Backfills

A new signal is answered from each object's next analysis. To answer it for the objects you already have, run a backfill: a re-analysis of every object that has no answer for the signal, for that signal only.

Estimate first

Each analysis is billed, so check what a backfill would cost:

curl "$API/v1/signals/wants_refund/backfill?api_key=$ANALYZE_API_KEY" -H "Authorization: Bearer $(sign)"

{
  "estimate": { "objects": 12840, "estimated_cost_micros": 25680000 },
  "backfill": null
}

estimated_cost_micros is in micro-dollars (here $25.68), an upper bound based on your recent average cost per analysis. backfill is the progress of the last backfill, or null.

Start it

curl -X POST "$API/v1/signals/wants_refund/backfill?api_key=$ANALYZE_API_KEY" -H "Authorization: Bearer $(sign)"

{ "signal_key": "wants_refund", "status": "running", "total": 12840, "completed": 0, "pending": 12840, "started_at": "2026-09-27T10:00:00Z" }

Backfill jobs run at bulk priority: live traffic is always served first, so a large backfill never delays the analysis of new events. Poll the GET above to follow completed and pending; status becomes done when nothing is left.

A disabled signal can't be backfilled (409). Enable it first.

Automatic backfills

Set auto_backfill_signals to backfill every new signal as soon as it is created. It is off by default because of the cost.

curl -X PATCH "$API/v1/settings?api_key=$ANALYZE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(sign)" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"auto_backfill_signals":true}'

With it on, the signal returned by PUT /v1/signals/{key} includes the started backfill.