generated: '2026-08-13'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://www.goatcounter.com/api.json (info.description),
  https://www.goatcounter.com/help/js,
  https://www.goatcounter.com/ (Live demo),
  https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter (self-hosting)
description: >-
  GoatCounter has no test-vs-live key separation, no test mode, and no magic test values — every API
  key writes to real data on a real site. What it does publish is an interactive API console, a public
  read-only demo dashboard, a documented switch for exercising the tracking script against localhost,
  and a self-hostable build that makes a throwaway instance the intended way to experiment safely.
  Recorded honestly: this is a testing surface, not a sandbox environment.
test_live_separation:
  supported: false
  key_prefixes: []
  note: >-
    API keys carry no test/live prefix and there is no test mode. The safe pattern is a separate
    GoatCounter site (or a self-hosted instance) used as a scratch target.
console:
  present: true
  name: RapiDoc API reference with "try" enabled
  url_pattern: https://{code}.goatcounter.com/api2.html
  public_reference: https://www.goatcounter.com/api2.html
  detail: >-
    Quoted from info.description in the provider-published OpenAPI: "Viewing this documentation at
    https://[my-code].goatcounter.com/api2.html (rather than using the www.goatcounter.com) enables
    the 'try' feature." So the interactive console lives on the account's own site host and executes
    against that site's real data.
  evidence:
    probed: '2026-08-13'
    url: https://stats.arp242.net/api2.html
    http_status: 200
  alternate_viewers:
    - name: SwaggerHub
      url: https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis-docs/Carpetsmoker/GoatCounter/0.1
demo:
  present: true
  url: https://stats.arp242.net
  kind: public read-only dashboard
  detail: >-
    Linked from the GoatCounter homepage as "Live demo". It is the maintainer's own site running
    GoatCounter, publicly readable without an account, and its /api/v0/* endpoints answer 401 to
    anonymous callers — so it is a working reference host for the dashboard, not an open API sandbox.
  evidence:
    probed: '2026-08-13'
    checks:
      - {url: 'https://stats.arp242.net', status: 200}
      - {url: 'https://stats.arp242.net/api/v0/me', status: 401}
local_testing:
  - name: allow_local
    surface: count.js
    setting: 'data-goatcounter-settings=''{"allow_local": true}'''
    docs: https://www.goatcounter.com/help/js
    detail: >-
      count.js refuses to send pageviews from local addresses (localhost, 192.168.0.0, etc.) by
      default; allow_local turns that filter off so an integration can be exercised on a dev machine.
  - name: allow_frame
    surface: count.js
    docs: https://www.goatcounter.com/help/js
    detail: Allow requests when the page is loaded in a frame or iframe, for testing embedded setups.
  - name: no_onload
    surface: count.js
    docs: https://www.goatcounter.com/help/js
    detail: Suppress the automatic pageview so goatcounter.count() can be called deliberately from a test.
  - name: self-hosted instance
    surface: server
    command: goatcounter serve
    docs: https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter
    detail: >-
      `goatcounter serve` starts on :8080 against an SQLite file created on first run, giving a
      disposable instance with a real API to develop against. This is the provider's own recommended
      route for anything beyond casual use.
test_values:
  cards: []
  identifiers: []
  note: >-
    None published. GoatCounter is an analytics API with no payment, telephony or identity surface, so
    there is no magic-value catalogue to capture. The one pseudo-fixture is the tracking pixel's `b`
    parameter, which takes documented bot-class constants (150 Phantom, 151 Nightmare, 152 Selenium,
    ...) from the zgo.at/isbot library and can be used to mark synthetic traffic — see
    https://www.goatcounter.com/help/pixel
data_reset:
  supported: true
  detail: >-
    Site settings expose a data_retention value and per-site data can be cleared from the dashboard;
    the provider also states users can export everything and cancel at any time.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com