ID5 ID

The ID5 ID is a next-generation universal identifier that publishers, advertisers and ad tech platforms can use to recognise users and deliver campaign objectives across different types of devices without relying on traditional identification methods (e.g. third-party cookies and MAIDs). By leveraging a variety of signals such as hashed email addresses, page URL, IP addresses, timestamps etc., as well as a machine learning algorithm, the ID5 ID improves addressability without compromising privacy and data protection. The ID5 ID is built on top of privacy-by-design and encryption mechanisms, ensuring that users' privacy preferences are respected and enforced in the advertising value chain.

ID5 API Overview

The ID5 API is designed to make accessing the ID5 ID simple for publishers, advertisers, and their ad tech partners. The lightweight source code handles retrieving users’ consent preferences, retrieving, caching, and storing the ID locally, and making it available to other code on the page. A flow diagram of how the ID5 API interacts with your CMP and other vendor tags can be found below.

Table of Contents

• ID5 ID
• ID5 API Overview
• Table of Contents
• Setup and Installation
  • ID5 Partner Creation
  • Quick Start
  • Integration options
    • ID5 CDN
    • Pre-built and Minified for Download
    • Embed into a larger bundle
      • index.js
      • package.json
      • rollup.config.js
      • steps to create your own bundle
  • Building from Source
  • Usage
    • Load the API javascript file
    • Initialize the API
    • Access the ID5 ID
    • Available Configuration Options
      • consentData Object
      • Static Consent Example
      • Allowed Vendors Example
      • PD Example
      • A/B Testing
      • Segments
    • Available Methods and Variables
      • EIDs Object Output
    • Examples
      • Enabling Debug Output
    • Test locally
  • Prebid.js
• API Process Flow
• Benefits of Using the ID5 API
• The GDPR and Privacy
  • GDPR
  • Bots
  • Privacy Policy

Setup and Installation

ID5 Partner Creation

The first step to work with the ID5 API and ID5 ID is to apply for an ID5 Partner account. If you are not already integrated with ID5, simply go to our website and register for an account.

Quick Start

Install the ID5 API after your CMP (if applicable), but as high in the `` as possible.

Integration options

ID5 CDN

To use the ID5 CDN version of the API, you may source the library as follows:

Using our CDN has the advantage of patch updates being automatically deployed without any intervention your end.

Pre-built and Minified for Download

You may also choose to download the latest release (and host on your own CDN) in a pre-built, minified version from Github:

• https://github.com/id5io/id5-api.js/releases/download/v1.0.63/id5-api.js

Alternatively, we also publish the minified bundle to NPM:

  "dependencies": {
    "@id5io/id5-api.js": "^1.0.63"
  },

After running npm install you can find the bundle at node_modules/@id5io/id5-api.js/build/dist/id5-api.js.

As a publisher or advertiser, the advantage to hosting the code in your website domain is that the API will have "1st party" privileges with the browser, improving the value of the ID5 ID delivered. If you choose to self-host, we recommend having a process to update the code regularly, to ensure you're using the latest version of the library.

Embed into a larger bundle

You have the option to embed the library as is into a larger bundle by either:

• Concatenate the minified Javascript with some other javascript code into a larger file
• Import the ES6 module and use it directly in your code

If you choose to import the ES6 module you most probably need to transpile the javascript depending on which browsers you want to support.

Additionally please note that the ID5 object doesn't get published automatically to the window object when you import the ES6 module in your code. You can just add window.ID5 = ID5; in the example below if you need so.

