Eventra: Side Project for Feature Analytics

Imagine shipping features that gather digital dust. Eventra, a solo dev's six-month grind, finally lets you see what's actually used — and what's dead weight.

Eventra: The Side Project Exposing Your App's Forgotten Features — theAIcatchup

Key Takeaways

  • Eventra detects dead features by scanning code and comparing to usage — a gap in tools like PostHog.
  • Built solo in 6 months after full-time work: dashboard, SDK, CLI all functional.
  • Helps devs cut tech debt, focus on what users actually use.

Your app’s bloated. Features pile up, some loved, others ignored. Eventra changes that — for devs sick of maintaining ghosts in the machine.

It’s not hype. One guy, full-time job, built this feature analytics platform in evenings and weekends. No validation circus. Just a itch: track what users actually touch.

Look, we’ve all been there. You code a shiny new dashboard. Users? Crickets. Traditional analytics like Mixpanel log clicks that happen. Eventra flips it — scans your code for tracked events that never fire.

Dead features. That’s the killer.

Why Does Dead Code Detection Matter Now?

Products bloat fast. Add a button, a modal, forget it. Six months later, you’re debugging code nobody uses. Eventra’s CLI sniffs it out: scans your repo, lists track() calls, compares to real events.

“The CLI scans your codebase and finds all tracked events,” he writes. Simple. Brutal.

npx @eventra_dev/eventra-cli init Then it: - Scans your project - Finds track() calls - Detects wrapper components - Saves configuration

Boom. Now you know: that ‘pro’ filter? Used once in 2023. Axe it.

But here’s my take — the unique bit nobody’s saying. This echoes the early days of code coverage tools like Istanbul, but for runtime usage. Back then, devs measured lines hit in tests. Eventra measures features hit in production. Same vibe, bigger payoff. Predict this: in two years, every SaaS will bake this in, or die under maintenance hell.

Skeptical? Fair. Solo projects fizzle. But six months in, dashboard’s production-ready. SDK batches events, retries fails, runs anywhere — browser, Node, Edge. CLI’s at 0.0.4, rough but real.

Can a Side Hustle Like Eventra Compete?

Full-time grind pays bills. Evenings? Code. Weekends? Debug rollups — instead of sun. He admits: “Some days I wrote code for 8 hours at work, then another 2–3 hours at night.”

Painful. Steady.

Core setup: workspaces, projects, events. Dashboard shows totals — events, users, active/inactive features. Timeline graphs adoption curves. Alerts ping dead stuff: unused 14 days, one-and-done launches.

Inspect raw events too. User, timestamp, patterns. Multi-project support, API keys (rotate ‘em), team perms. Ops dashboard watches throughput, lag — because pipelines break.

Interactive demo on site. Poke around, no signup. Smart — lowers barriers.

Eventra automatically detects features that haven’t been used recently and marks them as inactive. For example: - Feature not used in 14 days - Feature used once but never again - Feature abandoned after release

This. Gold for PMs arguing cuts.

Critique time. He’s not selling — yet. “I’m not trying to maximize revenue right now. The goal is validation and feedback.” Noble. Naive? Side projects monetize or mold. Eventra’s free-ish vibe screams open source trap: build audience, then pivot. Watch.

Technicals impress, though. Backend rollups tough. Frontend multi-tenant arch tricky. CLI? AST parsing hell — wrappers hide calls.

Still solo. GitHub repos public: SDK, CLI. Fork, contribute, whatever.

How’d He Build Eventra Without Quitting His Job?

No VC fairy dust. No co-founders.

Started core: events, adoption, dead detection. Added alerts, API, ops. SDK next — TypeScript-first, batch/retry smart.

CLI sealed it. Without, misses code events. With? Full loop.

Challenges everywhere. Rollup engine? Custom. Permissions? Tight.

Progress: slow burn. But complete.

For you — real people — this means less tech debt. Ship leaner. Focus winners. That abandoned onboarding flow? Gone. Users happier, you saner.

Dry humor: if your app’s a junk drawer, Eventra’s the flashlight.

But wait — is it polished? Demo masks data (good). CLI early. Scale unproven. Throughput dashboard hints at limits.

Yet. Potential crackles.

Unique prediction: pairs with AI code-gen boom. Tools spew features; Eventra prunes. Historical parallel? Like linters post-jQuery era — cleaned spaghetti.

What Makes Eventra Different from PostHog or Amplitude?

Those track actions. Eventra tracks existence too.

PostHog? Open source king, but manual event setup. Miss dead code.

Amplitude? Enterprise polish, pricey. No CLI scan.

Eventra: code-aware. Free tier? Implied. Side-project fresh.

Downsides. Solo = risky. No SLAs. Early bugs.

Worth try? If you hate bloat, yes.

He’s open: feedback welcome. Building side? Share stories.

Site: eventra.dev. Poke it.

In a world of AI wrappers, this raw build shines. Skeptical eye: prove scale. But for now — useful.

**


🧬 Related Insights

Frequently Asked Questions**

What is Eventra used for?

Eventra tracks feature usage in your app, spots dead code via CLI scans, and dashboards adoption — perfect for pruning bloat.

How does Eventra CLI work?

Run npx @eventra_dev/eventra-cli init; it scans track() calls in code, configs comparison to real events, flags unused ones.

Is Eventra free to try?

Yes — interactive demo on homepage, open GitHub repos, no hard paywall yet. Feedback over revenue.

Elena Vasquez
Written by

Senior editor and generalist covering the biggest stories with a sharp, skeptical eye.

Frequently asked questions

What is Eventra used for?
Eventra tracks feature usage in your app, spots dead code via CLI scans, and dashboards adoption — perfect for pruning bloat.
How does Eventra CLI work?
Run `npx @eventra_dev/eventra-cli init`; it scans track() calls in code, configs comparison to real events, flags unused ones.
Is Eventra free to try?
Yes — interactive demo on homepage, open GitHub repos, no hard paywall yet. Feedback over revenue.

Worth sharing?

Get the best AI stories of the week in your inbox — no noise, no spam.

Originally reported by Dev.to

Stay in the loop

The week's most important stories from theAIcatchup, delivered once a week.