- What is tightenco/nova-google-analytics used for?
- It is a Laravel Nova card that displays Google Analytics 4 traffic metrics such as sessions, users, page views, top pages, and top referrers inside the Nova dashboard. It is a presentation-layer connector for internal operators, not a reporting platform or analytics strategy. Use it when Laravel and Nova are already your back office and you want site traffic at a glance.
- How do I install nova-google-analytics in a Laravel Nova app?
- Install it with Composer, publish the package config, and register the card in your Nova service provider or dashboard. You then supply a GA4 property ID and a Google service account credential with Viewer access to that property and the GA4 Data API enabled. Treat the service-account key lifecycle as a named operational task, not just a setup step.
- Which Laravel, PHP, and Nova versions does v4.0.0 support?
- v4.0.0 is the breaking major that moves from Universal Analytics to GA4 and adds Laravel 11 support. The provided material does not list the full PHP, Laravel, and Nova compatibility matrix, so verify the composer constraints against your Nova major before committing. Do not assume v3 configuration or metric names carry over to v4.
- How do I connect a Google Analytics 4 property to the Nova card?
- Create a Google Cloud service account, enable the GA4 Data API on its project, and grant that service account Viewer access on the specific GA4 property. Configure the card with the property ID and the service account JSON. A missing Viewer grant is a common cause of an empty or errored card.
- Why is my Nova Google Analytics card empty or showing an error?
- The likely causes are a missing Viewer permission on the GA4 property, the GA4 Data API not being enabled, an incorrect property ID, or a credential format that does not match v4.0.0. Confirm the service account can access the property outside Nova first, then check the card config. Also verify the package version is pinned to v4.0.0 and that your Nova version satisfies its composer constraints.
- Does nova-google-analytics cache GA4 responses, and what happens when quotas run out?
- The provided overview does not document an internal cache or TTL, so inspect the package source and config before relying on caching behavior. Under GA4 quota exhaustion or a partial API failure, expect the card to show missing or errored data rather than a guaranteed fallback. Test that failure mode in staging and document it for support.
- Can I upgrade from v3 to v4.0.0 of nova-google-analytics?
- Yes, but v4.0.0 is a breaking major: it moves to GA4 and changes config keys, credential shape, and metric names. Get a diff of the v3 and v4 configuration before upgrading, and expect that an existing Universal Analytics setup will not carry over. For a single dashboard card, a fresh v4 install with documented settings is often simpler than an in-place upgrade.
- Is nova-google-analytics suitable for multi-property or multi-tenant reporting?
- No, not if multi-property or multi-tenant reporting is a real requirement today. The package is a Nova card configured against a GA4 property, and the evaluation explicitly says to treat multi-property reporting as out of scope for this component. Use a dedicated reporting or BI layer instead of stretching this card.
- Where should I store the Google service account JSON for the Nova card?
- Keep the service-account JSON in a secret manager or environment variables rather than committing it to the repository. Get privacy and security sign-off for analytics credentials residing on the application server before rollout. Key rotation may require a redeploy depending on your deployment model, so name an owner for the Google Cloud project and key lifecycle.
- Is nova-google-analytics maintained, and when should I choose an alternative?
- It has 166 GitHub stars, zero dependents, an MIT licence, a small contributor base, and a last release in mid-2024, so there is no vendor SLA; pin v4.0.0 and own the credential lifecycle if you use it. Choose an alternative for funnels, cohorts, attribution, monetisation reporting, multi-tenant reporting, or any reporting layer other systems consume. This card is best treated as a low-cost internal operator convenience, not an analytics strategy commitment.