Here is an example of how integrating the ES6 module might look like:

index.js

import ID5 from '@id5io/id5-api.js'

const id5Instance = ID5.init({ partnerId: 173 });
id5Instance.onAvailable((status) => {
    console.log(status.getUserId());
});

package.json

{
  "name": "id5-api-dummy",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Dummy project for showing how to use the id5-api.js module",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "rollup": "rollup --config rollup.config.js"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "Apache-2.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "@id5io/id5-api.js": "^1.0.63"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@babel/core": "^7.14.3",
    "@rollup/plugin-babel": "^5.3.0",
    "@rollup/plugin-json": "^4.1.0",
    "@rollup/plugin-node-resolve": "^13.0.0",
    "rollup": "^2.50.5"
  }
}

rollup.config.js

import resolve from '@rollup/plugin-node-resolve';
import json from '@rollup/plugin-json';
import babel from '@rollup/plugin-babel';

export default {
  input: 'index.js',
  output: {
    file: 'bundle.js',
    format: 'iife',
  },
  plugins: [ resolve(), json(), babel({ babelHelpers: 'bundled' }) ]
};

steps to create your own bundle

$ npm install

$ npm run rollup

then the bundle is created into bundle.js.

Please note that this is a very minimal example. You may want, for example, to use a different bundler like Webpack or Browserify.

Building from Source

To build a production-ready version of the API from source yourself, follow these steps:

Clone the repository and install dependencies

$ git clone https://github.com/id5io/id5-api.js id5-api.js
$ cd id5-api
$ npm install

Note: You need to have the following software installed

• NodeJS 14.17.x or greater
• gulp-cli 2.3.x or greater; install using npm install --global gulp-cli
• Google chrome 90 or greater

Build for production and/or development

$ npm run build:all

The resulting minified javascript file will be available in build/dist/id5-api.js while the non minified version can be found in build/dev/id5-api.js

Usage

There are three main parts to using the ID5 API:

1. Load the javascript file
2. Initialize the API with the partner ID you received from ID5, as well as any other configuration options you’d like to set
3. Access the ID5 ID

Load the API javascript file

The ID5 API script should be placed as high in the page as possible, but should be after your CMP is loaded & initialized (if applicable). By placing this script early in the page, all subsequent scripts on page (including Prebid.js, ad tags, attribution or segment pixels, etc.) can leverage the ID5 ID. You should load the script synchronously to ensure that the API is loaded before attempting to call it.

Initialize the API

After loading the script, you must initialize the API with the ID5.init() method. You may pass configuration options directly into the init method. The result of the init() method is a variable that you will use to access the ID5 ID or perform other actions. This variable must be unique to the page (or scoped appropriately) in order not avoid collisions with other instances of the API on the same page.

// TODO modify with your own partnerId
// beware to scope the id5Instance variable or uniquely name it to avoid collisions
var id5Instance = ID5.init({partnerId: 173});

Access the ID5 ID

Once the API has been loaded and initialized, the ID5 ID can be accessed by any javascript on the page (provided your variable is scoped appropriately) including Prebid.js, your ad tags, or pixels and scripts from third party vendors, with the getUserId() method on your status variable.

var id5Id = id5Instance.getUserId();

The getUserId() method always answers (once the API is loaded) and will return immediately with a value. If there is no ID available yet, the getUserId() will return a value of undefined.

There are a few cases in which getUserId() may not be ready or have a value yet:

• There is no locally cached version of the ID and no response has been received yet from the ID5 servers (where the ID is generated)
• The CMP has not finished loading or gathering consent from the user, so no ID can be retrieved
• The user has not consented to allowing local storage

