CLI Telemetry
How the Tambo CLI collects usage data, what is collected, and how to opt out.
The Tambo CLI collects usage data to help improve the developer experience. Telemetry is completely optional and can be disabled at any time.
What is collected
The CLI tracks command-level usage events. No API keys, file contents, or project names are ever sent.
| Event | When | Properties |
|---|---|---|
cli.command.completed | A command finishes successfully | Command name, duration, active flag names |
cli.command.error | A command fails | Command name, error type, truncated error message, active flag names |
cli.component.added | tambo add <component> succeeds | Component name |
cli.init.completed | tambo init succeeds | Init method, is_full_send |
cli.auth.login | tambo auth login succeeds | — |
cli.auth.logout | tambo auth logout succeeds | — |
Every event also includes system metadata: CLI version, Node.js version, OS, architecture, and whether the command ran in CI.
Flag tracking records only the names of active flags, never their values. For example, tambo init --api-key=sk_xxx --yes tracks flags: "apiKey,yes" — the API key value is never sent.
How it works
- Commands call
trackEvent()which sends each event to PostHog via theposthog-nodeSDK - When the CLI exits,
shutdown()is called to ensure any pending events are delivered - Events are sent directly to PostHog (
us.i.posthog.com) — no data is stored on Tambo servers
Identity
A random UUID is generated on first run and persisted in ~/.local/share/tambo/telemetry.json. If you are logged in via tambo auth login, your Tambo user ID is used as the distinct ID so we can correlate CLI usage with your account.
How to opt out
Set this environment variable to disable telemetry:
export TAMBO_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1When disabled, no events are sent and no network requests are made.
First-run notice
On the first invocation, the CLI prints a one-time notice to stderr:
Tambo collects CLI usage data to improve the developer experience.
To opt out, set TAMBO_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1. Learn more: https://docs.tambo.co/reference/cli/telemetryThis notice is not shown again after the first run.