RxInfer Usage Telemetry

RxInfer has two separate telemetry features:

A minimal package usage counter (enabled by default)
Optional session sharing for better support and development insights

Note

The telemetry implementation in RxInfer has been designed with careful consideration of the community discussion about telemetry in Julia packages, particularly the discourse thread "Pkg.jl telemetry should be opt-in". We've aimed to strike a balance between gathering useful information for package development while respecting user privacy and control.

The following table compares the key properties of RxInfer's two telemetry features.

Property	Package Usage Counter	Session Sharing
Entirely Anonymous	Yes	Yes
Shared Across Julia Sessions	No	No
Enabled by default	Yes (opt-out)	No (opt-in)
Deletion Request Support	No (UUIDs not persistent, we cannot backtrace the session to a specific user)	Yes* (only if users save their session ID and share it with us anonymously with the form below, otherwise we cannot backtrace the session to a specific user)
Can Be Disabled for a Specific Julia Session	Yes	Yes (disabled by default)
Can Be Disabled for All Julia Sessions	Yes	Yes (disabled by default)
Can Be Disabled with Environment Variable	Yes	Yes (disabled by default)
Customizable Behavior	Yes (with Preferences.jl, see Package Usage Counter manual)	Yes (with Preferences.jl, see Session Sharing manual)
Can Be Enabled for a Specific Julia Session	Yes	Yes
Can Be Enabled for All Julia Sessions	Yes	Yes
What Is Being Recorded	Only timestamp and random UUID	Session metadata & errors, no actual data
Real-Time Sharing of Recorded Data	Yes (on package load)	Optional (manual/automatic)
Local Access to Recorded Data	N/A (No data is collected)	Yes (via session inspection, see Session Summary manual)
Enables Extra Support from Core Developers	No	Yes* (if users are willing to share their session ID when opening a GitHub issue or a discussion on the GitHub repository, otherwise we cannot backtrace the session to a specific user)
Performance Impact	Negligible (only on package load)	Minimal (async sharing)
CI Environment Behavior	Automatically disabled	Automatically disabled

Users are welcome to join our regular online meetings where we analyze the collected data and discuss how it helps shape RxInfer's development.

Package Usage Counter

By default, RxInfer counts how many times the package is loaded via using RxInfer. This counter:

Only records a timestamp and a random UUID for deduplication
UUIDs are not persistent and are re-generated for each session
Does not collect any code, data, or environment information
Is completely anonymous
Helps us understand how widely RxInfer is used

[Disabling Package Usage Counter

You can disable the counter in several ways:

Using Julia functions:

using RxInfer
RxInfer.disable_rxinfer_using_telemetry!() # Requires Julia restart

Using environment variables:
```
export LOG_USING_RXINFER=false
```

The counter is also automatically disabled in:

CI environments (detected via CI=true environment variable)
When telemetry is disabled via disable_rxinfer_using_telemetry!()
When the telemetry endpoint is set to nothing

RxInfer.log_using_rxinfer — Function

log_using_rxinfer()

Send an anonymous usage statistics event to the telemetry endpoint on using RxInfer. This function makes an asynchronous HTTP POST request to the configured endpoint. See RxInfer.set_telemetry_endpoint! to configure the endpoint. If the telemetry endpoint is set to nothing, this function does nothing. The call sends only timestamp and a random UUID. The request is made asynchronously to avoid blocking the user's workflow. See RxInfer.disable_rxinfer_using_telemetry! to disable telemetry on using RxInfer. Alternatively, set the environment variable LOG_USING_RXINFER to false to disable logging.

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RxInfer.disable_rxinfer_using_telemetry! — Function

disable_rxinfer_using_telemetry!()

Disable telemetry collection on using RxInfer at compile time. The change requires a Julia session restart to take effect.

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RxInfer.enable_rxinfer_using_telemetry! — Function

enable_rxinfer_using_telemetry!()

Enable telemetry collection on using RxInfer at compile time. The change requires a Julia session restart to take effect.

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RxInfer.set_telemetry_endpoint! — Function

set_telemetry_endpoint!(endpoint)

Set the telemetry endpoint URL for RxInfer.jl at compile time. This endpoint is used for collecting anonymous usage statistics to help improve the package.

