Nuxt Installation Guide

This is the canonical Virent installation guide for Nuxt applications.

Install Virent analytics on my Nuxt website.

Read the canonical guide first and follow its code exactly:
https://stage.virent.app/docs/installation/nuxt.md

Install two separate things:
1. Human Analytics (browser): Add the Virent browser script through useHead in the root Nuxt app component.
2. AI Crawler Analytics (server): Set server env values and add a Nitro server plugin for completed crawler requests.

Values I will give you (they are in Virent under Settings > Connection):
- Publishable browser key, starts with vha_pk_. Safe in browser code.
- Site ID (VIRENT_SITE_ID) and server secret (VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET, starts with vha_sk_). Server only.
Ask me for them. Never invent a key or use a masked preview such as vha_sk_••••.

Human Analytics best practices:
- Use useHead in app/app.vue for one global script install.
- Set defer on the script so the Nuxt app is not blocked.
- Keep custom event SDK usage in client-only composables or plugins.

AI Crawler Analytics best practices:
- Use a Nitro server plugin and its afterResponse hook so crawler telemetry includes the final response status.
- Use runtime config or platform environment variables for the secret; never expose it through public runtime config.
- Filter out static assets and API routes unless those routes should be measured.

Rules:
- Keep VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET in server environment variables. Never put it in client code, public env variables (NEXT_PUBLIC_, VITE_, PUBLIC_) or committed files.
- Exclude API routes, static assets, images, favicons, robots.txt and sitemaps from crawler capture.
- If the site sends a Content-Security-Policy, allow https://app.virent.app in script-src and connect-src.
- Do not change unrelated code.

When you finish, list the files you changed and how I verify each path:
- Open a Nuxt page and inspect the head for the Virent script.
- Navigate to another route and confirm pageview traffic.
- Refresh Human Analytics installation status.
- Start Nuxt in a server-capable mode.
- Request a route with curl -A "GPTBot".
- Refresh AI Analytics status in Virent.

Research Notes#

• Nuxt useHead manages scripts in the document head.
• Nitro server plugins can subscribe to afterResponse, after the final status is known.
• Static-only output has no request-time Nitro hook; install crawler tracking at the hosting provider instead.

Primary references:

• https://nuxt.com/docs/4.x/api/composables/use-head
• https://nuxt.com/docs/4.x/directory-structure/server

Human Analytics#

Add the browser script globally in app/app.vue.

<script setup lang="ts">useHead({  script: [    {      src: "https://app.virent.app/js/script.js",      defer: true,      "data-write-key": "vha_pk_...",    },  ],})</script><template>  <NuxtLayout>    <NuxtPage />  </NuxtLayout></template>

Best practices:

• Keep the script global in app/app.vue.
• Use defer so Nuxt hydration is not blocked.
• Keep custom event code in client-side composables or plugins.
• Use public runtime config only for publishable values.

Verification:

• Open a Nuxt route and inspect the head.
• Navigate to another route and confirm pageview traffic.
• Refresh Human Analytics status.

Troubleshooting:

• If the script is absent, confirm the project uses app/app.vue and the useHead call is not conditional.
• If CSP blocks Virent, allow the origin in script-src and connect-src.
• If local events are expected, temporarily add data-allow-localhost="true".

First-party (recommended)#

Ad blockers and privacy tools often block third-party analytics hosts, which silently drops visits. Relay the script and events through your own domain under /_vr, and load the script with data-api="/_vr" so events go to your domain too. The relay must forward the visitor's IP and country in x-virent-forwarded-for and x-virent-forwarded-country, with your website's secret key (vha_sk_…) in x-virent-proxy-key; without the key Virent ignores the forwarded headers and sees your server's network instead of your visitors'. Relay only /_vr/js/script.js and /_vr/v1/*, and never forward cookies or authorization headers. See First-party analytics for how Virent trusts these headers.

With nginx, add these locations to the site's server block:

location = /_vr/js/script.js {  proxy_pass https://app.virent.app/js/script.js;  proxy_set_header Host app.virent.app;  proxy_ssl_server_name on;  proxy_set_header Cookie "";}location /_vr/v1/ {  proxy_pass https://app.virent.app/v1/;  proxy_set_header Host app.virent.app;  proxy_ssl_server_name on;  proxy_set_header Cookie "";  proxy_set_header Authorization "";  proxy_set_header X-Virent-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;  # Your website's secret key: Virent trusts the forwarded IP only with it.  proxy_set_header X-Virent-Proxy-Key "vha_sk_...";}

On Cloudflare, deploy a Worker on the example.com/_vr/* route that copies only accept-language, content-type, origin and user-agent, sets x-virent-forwarded-for from cf-connecting-ip, x-virent-forwarded-country from request.cf.country and x-virent-proxy-key from a Worker secret holding your website's secret key, and fetches the same path without /_vr from https://app.virent.app. The dashboard install panel has the full Worker.

Then load the script from your domain:

<script  defer  data-api="/_vr"  data-write-key="vha_pk_..."  src="/_vr/js/script.js"></script>

AI Analytics#

Add private env values:

VIRENT_SITE_ID=site_...VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET=vha_sk_...VIRENT_INGEST_ENDPOINT=https://app.virent.app/v1/ingest/bot

Create a Nitro server plugin:

// server/plugins/virent-crawler.tsconst staticAssetPattern = /\.(?:png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|ico|webp|css|js|map|txt|xml)$/iconst aiCrawlerPattern = /GPTBot|OAI-SearchBot|ChatGPT-User|ClaudeBot|claudebot|Claude-Web|Claude-User|Claude-SearchBot|PerplexityBot|PerplexityBot\/|Perplexity-User|Perplexity-User\/|Google-CloudVertexBot|DeepSeekBot|DeepSeekSpider|CCBot|Bytespider|meta-externalagent|meta-webindexer|meta-externalfetcher|Amazonbot|DuckAssistBot|YouBot/iexport default defineNitroPlugin((nitroApp) => {	nitroApp.hooks.hook("afterResponse", async (event) => {	  const requestUrl = getRequestURL(event)	  const userAgent = getHeader(event, "user-agent") ?? ""	  if (staticAssetPattern.test(requestUrl.pathname) || !aiCrawlerPattern.test(userAgent)) {		return	  }	  await $fetch(process.env.VIRENT_INGEST_ENDPOINT!, {		method: "POST",		headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.VIRENT_INGEST_SECRET! },		body: {		  siteId: process.env.VIRENT_SITE_ID!,		  url: requestUrl.toString(),		  host: requestUrl.host,		  path: requestUrl.pathname,		  method: event.method,		  referer: getHeader(event, "referer") ?? null,		  userAgent,		  statusCode: event.node.res.statusCode,		  requestId: crypto.randomUUID(),		  timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),		},	  })	})})

Best practices:

• Use the Nitro afterResponse hook so telemetry has the final response status and does not delay route handling.
• Use private runtime config or server environment variables for the secret.
• Move tracking to the CDN/edge layer for static-only Nuxt output.

Verification:

curl -A "GPTBot" https://your-domain.com/

• Confirm the Nitro server plugin runs.
• Refresh AI Analytics status.

Troubleshooting:

• If afterResponse does not run, confirm the deployment uses a server/Nitro runtime.
• If the secret is undefined, check private runtime config and deployment env names.
• If events are duplicated, ensure only one middleware or edge layer sends events.