Skip to main content
This is the React InstantSearch v7 documentation. If you’re upgrading from v6, see the upgrade guide. If you were using React InstantSearch Hooks, this v7 documentation applies—just check for necessary changes. To continue using v6, you can find the archived documentation.

What are events?

Events are actions that users take on your app or website. They unlock powerful features, such as recommendations, personalization, smarter search results, and analytics that help you optimize your user experience. For more information, see Get started with click and conversion events.

How to send events

InstantSearch widgets can automatically send certain events if you enable the insights option when setting up your app. For a full guide to implementing events, see Send events with InstantSearch.

Default events

With the insights middleware, your InstantSearch widgets send default events. To check the default events, go to the Events Debugger. For more information, see Validate your events.

Default click events for refinement widgets

The following widgets send click events (“Filter Applied”) when users select a refinement. Custom widgets using the hooks send the same events.
WidgetHook
HierarchicalMenuuseHierarchicalMenu
MenuuseMenu
RefinementListuseRefinementList
ToggleRefinementuseToggleRefinement
Numeric refinement widgets don’t send clicked events as the clickedFilters event does not apply to numeric filters. This is relevant for useNumericMenu- and useRange-based widgets.

Default view events for results widgets

The following widgets send view events (“Hits Viewed”) for the visible items in the search results. Custom widgets using the connectors send the same events.
WidgetHook
HitsuseHits
InfiniteHitsuseInfiniteHits

Default click events for results widgets

The following widgets send click events (“Hit Clicked”) when users click a search result.
WidgetHook
HitsuseHits
InfiniteHitsuseInfiniteHits
Because of technical limitations, the default click events aren’t sent when using useHits or useInfiniteHits. If you’re using hooks, make sure to set up click events on them.
React
function CustomHits(props) {
  const { items, sendEvent } = useHits(props); // or `useInfiniteHits`

  return (
    <ul>
      {items.map((item) => (
        <li
          key={item.objectID}
          onClick={() => {
            sendEvent("click", item, "Hit Clicked");
          }}
        >
          {item.name}
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}
I