Debug Heap Analytics in Chrome DevTools

What Heap traffic looks like

Heap's autocapture model means most of its traffic is machine-generated interaction events, batched and flushed, rather than hand-instrumented calls.

Endpoint pattern

SDK from cdn.heapanalytics.com; data to heapanalytics.com, c.us.heap-api.com, or c.eu.heap-api.com for EU-pinned accounts. Newer rm-api.com endpoints appear following Heap's merge into Contentsquare. The path describes the call: /track events, /identify user identity, /add_user_properties profile updates

Transport

POST with a JSON body; autocapture flushes clicks, form submissions, and page views in groups via a batched events array

Key parameters

app_id environment ID: Heap setups usually have separate dev and prod IDs, so it is the first sanity check · per event: the event name (custom from heap.track(), autocaptured interactions otherwise) · properties object · identity when the user is identified · timestamp · session_id and library/SDK version fields alongside

A typical autocapture batch, as Event Watcher captures it:

{
  "app_id": "1234567890",
  "events": [
    {
      "event": "click",
      "properties": { "target_text": "Add to cart", "path": "/produkter/sko" },
      "session_id": "17546400…",
      "identity": "user@example.dk"
    }
  ]
}

Debugging Heap with Event Watcher

• Matches all the Heap endpoints, including the regional heap-api.com collectors and the rm-api.com hosts.
• The parser classifies each request by endpoint type (Track, Identify, User Properties, Bulk Track) and unpacks batched events arrays into individual entries.
• Payloads split into event properties, user properties, and an identity group (app_id, user and session IDs, SDK version).
• Autocapture generates volume you didn't instrument, so the Grouped view pivoted by Event Name is the fastest way to see what Heap actually records on a page, and the Script Tree view confirms which script loaded the SDK.

Heap and consent

The extension checks Heap against the analytics consent category. Autocapture makes Heap's consent posture unusually binary: the moment the SDK initializes, it starts capturing clicks and page views. There is no degraded or cookieless ping mode.

An ungated snippet means the first /track batch typically leaves while the banner is still open, marked pre-consent and counted as violations.

Gating Heap correctly means deferring heap.load() itself, not just custom heap.track() calls, and the stream shows directly whether that is the case.

Common debugging scenarios

• Dev events polluting production. Read app_id on the parsed hits. A staging environment ID shipping on the live site is the most common Heap misconfiguration.
• Users never identified. Trigger login and check for an /identify request with the expected identity value, then confirm later /track events carry it.
• "Are these clicks even captured?" Click the element and watch the stream. The parsed batch shows the autocaptured event and its properties without waiting on Heap's UI.
• Consent audit. Load the page fresh, leave the banner unanswered, and check whether Heap batches appear with the pre-consent badge.
• Double SDK load after a tag migration. The Script Tree view shows whether both GTM and a hardcoded snippet load heap- scripts.