general-analysis

Fullstory Analytics

Mental Model

Internalize these three concepts before choosing tools:

• Segment = a cohort of users (the "who"). A segment is a filter, not a measurement. It narrows which users' data a metric runs against.
• Metric = the measurement (the "what" and "how much"). Every quantitative answer is a metric. Even "how many users visited /checkout" is a metric (count of page views), optionally filtered by a segment.
• Session = evidence (the "why"). Sessions are qualitative. Use them to understand why a number looks the way it does — not to answer the quantitative question itself.

Step 0: Classify Intent

Before calling any tool, determine what the user is asking for:

• "how many", "what's the count", "what percentage", "what's the rate" → quantitative answer → single_number metric
• "which pages", "top N", "by browser", "breakdown by" → breakdown → top_n metric
• "over time", "by day", "is it getting worse", "trend" → trend → trend metric
• "mobile vs desktop", "compare", "A vs B" → comparison → invoke the comparisons skill
• "show me sessions", "let me watch", "examples of" → session exploration → fullstory:get_sessions with metric_id
• "sessions from power users", "show me what enterprise users do" → cohort browsing → fullstory:build_segment then fullstory:get_sessions with segment_id

If the intent is ambiguous, ask the user before proceeding. Getting the intent wrong wastes a build+compute cycle.

Step 1: Resolve or Build

Always search before building

Users often don't know what metrics or segments already exist in their Fullstory account. Always search first, even when the question sounds ad-hoc. Use fullstory:get_metric(regex="...") or fullstory:get_segment(regex="..."), starting broad and narrowing if needed (e.g., "how many rage clicks on checkout?" → start with checkout, then try checkout.*rage if the first search returns too many results).

Results include a short description of the segment's filters and events, so use that — not just the name — to judge relevance. If no results match, tell the user nothing was found and confirm before building. If results come back but their filters/events don't match the question, tell the user what you found and that none seem to match, then confirm they'd like you to build a new one.