tomevault-io Understanding walkerOS Events
Overview
walkerOS events are self-describing, stateless, vendor-agnostic data structures. They capture user interactions in a standardized format that can be transformed for any destination.
Core principle: Events describe WHAT happened, not WHERE it goes. Stateless. Self-describing. Industry-agnostic.
Entity-Action Naming (Critical)
STRICT REQUIREMENT: All events use "entity action" format with space separation.
// Correct
'page view';
'product add';
'order complete';
'button click';
// Wrong
'page_view'; // underscore
'pageview'; // no separator
'purchase'; // no entity
'add_to_cart'; // wrong format
Parsing: const [entity, action] = event.split(' ')
- Entity: Noun (page, product, user, order, button)
- Action: Verb (view, add, complete, click, login)
Event Properties
See
packages/core/src/types/walkeros.ts
for canonical types (Event interface, plus event helpers in event.ts).
| Property | Type | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
name |
string | "entity action" format | "product view" |
data |
object | Entity-specific properties | { id: "P123", price: 99 } |
context |
object | State/environment info | { stage: ["checkout", 1] } |
globals |
object | Global properties | { language: "en" } |
user |
object | User identification | { id: "user123" } |
nested |
array | Related entities | [{ type: "category", data: {...} }] |
consent |
object | Consent states | { marketing: true } |
id |
string | Auto-generated unique ID | "1647261462000-01b5e2-2" |
timestamp |
number | Auto-generated Unix ms | 1647261462000 |
entity |
string | Parsed from name | "product" |
action |
string | Parsed from name | "view" |
data Property
Entity-specific properties. Schema-free but consistent within entity type.
// product entity
data: { id: "P123", name: "Laptop", price: 999, currency: "USD" }
// page entity
data: { title: "Home", path: "/", referrer: "https://..." }
context Property
Hierarchical state information. Format: { name: [value, order] }
context: {
stage: ["checkout", 1], // checkout stage, first step
test: ["variant-A", 0], // A/B test variant
group: ["premium", 2] // user segment
}
globals Property
Properties that apply to ALL events in the session.
globals: {
language: "en",
currency: "USD",
environment: "production"
}
nested Property
Related entities captured together.
// Order with line items
nested: [
{ type: 'product', data: { id: 'P1', quantity: 2 } },
{ type: 'product', data: { id: 'P2', quantity: 1 } },
];
user Property
User identification across sessions.
user: {
id: "user123", // Your user ID
device: "device456", // Device fingerprint
session: "sess789" // Session ID
}
Design Principles
Statelessness
Events are immutable snapshots. They don't reference previous events or maintain state.
Self-Describing
Events contain all context needed to understand them. No external lookups required.
Vendor-Agnostic
Events use generic concepts (product, order) not vendor-specific (GA4 item, FB content).
Transformation to vendor formats happens in mapping, not in event creation.
Creating Events
import { elb } from '@walkeros/collector';
// Basic event
await elb('page view', { title: 'Home', path: '/' });
// With all properties
await elb(
'product add',
{ id: 'P123', price: 99 }, // data
{ stage: ['cart', 1] }, // context (optional)
{ currency: 'USD' }, // globals (optional)
);
Related Skills
- walkeros-understanding-mapping - Transform events for destinations
- walkeros-understanding-flow - Data flow architecture
Source Files:
- packages/core/src/types/walkeros.ts - Event types
- packages/core/src/schemas/ - Event schemas
Documentation:
- Website: Event Model - User-facing docs
- walkeros.io/docs - Public documentation
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