Drop PostHog autocapture events

Author: ashtonanderson

instrumentation-client.ts

@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 import posthog from 'posthog-js'
+import { browserPostHogConfig } from 'src/lib/posthog-browser-config'
 
 posthog.init(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY as string, {
   api_host: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST as string,
-  defaults: '2025-05-24',
-  autocapture: false,
-  capture_pageview: true,
-  capture_pageleave: false,
-  capture_performance: false,
+  ...browserPostHogConfig,
 })

src/lib/posthog-browser-config.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { COPY_AUTOCAPTURE_EVENT, type CaptureResult, type PostHogConfig } from 'posthog-js'
+
+const dropAutocaptureEvents = (event: CaptureResult | null) => {
+  if (!event) {
+    return event
+  }
+
+  if (
+    event.event === '$autocapture' ||
+    event.event === COPY_AUTOCAPTURE_EVENT
+  ) {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  return event
+}
+
+export const browserPostHogConfig: Pick<
+  PostHogConfig,
+  | 'autocapture'
+  | 'before_send'
+  | 'capture_pageleave'
+  | 'capture_pageview'
+  | 'capture_performance'
+  | 'defaults'
+> = {
+  defaults: '2025-05-24',
+  autocapture: false,
+  capture_pageview: true,
+  capture_pageleave: false,
+  capture_performance: false,
+  before_send: dropAutocaptureEvents,
+}

src/pages/_app.tsx

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import {
   Header,
   FeedbackButton,
 } from 'src/components'
+import { browserPostHogConfig } from 'src/lib/posthog-browser-config'
 
 const openSansClassName = 'font-sans'
 
@@ -56,11 +57,7 @@ function MaiaPlatform({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
     posthog.init(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY as string, {
       api_host: '/ingest',
       ui_host: 'https://us.posthog.com',
-      defaults: '2025-05-24',
-      autocapture: false,
-      capture_pageview: true,
-      capture_pageleave: false,
-      capture_performance: false,
+      ...browserPostHogConfig,
       capture_exceptions: true,
       debug: false,
     })