Available Configuration Options

Option Name	Scope	Type	Default Value	Description
partnerId	Required	integer		ID5 Partner ID, received after registration with ID5
debugBypassConsent	Optional	boolean	false	Bypass consent API and Local Storage access; for debugging purpose only
allowLocalStorageWithoutConsentApi	Optional	boolean	false	Tell ID5 that consent has been given to read local storage
cmpApi	Optional	string	iab	API to use CMP. As of today, either 'iab' or 'static'
consentData	Optional, Required if cmpApi is 'static'	object		Consent data if cmpApi is 'static'. Content is described below.
partnerUserId	Optional	string		User ID of the platform if they are deploying this API on behalf of a publisher/advertiser, to be used for user syncing with ID5
pd	Optional	string		Partner-supplied data used for linking ID5 IDs across domains. See Passing Partner Data to ID5 for details on generating the string
refreshInSeconds	Optional	integer	7200 (2 hours)	Refresh period of first-party local storage
abTesting	Optional	object	{ enabled: false, controlGroupPct: 0 }	Enables A/B testing of the ID5 ID. See A/B Testing below for more details
provider	Optional	string	pubmatic-identity-hub	An identifier provided by ID5 to technology partners who manage API deployments on behalf of their clients. Reach out to ID5 if you have questions about this parameter
maxCascades	Optional	number	8	Defines the maximum number of cookie syncs that can occur when usersyncing for the user is required. A value of -1 will disable cookie syncing altogether. Defaults to 8 if not specified
storageExpirationDays	Optional	number	90	Number of days that the ID5 ID and associated metadata will be stored in local storage before expiring
segments	Optional	array		Used with platforms that don't support ingesting ID5 IDs in their client-side segment pixels. See below for details
att	Optional	number	0	Indication of whether the event came from an Apple ATT event (value of 1 is yes)
applyCreativeRestrictions (alias acr)	Optional	boolean	false	Applies some restrictions for the case where the API is dropped alongside a creative.

consentData Object

This object can contain one of the following properties:

• getTCData - an object which is parsed as the return value of a call to the IAB TCFv2 API
• getUSPData - an object which is parsed as the return value of a call to the IAB USPv1 API
• allowedVendors - an array of strings which represents ID5 partners which are consented for all GDPR purposes. The strings can be:
  • the IAB GVL ID of the partner. Eg. "131" indicates consent for ID5 itself
  • the ID5 partner ID in the form "ID5-xxx" with xxx being the ID. Eg. "ID5-478" (ask your ID5 representative if you'd like to use this method)

Note that in case cmpApi is 'static' and the consentData object is either undefined or empty, the request is treated as not restricted by any privacy law until the ID5 server determines that the request is subject to restrictions. In such a case, not having received any consent information, the request will be treated as non-consented.

Static Consent Example

Here's an example of using a static tcString to share the consent preferences. We will use the static tcString the same way we would use one collected from the cmpApi.

    var id5Instance = ID5.init({
        partnerId: 173, // modify with your own partnerId
        refreshInSeconds: 15,
        cmpApi: 'static',
        consentData: {
            getTCData: {
                gdprApplies: true,
                tcString: "CPBZjR9PBZjR9AKAZAENBMCsAP_AAH_AAAqIHWtf_X_fb39j-_59_9t0eY1f9_7_v-0zjhfds-8Nyf_X_L8X42M7vF36pq4KuR4Eu3LBIQFlHOHUTUmw6okVrTPsak2Mr7NKJ7LEinMbe2dYGHtfn9VTuZKYr97s___z__-__v__79f_r-3_3_vp9X---_e_V3dgdYASYal8BFmJY4Ek0aVQogQhXEh0AoAKKEYWiawgJXBTsrgI9QQMAEBqAjAiBBiCjFgEAAAAASURASAHggEQBEAgABACpAQgAIkAQWAFgYBAAKAaFgBFAEIEhBkcFRymBARItFBPJWAJRd7GGEIZRYAUCj-iowEAAAAA.cAAAAAAAAAAA",
            }
        }
    });

Allowed Vendors Example

Here's an example of using Allowed Vendors to share that consent was received for ID5 (GVL ID 131), a platform with GVL ID 3, and a brand with ID5 partner number 5:

var id5Instance = ID5.init({
  partnerId: 173, // modify with your own partnerId
  cmpApi: 'static',
  consentData: {
    allowedVendors: [ '131', '3', 'ID5-5' ]
  }
});

