Data Mode

Filter between production and development data across the dashboard, CLI, and API.

OwlMetry separates production and development data so you can analyze real user behavior without noise from test builds. Every event, metric event, and funnel event carries an is_dev boolean that indicates whether it came from a development build.

The `is_dev` Flag

The is_dev field is set by the SDK at event creation time:

SDK	How `is_dev` is determined
Swift	`true` when the app is compiled with the `DEBUG` flag (`#if DEBUG`), which is the default for Xcode debug builds
Node	`true` when `isDev` is set in the SDK config, which defaults to `process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production"`

You can also override is_dev explicitly in the SDK configuration if the automatic detection does not match your needs.

Data Modes

When querying data, you choose one of three modes:

Mode	Filter	Description
`production`	`is_dev = false`	Only production data -- real users, release builds
`development`	`is_dev = true`	Only development data -- debug builds, test environments
`all`	No filter	Everything combined

The default mode is production, so you see real user data by default.

Dashboard Toggle

The web dashboard has a data mode toggle in the sidebar. Switching between Production, Development, and All applies the filter globally to every page -- events, metrics, funnels, and all summary views.

The selection is persisted to localStorage, so it survives page reloads and browser restarts.

CLI Flag

The CLI accepts a --data-mode flag on commands that query data:

owlmetry events list --data-mode development
owlmetry metrics query photo-upload --data-mode all
owlmetry funnels query onboarding --data-mode production

If omitted, the default is production.

API Parameter

API endpoints that return event data accept a data_mode query parameter:

GET /v1/events?data_mode=development
GET /v1/projects/:projectId/metrics/:slug/query?data_mode=all
GET /v1/projects/:projectId/funnels/:slug/query?data_mode=production

Valid values are production, development, and all. The default is production.

Affected Tables

The is_dev column exists on all three event tables:

events -- regular events
metric_events -- structured metric events
funnel_events -- funnel step events

Each table has a composite index on (app_id, is_dev, timestamp) to make filtered queries fast.

When to Use Each Mode

Production (default) -- day-to-day monitoring, dashboards, alerting. This is where real user data lives.
Development -- verifying that new instrumentation is working correctly before shipping. Use this during QA and integration testing.
All -- debugging ingestion issues where you need to see everything, or comparing development and production behavior side by side.

Ready to get started?

Install the CLI and let your agent handle the rest.

Get Started GitHub

The is_dev Flag