posthog-adblock-bypass

1# PostHog ad-blocker bypass for Next.js
2 
3## When to use this
4 
5The user has posthog-js working *mostly* — events, feature flags, decide, config all reach PostHog fine — but **session recording and/or dead-click capture aren't working**, and DevTools shows:
6 
7- `/static/dead-clicks-autocapture.js` failing
8- `/static/recorder.js` or `/static/posthog-recorder.js` failing
9- `ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT` or a synthesized 404 (the file actually returns 200 via `curl`)
10 
11Root cause: ad blockers (uBlock Origin / Brave Shields / AdBlock Plus / EasyPrivacy) match on **filename patterns** (`recorder`, `autocapture`, `dead-clicks`) regardless of host. A reverse proxy alone doesn't help — renaming on a different host still trips the same filter. **Confirmation step**: ask the user to disable their ad blocker on the page; if the requests succeed, this skill applies.
12 
13This skill applies the **surgical** fix: only those three files divert through the Next.js app under bland filenames. All other PostHog traffic (events, decide, config, recording uploads) keeps using the existing `api_host`.
14 
15## Prerequisites to confirm before implementing
16 
171. The project is **Next.js** (App Router or Pages Router both fine) with `posthog-js` from npm.
182. Server-side: `curl -I https://<api_host>/static/dead-clicks-autocapture.js?v=1.x` returns 200. If it returns 404, the upstream proxy is misconfigured — **fix that first**, this skill won't help.
19…