# Opt-In Usage Information

When you start DDEV for the first time or install a new release, you’ll be asked whether to send usage and error information to DDEV’s developers.

> [!TIP]
>
> **See [DDEV Live Usage Statistics](<https://ddev.com/usage-stats/>)**

Regardless of your choice, you can change this at any time using one of these approaches:

- `ddev config global --instrumentation-opt-in=false` (or `=true`), which sets [`instrumentation_opt_in`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/configuration/config/#instrumentation_opt_in>) in `$HOME/.ddev/global_config.yaml` (see [global configuration directory](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/architecture/#global-files>))
- `export DDEV_NO_INSTRUMENTATION=true` to disable it regardless of the config file setting

Usage information is also never collected in automated workflows where `CI=true` is set in the environment.

If you choose to share diagnostics, it helps us tremendously in our effort to improve the tool. DDEV tracks three kinds of events: `Identify` (about your machine), `Command` (which command you ran), and `Project` (your project’s configuration). Here’s an example of what we might see:

```
// Sent once per machine, to identify the environment DDEV runs in.
client.Track(&analytics.Track{
  DeviceId:   "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef",
  AppVersion: "v1.25.3",
  Platform:   "arm64",
  OSName:     "darwin",
  Language:   "en_US.UTF-8",
  ProductID:  "ddev cli",
  Event:      "Identify",
  Properties: map[string]interface{}{
    "DDEV Environment": "darwin",
    "Docker Platform":  "docker-desktop",
    "Docker Version":   "27.3.1",
    "Timezone":         "PST",
    // "User" is only sent if you've set `instrumentation_user` yourself
    "User": "jane@example.com",
    // "WSL Distro" is only sent when DDEV runs inside WSL2
    "WSL Distro": "Ubuntu",
  },
})

// Sent on every command run.
client.Track(&analytics.Track{
  DeviceId:   "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef",
  AppVersion: "v1.25.3",
  Platform:   "arm64",
  OSName:     "darwin",
  Language:   "en_US.UTF-8",
  ProductID:  "ddev cli",
  Event:      "Command",
  Properties: map[string]interface{}{
    // Positional arguments are sent as-is for built-in commands.
    // For your own custom commands the command name is replaced
    // with "custom-command" and the arguments are dropped entirely.
    "Arguments":    []string{},
    "Called As":    "start",
    "Command Name": "start",
    "Command Path": "ddev start",
  },
})

// Sent when a project starts, describing its configuration.
client.Track(&analytics.Track{
  DeviceId:   "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef",
  AppVersion: "v1.25.3",
  Platform:   "arm64",
  OSName:     "darwin",
  Language:   "en_US.UTF-8",
  ProductID:  "ddev cli",
  Event:      "Project",
  Properties: map[string]interface{}{
    "ID":                          "fedcba9876543210fedcba9876543210fedcba9876543210fedcba9876543210",
    "Performance Mode":            "mutagen",
    "PHP Version":                 "8.5",
    "Project Type":                "php",
    "Webserver Type":              "nginx-fpm",
    "XHProf Mode":                 "xhgui",
    "Add-ons":                     []string{"redis"},
    "Add-on Repositories":         []string{"ddev/ddev-redis"},
    "Bind All Interfaces":         false,
    "CI":                          false,
    "Containers":                  []string{"db", "redis", "web"},
    "Containers Omitted":          []string{},
    "Corepack Enable":             true,
    "Database Type":               "mariadb",
    "Database Version":            "11.8",
    "DB Image Extra Packages":     []string{"netcat"},
    "DDEV Version Constraint":     ">= 1.25.3",
    "Disable Settings Management": false,
    "Fail On Hook Fail":           false,
    "No Project Mount":            false,
    "Nodejs Version":              "24",
    "Router":                      "traefik",
    "Router Disabled":             false,
    "WebExtraDaemonsDetails":      []string{"{\"Name\":\"vite\",\"Command\":\"npm run dev\",\"Directory\":\"/var/www/html\"}"},
    "WebExtraDaemonsNames":        []string{"vite"},
    "WebExtraExposedPortsDetails": []string{"{\"Name\":\"vite\",\"WebContainerPort\":5173,\"HTTPPort\":5172,\"HTTPSPort\":5173}"},
    "WebExtraExposedPortsNames":   []string{"vite"},
    "Webimage Extra Packages":     []string{"php${DDEV_PHP_VERSION}-tidy"},
  },
})
```

If you have any issues or concerns with it, we’d like to know.