.g. company)
group_id is the identifier for a specific group. (e.g. mixpanel,company_a,company_b, etc.)

Sending Group Identifiers With Events

All events must have the group key as an event property in order to be attributed to a group. Without the group key, an event cannot be attributed to a group.

To send group identifiers with your events, set the group_key as an event property with the group_id as the value.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanelApi = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// send event with "name" and "company" event props
// event is associated with the "mixpanel" company group
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put("name", "sam");
props.put("company", "mixpanel")
JSONObject eventPayload =
    messageBuilder.event("sample_distinct_id", "some_event", props);
mixpanel.sendMessage(eventPayload);

Multiple Groups

An event can be attributed to multiple groups by passing in the group_key value as a list of multiple group_id values.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanelApi = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// send event with "name" and "company" event props
// event is associated with the 2 company groups ("mp-eu" and "mp-us")
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
String[] companies = {"mp-eu", "mp-us"};
props.put("name", "sam");
props.put("company", companies)
JSONObject eventPayload =
    messageBuilder.event("sample_distinct_id", "some_event", props);
mixpanel.sendMessage(eventPayload);

Adding Group Identifiers to User Profiles

To connect group information to a user profile, include the group_key and group_id as a user profile property using the .set() call.

// import classes from the library
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
// initialize MessageBuilder and MixpanelAPI
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile update message for "sample_distinct_id"
// with group key "company" as user prop and group id "mixpanel" as value
JSONObject props = new JSONObject();
props.put("company", "mixpanel");
props.put("$ip", "0"); // do not update profile location
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", props);
 
// Send the message to mixpanel
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUser);

Setting Group Profile Properties

Create a group profile by setting group properties, similar to a user profile. For example, you may want to describe a company group with properties such as “ARR”, “employee_count”, and “subscription”.

To set group profile properties, use the MessageBuilder.groupSet() function, which will trigger a request to the /groups API endpoint.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create a group profile with group_key = "company", group_id = "mixpanel"
// and assign the properties "name" and "industry"
JSONObject groupProperties = new JSONObject();
groupProperties.put("name", "Mixpanel");
groupProperties.put("industry", "analytics");
JSONObject message = messageBuilder.groupSet(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProperties
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(message);

Other Group Profile Methods

See all of the group methods under the MessageBuilder class here.

A few commonly used group methods are highlighted below:

The MessageBuilder.groupSetOnce() method set group profile properties only if they do not exist yet. If it is setting a profile property that already exists, it will be ignored.

Use this method if you want to set group profile properties without the risk of overwriting existing data.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create a group profile with group_key = "company", group_id = "mixpanel"
JSONObject groupProperties = new JSONObject();
groupProperties.put("name", "Mixpanel");
groupProperties.put("industry", "analytics");
JSONObject message = messageBuilder.groupSet(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProperties
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(message);
 
// will be ignored since "name" already exists
JSONObject groupProps = new JSONObject();
groupProps.put("name", "mp-us");
JSONObject updateMsg = messageBuilder.groupSetOnce(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProps
    );
mixpanel.sendMessage(updateMsg);
 
// set location group prop
JSONObject newGroupProps = new JSONObject();
newGroupProps.put("location", "us");
JSONObject newUpdateMsg = messageBuilder.groupSetOnce(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    newGroupProps
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(newUpdateMsg);
 
//

The MessageBuilder.groupUnset() method removes a group property from a group profile.

Use this method to delete unwanted group profile properties from a specific group profile.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create a group profile with group_key = "company", group_id = "mixpanel"
JSONObject groupProperties = new JSONObject();
groupProperties.put("name", "Mixpanel");
groupProperties.put("industry", "analytics");
JSONObject message = messageBuilder.groupSet(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProperties
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(message);
 
 
// delete "industry" from the group profile
ArrayList<String> unsetPropNames = new ArrayList<>(
    Arrays.asList("industry")
);
JSONObject unsetMsg = messageBuilder.groupUnset(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    unsetPropNames
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(unsetMsg)
 
// only "name" remains as a group prop

The MessageBuilder.groupUnion() method append new values to a list property, excluding duplicates.