PD Example

Taking the example from Passing Partner Data to ID5, here's how your configuration could look when initializing the API:

var id5Instance = ID5.init({
  partnerId: 173, // modify with your own partnerId
  pd: "MT1iNTBjYTA4MjcxNzk1YThlN2U0MDEyODEzZjIzZDUwNTE5M2Q3NWMwZjJlMmJiOTliYWE2M2FhODIyZjY2ZWQzJjU9bSVDMyVCNmxsZXIlMjZmcmFuJUMzJUE3b2lz"
});

A/B Testing

You may want to test the value of the ID5 ID with their downstream partners. While there are various ways to do this, A/B testing is a standard approach. Instead of manually enabling or disabling the ID5 API based on their control group settings (which leads to fewer calls to ID5, reducing our ability to recognize the user), we have baked this in to the API itself.

To turn on A/B Testing, simply edit the configuration (see below) to enable it and set what percentage of users you would like to set for the control group. The control group is the set of users where an ID5 ID will not be exposed in id5Instance.getUserId() - this method will return 0 for the control group. It's important to note that the control group is user based, and not request based. In other words, from one page view to another, a given user may will always be in or out of the control group.

The configuration object for abTesting contains two variables:

Name	Type	Default	Description
enabled	boolean	false	Set this to true to turn on this feature
controlGroupPct	number	0	Must be a number between 0 and 1 (inclusive) and is used to determine the percentage of users that fall into the control group (and thus not exposing the ID5 ID). For example, a value of 0.20 will result in 20% of users without an ID5 ID and 80% with an ID.

Segments

> Note: ID5 does not build segments or profile users. This feature enables brands or publishers to put users into segments they have already created in their platform of choice, when that platform does not support ingesting ID5 IDs in standard segment pixels yet.

The Segments feature facilitates (re)targeting use cases for brands and publishers until their platforms complete their integration with ID5. Only certain destination platforms are supported and there are backend configurations that need to be made on both ID5's and the destination platform's systems before this feature can be used. Please reach out to your ID5 representative for more information and to get started.

The segments array is a list of objects containing a destination and list of segment ids to add the user to.

Option Name	Scope	Type	Description
destination	Required	string	The IAB GVL ID of the destination platform where the segments should be uploaded to
ids	Required	array of strings	A list of segment ids/codes to add the user to in the destination platform

var id5Instance = ID5.init({
  partnerId: 173, // modify with your own partnerId
  segments: [{
    destination: '999',
    ids: [ '12345', '67890' ]
  }]
});

Available Methods and Variables

The ID5 API provides several methods and variables for you to use. See below for a complete list.

