Link server and engagement metrics aggregator for Firefox Directory Links

# install Onyx in a local Python virtualenv
$ ./setup-project.sh

# run the dev server at localhost:5000
$ manage.py runserver

# ping the server
$ curl -v localhost:5000/__heartbeat__

You can run Onyx within docker (Note: NOT for production).

# build the Onyx docker image locally
$ make docker

# run the container at localhost:5000
$ make run

# tail the logs
$ make log

# stop the container
$ make stop

# start the stopped container
$ make start

# remove the container
$ make clean

There are a few API endpoints we care about:

• /v2/links/fetch/locale
• /v2/links/fetch
• /v2/links/view
• /v2/links/click
• /v3/links/fetch/locale/channel
• /v3/links/view
• /v3/links/click
• /v3/links/activity-stream
• /v3/links/ping-centre
• /v4/links/activity-stream

The fetch endpoint takes locale from the url path and returns an HTTP 303 redirect to a CDN location with the content appropriate for the user agent.

In Firefox, the fetch endpoint is called at most once daily. Firefox keeps track of the last time it fetched, and checks at every opportunity, (e.g. when sending a ping, when a new tab page is open, on browser start) whether or not it should fetch again. This is guaranteed to trigger at most once daily.

Method: GET

URL Parameters:

• locale - User Agent locale setting

DEPRECATED

The fetch endpoint takes locale in a JSON payload and returns an HTTP 303 redirect to a CDN location with the content appropriate for the user agent.

In Firefox, the fetch endpoint is called at most once daily. Firefox keeps track of the last time it fetched, and checks at every opportunity, (e.g. when sending a ping, when a new tab page is open, on browser start) whether or not it should fetch again. This is guaranteed to trigger at most once daily.

Note: Prior to having v2, the v1 of this endpoint also took a data parameter, hence why this is a POST

Method: POST

Example payload:

{"locale": "en-US"}

Parameters:

• locale - User Agent locale setting

The view endpoint is called each time a new tab page is opened. An asynchronous ping is sent from Firefox to Mozilla servers. The goal is to capture the impression data for tiles, in order to calculate reach and click-through rates (CTR).

Method: POST

Example Payload:

{
  "view": 1,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "tiles": [
    {
	  "id": 8,
      "pin": true,
      "pos": 2,
      "score": 2000,
	  "url": ""
	},
	{
	  "id": 12
	}
  ]
}

Parameters:

• view: the value of this action is the index of the last tile in tiles visible in the user's viewport
• tiles: an ordered array of tiles representative of what is in a new tab page
  • id: a tile ID. provided in the fetch payload as directoryId; absent for history tiles
  • pin: signals that the tile is pinned in the UA; absent for unpinned tiles
  • pos: denotes the index of the tile in the new tab page; absent if the value is the same as its array index of tiles
  • score: frecency for the tile; absent for frecencies under 5000
• locale: User Agent locale setting

The click endpoint captures any click interaction with the tile. This includes click, block, pin, unpin, sponsored, and sponsored_link.

When the user interacts with the tile, an asynchronous ping is sent to Mozilla servers. This is to measure a click event.

Positive events (click, pin) and negative events (block, unpin) are all very important. They can tell us that certain tiles are not appropriate or that people do not like them.

Method: POST

Example Payload:

{
  "click": 1,
  "locale": "en-US",
  "tiles": [
    {
      "id": 8,
      "pin": true,
      "pos": 2,
      "score": 2000,
      "url": ""
    },
    {
      "id": 12
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Parameters:

• click/block/pin/unpin/sponsored/sponsored_link: Only one of these can happen in one payload. The value of this action is the index in tiles for which this action applies
• The other parameters - i.e. the locale and tiles params - are the same as for /v2/links/view.

The fetch endpoint takes locale and channel from the url path and returns an HTTP 303 redirect to a CDN location with the content appropriate for the user agent.

In Firefox, the fetch endpoint is called at most once daily. Firefox keeps track of the last time it fetched, and checks at every opportunity, (e.g. when sending a ping, when a new tab page is open, on browser start) whether or not it should fetch again. This is guaranteed to trigger at most once daily.

Method: GET

URL Parameters:

• locale - User Agent locale setting
• channel - Firefox Channel the request is coming from

unchanged from /v2/links/view

unchanged from /v2/links/click

The activity-stream endpoint captures any event takes place in the Activity Stream Addon.

Method: POST

Example Payload:

{
  "action": "activity_stream_session",
  "client_id": "some_client_id",
  "addon_version": "1.0",
  "tab_id": 1,
  "load_reason": "newtab",  #["newtab", "focus", "restore"]
  "source": "activity_stream",  #["recent_links", "recent_bookmarks", "frecent_links", "top_sites", "spotlight"]
  "search": 0,  # indicates a search was performed
  "max_scroll_depth": 100,
  "click_position": 2,  #[TBD, index of object clicked on a click event or -1? or 2D coordinates e.g. 200x400?]
  "total_bookmarks": 5,
  "total_history_size": 1000,
  "session_duration": 2000,
  "unload_reason": "click"  # ["click", "search", "close", "unfocus"]
}

The ping-centre endpoint captures any event defined in the Ping-centre repo.

Method: POST

Example Payload:

{
  "topic": "activity_stream_mobile_session",
  "client_id": "some_client_id",
  "addon_version": "1.0",
  "tab_id": 1,
  "load_reason": "newtab",
  "source": "activity_stream",
  "search": 0,  # indicates a search was performed
  "max_scroll_depth": 100,
  "click_position": 2,
  "total_bookmarks": 5,
  "total_history_size": 1000,
  "session_duration": 2000,
  "unload_reason": "click"
}

The activity-stream endpoint captures any event takes place in the Activity Stream system addon.

Method: POST

Example Payload:

{
  "action": "activity_stream_session",
  "client_id": "some_client_id",
  "addon_version": "1.0",
  "tab_id": 1,
  "load_reason": "newtab",  #["newtab", "focus", "restore"]
  "source": "activity_stream",  #["recent_links", "recent_bookmarks", "frecent_links", "top_sites", "spotlight"]
  "search": 0,  # indicates a search was performed
  "max_scroll_depth": 100,
  "click_position": 2,  #[TBD, index of object clicked on a click event or -1? or 2D coordinates e.g. 200x400?]
  "total_bookmarks": 5,
  "total_history_size": 1000,
  "session_duration": 2000,
  "unload_reason": "click"  # ["click", "search", "close", "unfocus"]
}