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name: posthog-install-auth description: | Install and configure PostHog SDK/CLI authentication. Use when setting up a new PostHog integration, configuring API keys, or initializing PostHog in your project. Trigger with phrases like "install posthog", "setup posthog", "posthog auth", "configure posthog API key". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:), Bash(pip:), Grep version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io

PostHog Install & Auth

Overview

Set up PostHog SDK/CLI and configure authentication credentials.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
• Package manager (npm, pnpm, or pip)
• PostHog account with API access
• API key from PostHog dashboard

Instructions

Step 1: Install SDK

# Node.js
npm install @posthog/sdk

# Python
pip install posthog

Step 2: Configure Authentication

# Set environment variable
export POSTHOG_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Or create .env file
echo 'POSTHOG_API_KEY=your-api-key' >> .env

Step 3: Verify Connection

// Test connection code here

Output

• Installed SDK package in node_modules or site-packages
• Environment variable or .env file with API key
• Successful connection verification output

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Invalid API Key	Incorrect or expired key	Verify key in PostHog dashboard
Rate Limited	Exceeded quota	Check quota at https://docs.posthog.com
Network Error	Firewall blocking	Ensure outbound HTTPS allowed
Module Not Found	Installation failed	Run npm install or pip install again

Examples

TypeScript Setup

import { PostHogClient } from '@posthog/sdk';

const client = new PostHogClient({
  apiKey: process.env.POSTHOG_API_KEY,
});

Python Setup

from posthog import PostHogClient

client = PostHogClient(
    api_key=os.environ.get('POSTHOG_API_KEY')
)

Resources

• PostHog Documentation
• PostHog Dashboard
• PostHog Status

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to posthog-hello-world for your first API call.