Name	Type	Return Type	Description
ID5.init({})	method	n/a	Takes a config object as the only parameter and initializes the API with these configuration options, returns an Id5Instance object
ID5.refreshId(id5Instance, boolean, config)	method	n/a	A method to refresh the ID without reloading the page. Must come after the init() method is called. First parameter is the id5Instance returned from init(), the second (optional) param is a boolean, set to true to force a fetch call to ID5, set to false to only call ID5 if necessary. The third (optional) parameter is a valid config object to add/change options prior to refreshing the ID.
ID5.loaded	variable	boolean	This variable will be set to true once the API is loaded and ready for use
id5Instance.getUserId()	method	string	The ID5 ID value. If not set yet, returns undefined
id5Instance.getLinkType()	method	number	Indicates the type of connection ID5 has made with this ID across domains. If userId is not set yet, returns undefined
id5Instance.isFromCache()	method	boolean	Indicates whether the userId value is from cache (when set to true) or from a server response (when set to false). If userId is not set yet, returns undefined
id5Instance.exposeUserId()	method	boolean	Applicable when A/B Testing is turned on; when this method returns true, the user is not in the control group and id5Instance.getUserId() is populated with the ID5 ID; when false, the user is considered as part of the control group and id5Instance.getUserId() will be 0. This method can be used to inform your reporting systems that an ID was available or not, instead of relying on the value of id5Instance.getUserId() directly.
id5Instance.getUserIdAsEid()	method	object	Retrieve the ID5 ID as an object that can be directly added to an eids array in an OpenRTB bid request. See below for a example output
id5Instance.getExt()	method	object	The ext object that is a part of OpenRTB request, see below. If not set yet, returns undefined
id5Instance.onAvailable(fn, timeout)	method	id5Instance	Set an event to be called when the ID5 ID is available. Will be called only once per ID5.init(). The first parameter is a function to call, which will receive as its only parameter the id5Instance object. The second, optional, parameter, is a timeout in ms; if the fn has not been called when the timeout is hit, then it will force a call to fn even if the ID5 ID is not available yet. If not provided, then it will wait indefinitely until the ID5 ID is available to call fn.
id5Instance.onUpdate(fn)	method	id5Instance	Set an event listener to be called any time the ID5 ID is updated. For example, if the ID was found in cache, then the onAvailable event would immediately fire; but there may be a need to call the ID5 servers for an updated ID. When the call to ID5 returns, the onUpdate event will fire. If refreshId is called, when the ID is refreshed, the onUpdate event will also fire. The first and only parameter is a function to call, which will receive as its only parameter the id5Instance object.
id5Instance.onRefresh(fn, timeout)	method	id5Instance	Set an event listener to be called any time the refreshId method has returned with an ID. The first parameter is a function to call, which will receive as its only parameter the id5Instance object. The second, optional, parameter, is a timeout in ms; if the fn has not been called when the timeout is hit, then it will force a call to fn even if the refreshId has not returned with an ID. If not provided, then it will wait indefinitely until the ID5 ID is returned from refreshId to call fn
id5Instance.unregister()	method	void	Unregisters id5Instance
id5Instance.collectEvent(eventType, metadata)	method	void	Sends an event to the ID5 server alongside with the specified eventType (string), metadata (string-to-string key-value map passed as a json object) as well as the fetched ID5 ID and Partner ID passed at init() time. The metadata should be a flat map and must not contain nested properties. For example like { "id":"123", "test":"off" } but not like {"id":{"nested":"3"}}. All the values must be strings. The collection of the event is, if necessary, deferred to the point in time where the ID5 ID is provisioned to the page. The event is sent only once per collectEvent() invocation. The method can be used for example inside a onRefresh() callback to record events with the most fresh ID5 ID if desired.

EIDs Object Output

When passing the ID5 ID in a bid request, the common practice is to include it in the user.ext.eids[] array. To make it easy to retrieve the ID in a format that can be included in the eids array, the id5Instance.getUserIdAsEid() method can be used. An example of the output of this method is below:

{
  "source": "id5-sync.com",
  "uids": [
    {
      "id": "ID5-ABCDEFG12345",
      "ext": {
        "linkType": 2,
        "abTestingControlGroup": false
      }
    }
  ]
}

Examples

Default configuration options

Setting some configuration options at initialization

Setting an onAvailable event listener to retrieve the ID5 ID

Setting an onAvailable and onUpdate event listeners to retrieve the ID5 ID using a call chain

Note: setting an event listener from within another event listener onto the ID5 API Instance can lead to unpredictable results.

Enabling Debug Output

To enable debug output in the browser console, set ID5.debug to true before any call, or add a id5_debug=true to the query string of the page url.

ID5.debug = true;
var id5Instance = ID5.init({ ... });

Test locally

To lint the code

$ gulp lint

To run the unit tests

$ gulp test

Test all including dependencies

$ npm run test:all

Run integrations tests

$ gulp inttest

To generate and view the code coverage reports

$ gulp test-coverage
$ gulp view-coverage

Build and run the project locally with

$ gulp serve

This runs lint and test, then starts a web server at https://localhost:9999 serving from the project root. Navigate to your example implementation to test, and if your id5-api.js file is sourced from the ./build/dev directory you will have sourcemaps available in your browser's developer tools.

As you make code changes, the bundles will be rebuilt and the page reloaded automatically.

