Sending events with navigator.sendBeacon

navigator.sendBeacon is the most reliable way to deliver tracking events from a browser. The user agent queues the request and guarantees it is sent even if the page is unloading. That is exactly when you most want events like product_click and add_to_cart to land. Use this guide as the starting point for any custom storefront integration. If you’re on Shopify with the Layers Storefront Pixel installed, the pixel already sends these events.

Prerequisites

A Layers storefront access token. The same token used everywhere else in the Storefront API.
A stable, anonymized session_id for the current visit. Generate one at session start and persist it in sessionStorage.
The attribution_token returned by Search, Browse, or Blocks responses, if you want clicks and adds-to-cart to attribute back to the originating request.

The minimum viable beacon

const STOREFRONT_TOKEN = 'shpat_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
const ENDPOINT = `https://cl.uselayers.com/beacon?token=${encodeURIComponent(STOREFRONT_TOKEN)}`;

function track(event) {
  const body = new Blob(
    [JSON.stringify({ events: [event] })],
    { type: 'application/json' }
  );

  const ok = navigator.sendBeacon(ENDPOINT, body);
  if (!ok) {
    // Browser refused (queue full or payload too large) — fall back to fetch keepalive.
    fetch(ENDPOINT, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify({ events: [event] }),
      keepalive: true,
    }).catch(() => {
      /* swallow — tracking is best-effort */
    });
  }
}

track({
  event_id: crypto.randomUUID(),
  event_type: 'product_view',
  timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
  session_id: getSessionId(),
  product_id: 7003338965178,
  attribution_token: getAttributionToken(),
});

A few things to call out:

Token in the query string. sendBeacon cannot set headers, so the token rides on the URL. See Authentication for why this is safe.
Blob with type: 'application/json'. Without the explicit MIME type, the browser sends the payload as text/plain and the worker will reject it.
fetch with keepalive fallback. sendBeacon returns false if the user agent’s queue is full or the payload exceeds ~64 KB. fetch({ keepalive: true }) has the same unload-safety guarantees and accepts larger bodies.

Batching events

Sending one beacon per event works, but is wasteful. A small in-memory queue that flushes every 2 seconds (or on pagehide) cuts requests by 10–20× without losing data.

const STOREFRONT_TOKEN = 'shpat_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
const ENDPOINT = `https://cl.uselayers.com/beacon?token=${encodeURIComponent(STOREFRONT_TOKEN)}`;
const MAX_BATCH = 20;       // worker limit is 100; 20 keeps us well under sendBeacon's 64 KB
const FLUSH_INTERVAL = 2000;

let queue = [];
let flushTimer = null;

function enqueue(event) {
  queue.push(event);
  if (queue.length >= MAX_BATCH) {
    flush();
  } else if (!flushTimer) {
    flushTimer = setTimeout(flush, FLUSH_INTERVAL);
  }
}

function flush() {
  if (flushTimer) {
    clearTimeout(flushTimer);
    flushTimer = null;
  }
  if (queue.length === 0) return;

  const events = queue;
  queue = [];

  const body = new Blob(
    [JSON.stringify({ events })],
    { type: 'application/json' }
  );

  const ok = navigator.sendBeacon(ENDPOINT, body);
  if (!ok) {
    fetch(ENDPOINT, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify({ events }),
      keepalive: true,
    }).catch(() => {
      /* best-effort */
    });
  }
}

// Flush on unload so in-flight events aren't lost.
window.addEventListener('pagehide', flush);
document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', () => {
  if (document.visibilityState === 'hidden') flush();
});

Listen for pagehide and the visibilitychange → hidden transition, not beforeunload. pagehide fires reliably on mobile Safari and back/forward cache restores; beforeunload does not.

