How to Track Smart Contract Events in Real Time

Frontend analytics only capture what happens on your site. A user might visit your app 10 times without transacting, or transact without ever visiting your site. Contract events track onchain activity directly, independent of frontend visits. With Formo, you can monitor contract activity in real time, link it to your users, and use it in funnels, flows, and dashboards.

Part 1: Navigate to Project Settings > Contracts

In the Formo dashboard:

Go to your project settings
Select Contracts.
You’ll see a list of contracts you’re already tracking and an Add Contract button.

Contract settings page showing list of tracked contracts and add button

Part 2: Add a Contract

Click Add Contract. A modal opens.

Paste your contract address (e.g., 0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F for DAI on Ethereum)
Select the chain from the dropdown (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, etc.)

Once both fields lose focus, Formo automatically fetches the contract’s ABI in the background. If successful, you’ll see a list of all events in the contract. If auto-detection fails, you can paste the ABI manually (copy from Etherscan, Hardhat build output, or your IDE).

For proxy contracts, paste the implementation ABI, not the proxy ABI.

Part 3: Select Events to Track

The ABI reveals all events defined in the contract. Formo shows checkboxes for each. Common events to track:

Swap: When a user executes a trade (typically includes amount_in, amount_out, user)
Transfer: When tokens move (includes from, to, value)
Approval: When user approves a spender
Deposit / Withdraw: For lending/staking protocols
Mint / Burn: For token creation/destruction

Check the events you want to track. You don’t need to track every event, only the ones relevant to your analytics. Example: For a DEX, track Swap. For a token, track Transfer and Approval.

Part 4: Deploy the Pipeline

Once events are selected, click Deploy. Formo provisions the pipeline in the background. Pipeline states progress as: Draft > Active (shown as Live in the UI). A pipeline can also land in Inactive, Paused, or Error if something needs your attention. This typically takes a few minutes. Monitor the status in the Project Settings > Contracts panel. Once Live, your smart contract events will start flowing into your Formo project.

You can add more contracts later. Just add it, select events, and deploy to update the pipeline.

Part 5: See Contract Events in Activity Feed

Navigate to Activity in the sidebar. You’ll see a unified feed of offchain events (web page views, mobile events) and onchain events (smart contract events e.g. swaps, transfers). Scroll through to verify events are being captured. Filter for events by name like “Swap” or “Transfer” and properties like amount, token address, and timestamp. Each contract event is automatically linked to a wallet address and session, so you can associate it with the user who executed the transaction.

Part 6: Use Contract Events as Funnel Steps

Now that contract events are flowing, use them as steps in funnels and other charts. Click Dashboards > Add Chart > Funnel. In the funnel builder, you’ll see a list of all of your events including events from the frontend (page views, wallet connects) and contract events (swaps, transfers) in the step dropdown. Example funnel:

“Wallet Connected” (frontend event with type connect)
“Transaction” (frontend event with type transaction)
“Swap” (contract event: Swap)

This funnel measures: Of users who connected a wallet, how many made a transaction, and of those, how many executed a swap?

Funnel builder showing mix of frontend and contract events

Part 7: Query Contract Events with SQL

For advanced analysis, use the Explorer (SQL editor). Navigate to Explorer in the sidebar. The schema browser on the left shows available tables: events, users, anonymous_users. The events table includes contract events with columns like:

type: Event type (e.g., decoded_log for contract events, connect for wallet connections)
event: Specific event name like “Swap”, “Transfer”, etc. (populated for decoded_log and track events)
address: User’s wallet address
timestamp: When the event occurred
properties: Event-specific data stored as JSON string (includes contract address, amounts, tokens, etc.)

