Set up a meter

A meter counts reads, such as articles opened. You declare it once in Revenue › Decision Engine › Meters: its name, its kind, whose reads it counts and on which sites. It has no number and no period. Each rule that reads it sets its own allowance and period, so two rules can read one meter over two windows.

The Meters list

Each row is one meter, with its Kind, what it Counts (whose reads, on which sites, and what sign-in does), the rules it is Read by, the rules it is Spent by, and its State. A meter no rule counts on is marked never advances: every read of it answers the same way.

Filter by kind, by whether a rule reads it, by state or by what it counts. Search by name or key fact, and sort by name, rules that read it, sites or rules that count on it.

Declare a meter

1. Select New meter.
2. Enter a Name, such as articles. Rules read and count the meter by name, so a rename later leaves them pointing at nothing until you change them.
3. Pick a Kind:
   • count: a number. Each counted read adds one, including a second read of the same article.
   • seen-set: the set of keys already counted. A second read of the same key adds nothing, and a rule can test whether this page’s key is already on the meter. The key comes from a signed content fact, so the user cannot change it. Remembers lists no fact to pick, so Create meter stays disabled for a seen-set. Switching an existing meter to seen-set keys it on signed.article_id. A read whose request carries no value for the key fact is never counted on a seen-set meter, and no request carries one unless EdgeKit has set up signed content facts for your organization. Until then its count stays at zero, so is under any allowance above 0 always holds.
4. Pick what it Counts:
   • device: every device, by its device cookie. See Whose count.
   • user: signed-in users only. An anonymous request is never counted, and a rule reading it sees zero.
   • gift_link: each gift link has its own count. A request with no valid gift link is never counted. See Gift links.
5. Pick the Sites: Every site, or the ones you choose. The meter is one count across all of them. A feature that reads the meter on a site outside that set is refused at stage.
6. For a device meter, pick what happens On sign-in:
   • reset: the signed-in user starts from zero. The device’s count stays with the device.
   • carry: the first time a rule reads the meter for the signed-in user, the count of the device they are on becomes theirs. Later devices add nothing to it.
7. Select Create meter.

A new meter starts left out of the next deploy and counts nothing. Open it, select Include in deploy, then stage and deploy. Until then no rule can read or count it, and a feature that does is refused at stage.

Read a meter from a rule

In a rule’s when, pick the meter, then what to test:

Test	Holds when
is under n	Fewer than n reads are counted in the period
has reached n	n or more reads are counted in the period
already holds this key	This page’s key is counted in the period. seen-set meters only

• Allowance: n, a whole number from 0 to 1,000. is under and has reached need one.
• Period: in the last 1 to 365 days, today, this week (from Monday) or this month. Today, this week and this month start at midnight in your organization’s meter time zone, set on the site screen. See Meter time zone.
• +1 if this rule wins: count this read when this rule is the one that answers. A rule that only tests the meter never moves it.

A canvas entry may not read a meter. +1 if this rule wins works only on a test at the top of the rule, not inside a group or a segment.

Three free articles in any 30 days for anonymous devices is one rule in their canvas, plus the canvas’s outcome for everyone else:

• Rule metered: articles is under 3, in the last 30 days, +1 if this rule wins. Returns metered-access.
• everyone else: returns register-prompt.

How a meter counts

• Only the winning rule counts. A meter moves when the rule that answered has +1 if this rule wins on it. Rules and canvases that did not answer count nothing.
• Once per request. However many features in one request count on a meter, it moves once.
• After every feature has decided. Every feature in a request reads the count from before the request, and the decision’s meters shows that count. allowance - count is what was left.
• Every request counts. Asking again, or retrying a request that already got an answer, counts again on a count meter. A seen-set meter counts each key once per period.
• Not under a grant. By default, a user who holds any live grant counts on no meter, except a gift_link meter, so a paying user never uses up an allowance they cannot see. A rule can still test the meter for them.
• Never from a flag or a redirect. An operational feature and a journey feature may not count on a meter. Stage refuses one that does.
• Kept for 366 days. A meter keeps each subject’s counted reads for 366 days, and at most 1,000 of them. Past 1,000, the oldest are dropped.

Counts are not configuration. They are written as users read, a deploy never resets them, and a renamed meter starts from zero.

Whose count

Counts	Anonymous device	Signed-in user
device	The device’s count	The user’s own count, the same on every device. reset starts it at zero, and carry copies the device’s count once
user	Zero, and nothing is counted	The user’s own count, the same on every device
gift_link	The gift link’s count, when the request carries a valid one	The same: the gift link’s, not the user’s

A device is known by its device cookie, which EdgeKit Analytics sets when your site’s tracker sends events. A request without the cookie gets request.new_device true, and every request without one shares a single count. So a device meter counts each browser separately only once the tracker runs on your pages.

The device cookie is not signed. Clearing cookies, a new browser or a private window is a new device with a fresh count. EdgeKit accepts this: a determined user can always start a device count again. A device meter that should reach across your sites does so only on sites that share the cookie’s domain, so sites on different domains see different devices. Only a user meter is the same everywhere.

Change a meter

Open it from the list. Every change is written to the draft as you make it, and reaches your sites at the next deploy.

• Kind: switching does not convert what is already counted. A meter that becomes a seen-set has no key for its earlier reads, so together they count as one. A meter that becomes a count keeps how many and forgets which, so a second read of an article already opened now counts.
• Leave out of next deploy removes the meter from the next deployment. It keeps counting until that deploy.
• Read by and Spent by list the rules that test the meter and the rules that count on it.

Delete a meter

Select Delete meter, then Delete for good. When rules still read or count it, stage refuses the draft until they no longer name it. A deployed meter keeps counting until the next deploy.