Wiring it to storefront interactions

Once you have track() (or enqueue()), call it from the right places in your storefront code:

// Product detail page
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
  enqueue({
    event_id: crypto.randomUUID(),
    event_type: 'product_view',
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    session_id: getSessionId(),
    product_id: window.LAYERS_PRODUCT_ID,
    attribution_token: getAttributionToken(),
  });
});

// Clicks on product tiles in a collection or search results
document.querySelectorAll('[data-product-tile]').forEach((tile, index) => {
  tile.addEventListener('click', () => {
    enqueue({
      event_id: crypto.randomUUID(),
      event_type: 'product_click',
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
      session_id: getSessionId(),
      attribution_token: getAttributionToken(),
      product_id: Number(tile.dataset.productId),
      position: index + 1,
    });
  });
});

// Add-to-cart
document.querySelector('#add-to-cart')?.addEventListener('click', () => {
  enqueue({
    event_id: crypto.randomUUID(),
    event_type: 'add_to_cart',
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    session_id: getSessionId(),
    attribution_token: getAttributionToken(),
    product_id: window.LAYERS_PRODUCT_ID,
    variant_id: getSelectedVariantId(),
  });
});

Impression tracking with `IntersectionObserver`

product_impression events are the highest-volume tracking signal. Fire one only when a tile is actually visible.

const impressionObserver = new IntersectionObserver(
  (entries) => {
    for (const entry of entries) {
      if (!entry.isIntersecting) continue;
      const tile = entry.target;
      if (tile.dataset.impressed === '1') continue;
      tile.dataset.impressed = '1';

      enqueue({
        event_id: crypto.randomUUID(),
        event_type: 'product_impression',
        timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
        session_id: getSessionId(),
        attribution_token: getAttributionToken(),
        product_id: Number(tile.dataset.productId),
        position: Number(tile.dataset.position),
      });

      impressionObserver.unobserve(tile);
    }
  },
  { threshold: 0.5 } // at least 50% visible
);

document.querySelectorAll('[data-product-tile]').forEach((tile) => {
  impressionObserver.observe(tile);
});

Session and attribution helpers

The getSessionId(), setAttributionToken(), and getAttributionToken() helpers used in the tracking examples on this page. Keep them in a shared module.

function getSessionId() {
  let id = sessionStorage.getItem('layers_session_id');
  if (!id) {
    id = `sess_${crypto.randomUUID()}`;
    sessionStorage.setItem('layers_session_id', id);
  }
  return id;
}

// Store the most recent attributionToken from Search/Browse/Blocks responses.
function setAttributionToken(token) {
  if (token) sessionStorage.setItem('layers_attribution_token', token);
}
function getAttributionToken() {
  return sessionStorage.getItem('layers_attribution_token') || undefined;
}

Call setAttributionToken(response.attributionToken) every time you get a response from the Search, Browse, or Blocks APIs. Subsequent clicks, views, and add-to-cart events will then attribute correctly.

Common pitfalls

text/plain payload. Forgetting type: 'application/json' on the Blob causes the worker to read no JSON body and drop the batch. Always set the MIME type.
Sending headers with sendBeacon. You can’t. If you need the header form of the token, switch to fetch({ keepalive: true }).
Sending more than 100 events at once. The batch limit is 100. Cap your queue at ~20–50 to stay well under both that and sendBeacon’s ~64 KB payload limit.
Reusing event_id. Use a fresh ULID/UUID per event. The platform deduplicates on this field.
Tracking on beforeunload. Use pagehide and visibilitychange instead. They fire in mobile Safari and on back/forward cache transitions where beforeunload does not.

Next steps

Payload examples — full request bodies per event type.
Tracking page navigation in a SPA — pattern for client-side routed storefronts.

Getting Started

Reference

Guides

Sending events with navigator.sendBeacon

Prerequisites

The minimum viable beacon

Batching events

Wiring it to storefront interactions

Impression tracking with `IntersectionObserver`

Session and attribution helpers

Common pitfalls

Next steps

​Prerequisites

​The minimum viable beacon

​Batching events

​Wiring it to storefront interactions

​Impression tracking with IntersectionObserver

​Session and attribution helpers

​Common pitfalls

​Next steps

Prerequisites

The minimum viable beacon

Batching events

Wiring it to storefront interactions

Impression tracking with `IntersectionObserver`

Session and attribution helpers

Common pitfalls

Next steps