Overview
Understand the Canny SDK code snippet and its various functions, including Canny Identify and data augmentation.
What is an SDK Snippet?
An SDK snippet is a small piece of code that a developer adds to your website or app. This code enables the transfer of data back and forth between your app/site and Canny.
Once installed, the Canny SDK's capabilities include:
Send custom user details (e.g., monthly spend, role, associated company) to Canny. This gives you additional context when users vote or create posts.
Authenticate users before redirecting them to Canny, allowing them to leave feedback without an extra login step.
Embedding the Canny feedback board: Embed a widget within your website or app where users can submit feedback or vote on ideas on a specific board - all without being redirected away from your application.
Embedding the Canny changelog widget: Show a small pop-up that surfaces your most recent changelog entries, so users can easily discover your latest updates.
This document focuses on item 1 in the list above: “Identifying users”.
Full documentation can be found in our developer docs:
What is Canny Identify?
Canny Identify is a function provided by the Canny SDK that enables:
Authenticating users: Ensuring users are automatically signed in when navigating from your app to Canny, providing a seamless user experience that securely bypasses manual login.
Augmenting user data: Sending custom information about logged-in users (e.g., name, email, subscription plan, etc.).
The two pieces of functionality - data augmentation and authentication - are not mutually exclusive. You can augment user data without automatically authenticating your users, and vice versa, if that is what you choose.
Secure Identify for Canny Identify
An optional, but recommended aspect of Canny Identify is called Secure Identify to prevent user impersonation. This process involves using a server to generate a hash for each individual user and returning it to Canny before authentication can proceed:
Benefits
No extra login steps: Users don’t need to log in again to give feedback
Feedback segmentation: Filter and segment feedback based on user details
Organized insights: Keep your feedback organized and personalized
How Canny Identify works in practice
A customer logs into your app.
They click a link or button labeled something like “Give Feedback.”
The Canny feedback window opens without prompting them for a login.
Any feedback they give is automatically connected to their account.
Other ways Canny pulls in user data
Aside from the SDK, Canny has a robust API to send and receive data to/from your database. Canny also pulls user data from integrations like:
Canny can also receive feedback from multiple sources.
When feedback is ingested from these sources (e.g., support tickets, sales conversations, or CRM notes), Canny creates a user profile with the available context (e.g., Intercom User ID) even if the user never logs into your Canny instance. This ensures that feedback from various platforms is linked to the correct user whenever possible.
Does this data overlap?
If the same user gives feedback in multiple places (e.g., via the Canny widget and via a sales rep in Salesforce):
Canny tries to associate the feedback with the same user using the email address and user ID sent during the first interaction.
If emails or IDs match, feedback is linked to the same user.
If they don't match (e.g., misspelled email, missing identifiers), a new user record is created.
In general, Canny consolidates feedback when possible, but if you’re not sure of consistency across platforms, ask your developer or admin to review how user info is passed between tools.
Summary
Term | What it does | Why it matters |
Feedback Widget | Displays the Canny feedback window in your app | Lets users give feedback without leaving your site |
Changelog Widget | Shows recent updates in a pop-up within your app | Keeps users informed about your latest changes |
Canny Identify | Sends user info to Canny | Helps track and segment feedback by user AND / OR authenticates users prior to navigating them to Canny |
CRM & Support Tools | Syncs user data to Canny and allows feedback capturing via integrations | Captures the voice of the customer from more channels while preserving customer identity and context
|
Board Privacy Levels
Authenticating users via Canny Identify also allows you to control which boards users can access.
There are three main types of board privacy in Canny:
Public Boards - Anyone can view the board.
To post, vote, or comment, users must log in using:
Private Boards - Only visible to Canny administrators. Used for internal feedback or pre-launch review.
Custom Access Boards - Restricted to specific users or companies.
Restriction can be set up to only allow users who have logged in via:
Third party SSO
Or manual invite email invite
Installation
You will need a developer to install the snippet. This usually takes less than 10 minutes.
Add a link to your Canny board somewhere in your product after the user has logged in.
Use the Canny Identify JavaScript SDK code in your application on the page where the link is embedded. (You'll have to modify it to pass in the current user's data).
(Optional, but recommended): Visit https://developers.canny.io/install/security to add the Secure Identify component and prevent user impersonation.