The change requires a Julia session restart to take effect.

Arguments

endpoint: The URL of the telemetry endpoint as a String or nothing`

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RxInfer includes a built-in session tracking feature (detailed in Session Summary) that helps you monitor and debug your inference tasks. You can choose to share these sessions with core developers to:

Get better support when encountering issues
Help improve RxInfer through real-world usage insights
Contribute to community-driven development

Read more about what data is present in the session history in the Session Summary manual.

You can share your session data either manually or automatically.

Use the share_session_data function to manually share your session:

RxInfer.share_session_data — Function

share_session_data(session = RxInfer.default_session(); show_progress::Bool = true)

Share your session data to help improve RxInfer.jl and its community. This data helps us:

Understand how the package is used in practice
Identify areas for improvement
Make informed decisions about future development
Share aggregate usage patterns in our community meetings

The data is organized in a structured way:

Basic session info (Julia version, OS, etc.)
Anonymous statistics about different types of package usage
Information about individual labeled runs

All data is anonymous and only used to improve the package. We discuss aggregate statistics in our public community meetings to make the development process transparent and collaborative.

Arguments

session::Session: The session object containing data to share
show_progress::Bool = true: Whether to display progress bars during sharing

Progress Display

When show_progress is true (default), the function displays:

A blue progress bar for sharing session statistics
A green progress bar for sharing labeled runs

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You can enable automatic session sharing after each session update:

RxInfer.enable_automatic_session_sharing! — Function

enable_automatic_session_sharing!()

Enable automatic session sharing after each inference call. The change requires a Julia session restart to take effect. When enabled, session data will be automatically shared after each successful inference call. This helps improve RxInfer by providing usage patterns and helps with debugging issues.

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RxInfer.disable_automatic_session_sharing! — Function

disable_automatic_session_sharing!()

Disable automatic session sharing after inference calls. The change requires a Julia session restart to take effect.

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When automatic sharing is enabled:

Session data is shared after each session update
Sharing is done asynchronously (won't block your code)
No progress bars or messages are shown
Failed sharing attempts are silently ignored

Using Session IDs in Issues

When you share a session and then open a GitHub issue, include your session ID. This helps us:

Link your issue to the shared session data
Understand your usage context
Provide more accurate and helpful support

Deleting Shared Data

If you wish to delete previously shared session data, you can contact the core developers through GitHub issues at RxInfer.jl or anonymously with the following form.

When requesting deletion, you must provide the session UUID. Without this identifier, we cannot trace specific sessions back to individual users. See the Session Summary manual for details on how to obtain your session ID.

Privacy and Control

Remember:

Session sharing is completely optional
All statistics are anonymous, UUIDs are not persistent and are re-generated for each session
No actual data is shared, only meta information (e.g., type of data, number of observations)
You can inspect the sharing code in src/telemetry.jl
We only use this data to help improve RxInfer and provide better support

We appreciate your help in making RxInfer better! Whether you choose to enable telemetry or share sessions, your contribution helps us improve the package for everyone.

Developers Reference

RxInfer.to_firestore_invoke — Function

to_firestore_invoke(invoke::SessionInvoke, stats_id::UUID)

Convert a SessionInvoke object to a Firestore-compatible document format. Includes a reference to the parent session stats.

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RxInfer.to_firestore_value — Function

to_firestore_value(value)

Convert a Julia value to a Firestore-compatible value format. Returns a NamedTuple with the appropriate Firestore field type.

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RxInfer.to_firestore_session — Function

to_firestore_session(session::Session)

Convert a Session object to a Firestore-compatible document format.

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RxInfer.to_firestore_document — Function

to_firestore_document(data::NamedTuple)

Convert a Julia NamedTuple to a Firestore document format. Returns a NamedTuple with fields in Firestore format.

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RxInfer.to_firestore_session_stats — Function

to_firestore_session_stats(stats::SessionStats, session_id::UUID)

Convert a SessionStats object to a Firestore-compatible document format. Includes a reference to the parent session.

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