Events & dataLayer — Overview

Everything the storefront tracks is pushed to window.dataLayer as a neutral event. This page explains the shape of those events and how they get there. If you build tags in GTM yourself, this is your reference for what to bind triggers and variables to.

The neutral event contract

Layer 2 (the storefront JavaScript) never pushes vendor vocabulary. It pushes neutral event names through the tracker, for example:

// What the storefront pushes (neutral):
WebkulTracker.pushEvent('cart_item_added', { /* payload */ });

// It never pushes vendor names like this:
// window.dataLayer.push({ event: 'add_to_cart' })   ❌

Vendor translation (add_to_cart, AddToCart, …) happens inside the Google Tag Manager container, not on the storefront. That is what makes the extension destination-agnostic and lets you add a new marketing tag later without touching Magento.

How an event reaches the page

Observers capture the action server-side and place a neutral event on a session-backed queue. On the next render, a view model drains the queue into window.dataLayer. This is why an event from a redirecting action (like add-to-cart) shows up on the page the shopper lands on.

Payload shape

Each event carries a top-level event name plus a data object. Product-bearing events carry an items array. A simplified product_viewed looks like:

{
  "event": "product_viewed",
  "data": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "value": 49.00,
    "items": [
      {
        "item_id": "24-MB01",
        "item_name": "Joust Duffle Bag",
        "price": 49.00,
        "quantity": 1
      }
    ]
  }
}

• item_id is a SKU or numeric ID depending on Data Tuning.
• value / currency follow your revenue basis and currency settings.
• Extra attributes appear on each item if you configured attribute mapping.
• data.user_data (hashed identifiers) appears only when enabled and consented — see Consent & PII.

The 18 events

See the grouped pages for payload detail per funnel stage:

• Category & Search — impressions, clicks, search.
• Product — product views, compare, wishlist.
• Cart & Checkout — cart, checkout steps, purchase.

The complete on/off list lives in Shopper Actions to Track.

Inspecting the dataLayer

Open your browser console on the storefront and type:

window.dataLayer

You will see the array grow as you browse. For a per-event view with trigger matching, use GTM Preview mode.