Use this method to create a list group profile property that only contains unique values without duplicates.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create a group profile with group_key = "company", group_id = "mixpanel"
ArrayList<String> featuresList = new ArrayList<String>(
    Arrays.asList("alert","report","cohort")
);
JSONObject groupProps = new JSONObject();
groupProps.put("name", "Mixpanel");
groupProps.put("features", featuresList);
JSONObject message = messageBuilder.groupSet(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProps
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(message);
 
// add "data pipeline" to "features" prop
// ignore "alert" since it is a duplicate value
ArrayList<String> addFeaturesList = new ArrayList<String>(
    Arrays.asList("pipeline","alert")
);
JSONObject newGroupProps = new JSONObject();
newGroupProps.put("features", addFeaturesList);
JSONObject newMsg = messageBuilder.groupUnion(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    newGroupProps
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(newMsg);

The groupRemove() method removes a value from a list-valued group profile property.

Use this method to remove specific values from a list without affecting all of the other values in the list.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
MessageBuilder messageBuilder = new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
// Create a group profile with group_key = "company", group_id = "mixpanel"
ArrayList<String> featuresList = new ArrayList<String>(
    Arrays.asList("alert","report","cohort")
);
JSONObject groupProps = new JSONObject();
groupProps.put("name", "Mixpanel");
groupProps.put("features", featuresList);
JSONObject message = messageBuilder.groupSet(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    groupProps
);
mixpanel.sendMessage(message);
 
//remove "alert" from "features"
// "features" now contain ["reports","cohorts"]
JSONObject removeFeature = new JSONObject();
removeFeature.put("features","alert");
JSONObject newMsg = messageBuilder.groupRemove(
    "company",
    "mixpanel",
    removeFeature
)
mixpanel.sendMessage(newMsg)

Privacy-Friendly Tracking

You have control over the data you send to Mixpanel. The Ruby SDK have a few configurations to help you protect user data.

Since this is a server-side tracking library where you have control of the servers, your server is responsible for determining whether to send data about a particular user or not.

EU Data Residency

Route data to Mixpanel’s EU servers by passing in positional arguments into the MixpanelAPI constructor:

Example Usage

// set event, people, and group endpoints to Mixpanel's EU domains
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI( "https://api-eu.mixpanel.com/track",
                                        "https://api-eu.mixpanel.com/engage",
                                        "https://api-eu.mixpanel.com/groups");

India Data Residency

Route data to Mixpanel’s India servers by passing in positional arguments into the MixpanelAPI constructor:

Example Usage

// set event, people, and group endpoints to Mixpanel's India domains
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI( "https://api-in.mixpanel.com/track",
                                        "https://api-in.mixpanel.com/engage",
                                        "https://api-in.mixpanel.com/groups");

Disable Geolocation

The Java SDK parse the request IP address to generate geolocation properties for events and profiles. You may want to disable them to prevent the unintentional setting of your data’s geolocation to the location of your server that is sending the request, or to prevent geolocation data from being tracked entirely.

To disable geolocation, set the ip of your events and profile updates to 0.

Example Usage

import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MessageBuilder;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.ClientDelivery;
import com.mixpanel.mixpanelapi.MixpanelAPI;
 
MessageBuilder messageBuilder =
    new MessageBuilder("YOUR_PROJECT_TOKEN");
 
MixpanelAPI mixpanel = new MixpanelAPI();
 
// create profile without updating geolocation
JSONObject userProps = new JSONObject();
userProps.put("Plan", "Premium");
userProps.put("$ip", "0"); // do not update profile location
JSONObject newUser = messageBuilder.set("sample_distinct_id", userProps);
 
//send event without geolocation parsing
JSONObject eventProps = new JSONObject();
eventProps.put("name", "sam");
eventProps.put("ip", "0");
JSONObject someEvent = messageBuilder.event(distinctId, "some_event", eventProps);
 
 
ClientDelivery delivery = new ClientDelivery();
delivery.addMessage(newUser);
delivery.addMessage(someEvent);
 
mixpanel.sendMessage(delivery);

Release History

See all releases.

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