July 2023 Summaries

Highlight is employing Markov chains to identify and analyze interesting user sessions by examining the order of page visits and time spent on each page. To achieve this, the company has developed a method to define a "page" by normalizing URLs, removing resource IDs, and discarding intermediate, non-meaningful page visits. Using this normalized data, they calculate the probability of each state transition in a user journey, with less probable transitions indicating more interesting sessions. To address the bias towards longer sessions, Highlight normalizes these probabilities so that the expected value for each state transition remains consistent. This approach allows them to identify sessions with high interest by scoring and sorting them based on probability, with the aim of assisting users in uncovering unexpected behaviors in their applications. The methodology is being integrated into Highlight’s Session Insights email digest, which provides a weekly summary of intriguing user sessions.

Highlight has introduced new features to enhance the error monitoring experience for developers, addressing the challenges of managing error noise and improving signal clarity. The auto resolver feature now automatically resolves errors that haven't occurred within a set time frame, simplifying error management by reducing clutter from transient issues. To further streamline the process, Highlight has implemented an auto-filtering feature that removes errors originating from browser extensions, acknowledging the often unavoidable nature of these errors due to external coding. Additionally, a revamped error instances view allows developers to efficiently locate specific error occurrences by user, aiding in accurate bug reproduction and resolution. These updates collectively aim to make error monitoring more efficient and less overwhelming for development teams.

Highlight has introduced support for recording WebSocket events in its session replay feature starting with version 7.3.0, addressing a previous gap where WebSocket communications were not captured. The updated feature allows users to debug background activities by displaying WebSocket events separately, with open connection requests shown alongside other HTTP requests for context. To achieve this, Highlight monkeypatches the WebSocket object to capture various events and stores them in S3, optimizing performance by separating different event types. Users can easily activate this feature by setting specific configurations, and they can also choose to disable it without affecting other network recordings. The update aims to enhance debugging capabilities by providing a more comprehensive view of network interactions, and further details are available in Highlight's documentation.

Highlight.io developed a logging integration that utilizes OpenTelemetry, an open-source project within the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, to provide a structured, scalable, and efficient solution for server-side logging across various programming languages and frameworks. This integration supports the transmission of structured logs, enabling enhanced search, filtering, and analysis. To facilitate easy log ingestion, Highlight.io designed SDKs for major programming languages, providing a straightforward interface for log transmission and detailed guidance for integrating OpenTelemetry with different frameworks. Additionally, Highlight.io built integrations with application hosting providers, allowing infrastructure logs from platforms like AWS ECS to be exported directly, further simplifying the log transmission process. This approach ensures a consistent and enriched logging experience, catering to diverse technological needs while maintaining ease of use.