Essential Contract Event Queries

Query 1: Daily Swap Volume

SELECT 
  toDate(timestamp) as date,
  sum(JSONExtractFloat(properties, 'amount_out')) as total_volume
FROM events
WHERE type = 'decoded_log' AND event = 'Swap' AND JSONExtractString(properties, 'contract_address') = '0x...'
GROUP BY date
ORDER BY date DESC

Query 2: Top Swappers (By Transaction Count)

SELECT 
  address,
  count(*) as swap_count,
  sum(JSONExtractFloat(properties, 'amount_out')) as total_volume
FROM events
WHERE type = 'decoded_log' AND event = 'Swap'
GROUP BY address
ORDER BY swap_count DESC
LIMIT 10

Query 3: Time to First Swap (After Wallet Connect)

SELECT 
  avg(dateDiff('minute',
    first_connect_time,
    first_swap_time)) as avg_minutes_to_swap
FROM (
  SELECT 
    address,
    min(if(type = 'connect', timestamp, null)) as first_connect_time,
    min(if(type = 'decoded_log' AND event = 'Swap', timestamp, null)) as first_swap_time
  FROM events
  GROUP BY address
)
WHERE first_swap_time IS NOT NULL

Part 8: Build Dashboard Charts from Contract Events

In Dashboards, create charts filtered to contract events. Example charts:

Line Chart: Daily swap volume over time
Bar Chart: Top 5 tokens swapped
Pie Chart: Swap size distribution (small, medium, large)
Number Card: Total transactions, unique swappers, total volume

Contract events are queryable the same way as frontend events, so you can build charts that mix both.

Part 9: Set Up Alerts for Contract Events

Navigate to Project Settings > Alerts. Create alerts for important contract events:

“Alert me when a high-net-worth wallet connects”
“Alert me when a whale executes a swap”
“Alert me when a specific contract event fires”

Pipeline Management

Check Pipeline Status

In Project Settings > Contracts, each contract shows its pipeline state:

Draft: Not yet deployed
Live: Active and ingesting events
Inactive: Deployed but not currently ingesting events
Paused: Temporarily disabled
Error: Pipeline failed (check logs)

Pause a Pipeline

If you need to stop tracking a contract, click Pause next to its name. Events stop being ingested. You can resume anytime.

Redeploy After Changes

If you add new events or update your contract, deploy again to update the pipeline.

FAQ

What blockchains does Formo support for contract events?

Formo supports Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Linea, Scroll, zkSync, and more. Full list at Supported Chains.

How does Formo detect contract ABIs automatically?

Formo uses a single unified Etherscan API (selecting the chain via a chainId parameter) to fetch verified ABIs, with Sourcify as a fallback if the contract isn’t verified there. If your contract is verified on either source, the ABI is detected instantly. If not, paste the ABI manually.

Can I track events from multiple contracts in a single funnel?

Yes. For example, swap on Contract A, then bridge to Contract B. Both appear as funnel steps. Formo links them by wallet address and timestamp.

Do contract events count toward my event quota?

Yes. Each contract event counts as 1 event in your plan. For high-volume contracts (millions of events daily), consider filtering or segmenting.

​Part 1: Navigate to Project Settings > Contracts

​Part 2: Add a Contract

​Part 3: Select Events to Track

​Part 4: Deploy the Pipeline

​Part 5: See Contract Events in Activity Feed

​Part 6: Use Contract Events as Funnel Steps

​Part 7: Query Contract Events with SQL

​Essential Contract Event Queries

​Part 8: Build Dashboard Charts from Contract Events

​Part 9: Set Up Alerts for Contract Events

​Pipeline Management

​Check Pipeline Status

​Pause a Pipeline

​Redeploy After Changes

​FAQ

Part 1: Navigate to Project Settings > Contracts

Part 2: Add a Contract

Part 3: Select Events to Track

Part 4: Deploy the Pipeline

Part 5: See Contract Events in Activity Feed

Part 6: Use Contract Events as Funnel Steps

Part 7: Query Contract Events with SQL

Essential Contract Event Queries

Part 8: Build Dashboard Charts from Contract Events

Part 9: Set Up Alerts for Contract Events

Pipeline Management

Check Pipeline Status

Pause a Pipeline

Redeploy After Changes

FAQ