---
title: Insights overview
description: Query automatic Phoenix, Ecto, Oban, and Absinthe instrumentation alongside custom application events from Elixir in Honeybadger Insights.
url: https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/elixir/insights/
---

[Insights](https://docs.honeybadger.io/guides/insights/) lets you observe what your Elixir application does in production.

Honeybadger records common Elixir activity automatically, including Phoenix requests, Ecto queries, LiveView lifecycle events, Oban jobs, Absinthe operations, and Finch and Tesla HTTP calls. From there, you can add context and custom events from your own code, then use [BadgerQL](https://docs.honeybadger.io/guides/insights/badgerql/) to ask questions across the whole event stream. Any field you send is queryable as soon as it arrives, with no schema to define ahead of time.

## Start with automatic instrumentation

Set `insights_enabled: true` in your config and the package starts recording events as soon as your app boots.

[Automatic instrumentation](https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/elixir/insights/automatic-instrumentation/)Configure what the package captures.

[Elixir event reference](https://docs.honeybadger.io/insights/event-types/elixir/)See every Elixir event type and field.

## Add a built-in dashboard

Automatic events power built-in dashboards.

[Oban](https://docs.honeybadger.io/guides/dashboards/oban/)Job counts by status, durations by worker, and slowest job runs

[Phoenix](https://docs.honeybadger.io/guides/dashboards/phoenix/)Request stats, slowest controllers and Ecto queries, LiveView event performance

## Add application context

Context adds fields to the current process. Once set, every event emitted from that process carries them.

Say the app is A/B testing a new checkout flow against the control. Each checkout request sets context like this:

Set the variant on context

```elixir
Honeybadger.event_context(%{
  checkout_variant: checkout_variant
})
```

The `checkout_variant` field is now on every Ecto event for that request. You can group by it like any other field.

Ecto work by checkout variant

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "MyApp.Repo.query" and isNotNull(checkout_variant::str)
| stats
    count() as queries,
    avg(query_time::float) as avg_us
  by checkout_variant::str
| sort queries desc
```

| queries | avg\_us | checkout\_variant |
| ------- | ------- | ----------------- |
| 26815   | 287     | new               |
| 11873   | 261     | control           |

(`MyApp.Repo.query` is the telemetry prefix from your Ecto repo configuration. Substitute your own.)

The new variant ran more than twice as many queries with similar per-query time. Keep in mind that adding another A/B variant will extend any of the examples here without the need to change anything on the Honeybadger side.

Go deeper: check for possible N+1 queries

The package attaches a `request_id` to every event from the same request. To turn total Ecto work into queries per request, group events by `request_id` first to get a per-request count, then aggregate by variant.

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "MyApp.Repo.query" and isNotNull(checkout_variant::str)
| stats count() as queries by request_id::str, checkout_variant::str
| stats
    count() as request_count,
    avg(queries) as avg_q,
    percentile(95, queries) as p95_q
  by checkout_variant
| sort p95_q desc
| only
    toHumanString(request_count) as requests,
    toHumanString(avg_q) as avg_queries,
    toHumanString(p95_q) as p95_queries,
    checkout_variant
```

| requests | avg\_queries | p95\_queries | checkout\_variant |
| -------- | ------------ | ------------ | ----------------- |
| 631      | 42.18        | 97           | new               |
| 638      | 18.61        | 31           | control           |

The new variant runs more queries per request, and the p95 is much higher than control. That pattern often points at an N+1.

[Event context](https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/elixir/insights/event-context/)Plug setup, process inheritance, and cross-process propagation.

## Record application events

Custom events record activity the framework cannot see at all. Phoenix knows a checkout request ran. Only your app knows whether the payment authorized:

Send a custom payment event

```elixir
Honeybadger.event("payment.authorized", %{
  payment_provider: payment.provider,
  amount: checkout.total,
  currency: checkout.currency,
  authorization_id: payment.authorization_id
})
```

This query breaks down the amounts collected by variant and provider:

Payments by variant and provider

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "payment.authorized"
| stats
    count() as authorizations,
    sum(amount::float) as authorized_amount
  by checkout_variant::str, payment_provider::str
| sort authorized_amount desc
```

| authorizations | authorized\_amount | checkout\_variant | payment\_provider |
| -------------- | ------------------ | ----------------- | ----------------- |
| 413            | 34108.00           | new               | stripe            |
| 218            | 18722.00           | new               | paypal            |
| 418            | 32167.00           | control           | stripe            |
| 220            | 13639.00           | control           | paypal            |

Go deeper: more insights, same instrumentation

Conversion rate by variant

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "payment.authorized" or controller::str == "MyAppWeb.CheckoutsController"
| stats count(event_type::str == "payment.authorized") as auth_events
  by request_id::str, checkout_variant::str
| stats
    count() as auths,
    count(auth_events > 0) as checkouts,
    checkouts / auths as conv_rate
  by checkout_variant::str
| only conv_rate, checkout_variant
```

| conv\_rate | checkout\_variant |
| ---------- | ----------------- |
| 0.92       | new               |
| 0.86       | control           |

Revenue per payment provider per variant

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "payment.authorized"
| stats sum(amount::float) as total
  by payment_provider::str, checkout_variant::str
| sort total desc
| only toHumanString(total) as revenue, payment_provider, checkout_variant
```

| revenue | payment\_provider | checkout\_variant |
| ------- | ----------------- | ----------------- |
| 34,108  | stripe            | new               |
| 32,167  | stripe            | control           |
| 18,722  | paypal            | new               |
| 13,639  | paypal            | control           |

Average checkout response time by variant

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "phoenix.endpoint.stop"
  and controller::str == "MyAppWeb.CheckoutsController"
| stats avg(duration::float) as avg_us by checkout_variant::str
| only toHumanString(avg_us, "microseconds") as avg, checkout_variant
```

| avg  | checkout\_variant |
| ---- | ----------------- |
| 38ms | new               |
| 15ms | control           |

Conversion rate over time, by variant

```badgerql
filter event_type::str == "payment.authorized" or controller::str == "MyAppWeb.CheckoutsController"
| stats
    count(event_type::str == "payment.authorized") as auth_events,
    min(@ts) as request_ts
  by request_id::str, checkout_variant::str
| stats count(auth_events > 0) / count() as conv_rate
  by checkout_variant::str, bin(1h, request_ts) as hour
| sort hour asc
```

| conv\_rate | checkout\_variant | hour                |
| ---------- | ----------------- | ------------------- |
| 0.93       | new               | 2026-06-26 14:00:00 |
| 0.86       | control           | 2026-06-26 14:00:00 |
| 0.92       | new               | 2026-06-26 15:00:00 |
| 0.86       | control           | 2026-06-26 15:00:00 |
| 0.91       | new               | 2026-06-26 16:00:00 |
| 0.87       | control           | 2026-06-26 16:00:00 |

The new variant holds a consistent lead over control across the rollout window.

[Sending custom events](https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/elixir/insights/sending-custom-events/)The full Honeybadger.event API.

---

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