Glossary
Canonical terminology used throughout the Swan SDK docs.
One canonical name per concept — if you mean "Swan identifier", write "Swan identifier", not "user ID", "CDID", or "device ID".
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Swan identifier | The opaque ID the SDK uses for the current user. Anonymous until you call identify(); identified to a profile afterwards. You don't store or pass this around — the SDK handles it. |
identify(identifier) | Tell the SDK that the current user has signed in with this identifier (email, phone, loyalty ID, etc.). Future events attribute to their profile; prior anonymous events merge in. |
login(identifier, attributes?) | Like identify() but with explicit profile-switch handling and a typed result. Use at the sign-in moment; use identify() everywhere else. |
logout() | Tell the SDK the current user has signed out. The SDK rotates to a fresh anonymous identifier. |
| Profile | A user's record in the Swan backend. Holds attributes (name, email, etc.) and the event history attributed to that user. |
enrichProfile(attributes) | Set additional attributes on the current profile (anonymous or identified). |
| Super-property | A value set once on the SDK that auto-attaches to every subsequent event (country, currency, business unit, current screen name). |
| Session | A foreground engagement period. Bounded by app launch and a 20-minute inactivity rollover. The SDK manages session lifecycle automatically. |
| App ID | Your customer-side identifier for the Swan account hosting the SDK. Issued during onboarding; passed to the SDK at init. |
| Notification channel | (Android) The user-visible category a notification belongs to. The SDK ships 5 predefined channels (transactional, alerts, promotional, general, notifications); you can add custom ones for things like a unique sound. iOS and Web don't have channels in the same way. |
| Deep link | A URL that opens a specific screen in your app. Swan-tracked deep links attribute the open event to the campaign that sent them. |
| Click acknowledgement | The SDK's confirmation to the Swan backend that a user tapped a notification or deep link. Sent automatically; you don't manage it. |
| Typed e-commerce event | A method like productViewed, checkoutCompleted, or orderCompleted that emits a canonical wire event the campaigns engine recognizes. Use these for anything in the e-commerce catalog rather than customEvent. |
| Custom event | A free-form event with a name you choose, used when no typed helper fits (Swan.customEvent("clickedHero", { variant: "A" })). |
| Wire | The shape of the data the SDK sends over HTTPS to the Swan backend. You'll see "wire name" used to mean the exact event-name string on the network. |