Datastreams and environments

Datastreams and environments

A datastream is a configuration that tells Web SDK where to send data and how to process it.

What a datastream does

When Web SDK sends an event to Adobe Edge:

1. Web SDK sends event to Edge
2. Edge checks the datastream configuration
3. Edge routes to: Analytics, CDP, AJO, etc. (based on config)
4. Data lands in destinations

Three datastreams (one per environment)

Development datastream

• Routes to: Dev report suite
• Processing: None (send everything as-is)
• Use for: Testing and debugging

Staging datastream

• Routes to: Staging report suite
• Processing: Full tracking, realistic data
• Use for: QA and validation

Production datastream

• Routes to: Production report suite
• Processing: Bot filtering, consent checks, PII removal
• Use for: Live traffic

Creating a datastream

In Adobe Experience Platform:

1. Admin → Datastreams
2. Create new datastream
3. Name it (e.g., "Example Super Dev")
4. Configure Adobe Analytics:

- Report suite ID - Timestamp option - Variable mappings

1. Configure other solutions (CDP, AJO)
2. Save and get the datastream ID

Configuring Web SDK per environment

Your site needs to know which datastream to use:

// In your Tag Manager rule
alloy("configure", {
  edgeConfigId: "DEV_CONFIG_ID", // Dev
  // or
  edgeConfigId: "PROD_CONFIG_ID", // Prod
  orgId: "YOUR_ORG_ID@AdobeOrg"
});

Or use a data element in Tags to switch configs based on environment.

Variable mappings in datastream

The datastream is where you map XDM → Analytics:

This is done in the datastream UI. No code changes needed to adjust mappings.

Processing in datastream

You can add processing rules at the datastream level:

• Bot filtering (drop known bots)
• IP filtering (exclude internal traffic)
• Consent enforcement (don't send if not consented)

---

Next: Data layer design (ACDL)