Build all dependencies only

$ npm run build -ws

Test all dependencies only

$ npm test -ws

Test dependency libray only (i.e packages/mutiplexing)

$ cd packages/multiplexing
$ npm test

or

$ npm test -w=packages/multiplexing

Prebid.js

The ID5 API can be used alongside the User ID module in Prebid.js, allowing publishers to centrally manage the ID5 ID while still leveraging Prebid to push the ID5 ID to its demand partners.

When deploying the ID5 API alongside Prebid on a webpage, ensure that the following order is maintained when including the code:

1. CMP
2. ID5 API
3. Prebid.js

Within the Prebid.js configuration for the ID5 ID, ensure the Prebid storage name (set in storage.name) is id5id, the storage type (set in storage.type) is html5, and the two codebases will work together seamlessly.

pbjs.setConfig({
    usersync: {
        userIds: [{
            name: "id5Id",
            params: {
                partner: 173                                                               // same value as in the API config
                externalModuleUrl: 'https://cdn.id5-sync.com/api/1.0/id5PrebidModule.js',  // highly recommended to enable the external module
            },
            storage: {
                type: "html5",
                name: "id5id",
                expires: 90,
                refreshInSeconds: 2*3600
            }
        }]
    }
});

Note that both the User ID module and ID5 submodule must still be included in the Prebid build, even when using the ID5 API to manage the ID5 ID. For more detailed instructions on how to use the ID5 ID in Prebid, refer to our documentation.

API Process Flow

Below is an example flow diagram of how the ID5 API interacts with your CMP and other vendor tags.

1. Publisher first loads its CMP and captures the user’s consent preferences (where applicable). This is essential before any IDs or ads are requested or delivered
2. The ID5 API checks in cache for an ID5 ID and ensures it is still fresh. If necessary, a request to ID5 is made for a new/refreshed ID, which is then placed in cache to avoid unnecessary http requests on future page views.
3. The Vendor’s tag on the publisher’s page retrieves the ID5 ID via the API and passes it, along with any other information they normally send, to their servers for processing. Examples of Vendor Tags are Prebid.js (or other header bidding solutions), ad tags, attribution or segment pixels, etc.
4. The Vendor’s servers makes requests to other platforms, including the ID5 ID in addition to, or instead of, the normal user IDs they pass

Benefits of Using the ID5 API

There are a number of reasons for publishers to use the ID5 API.

• Any platform with tags on the publisher’s page can access the ID5 ID directly without calling ID5’s servers, which reduces the number of HTTP requests required to retrieve the ID5 ID for all platforms, ultimately decreasing page loading time
• The API centrally manages user consent, caching, and ID storage for any platform that needs access to the ID on the page
• Allows for 1st Party storage of the user ID, enabling user identification in browsers that block 3rd Party cookies (like Safari or Firefox) without the need for workarounds that could be blocked with a new release
• With the ID5 ID being consistent and persistent, publishers will earn more revenue from their ad tech platforms through near 100% match rates and advertisers will be able to reach more of their audiences
• A shared ID eliminates the need for cookie syncing on publisher pages, decreasing page latency
• The API’s code is open-source and available for your review (and contribution) here on Github: https://github.com/id5io/id5-api.js - this means we don’t have any sneaky code doing something you don’t know about

The GDPR and Privacy

GDPR

ID5 has built a privacy-by-design and GDPR-compliant universal ID service for publishers, advertisers, and ad tech vendors. The service leverages the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) to capture user consent signals.

As an identity provider, ID5 acts as a controller of the ID5 ID, and thus, we must receive consent to process requests. When we receive a request for the ID5 ID, we check that we have consent to store our user ID in a user's browser before proceeding; if we don’t have consent we inform the calling page (through our API) that consent was not received and we do not write a 3rd party cookie as part of the HTTP response.

Bots

If ID5 detects that a request is coming from a declared bot (e.g. search engine crawlers), we will not return an ID5 ID.

Privacy Policy

For our Platform Privacy Policy, please visit https://id5.io/platform-privacy-policy.