The Live Check is the fastest way to gauge the health of a GA4 property. It queries the official Google APIs without needing a BigQuery export - and gives you a picture of your setup configuration and up-to-date data quality in seconds.
What does the app check?
The Live Check combines two data sources:
- GA4 Admin API for the configuration view: streams, enhanced measurement, key events, Google Ads linking, BigQuery linking, custom definitions, privacy signals.
- GA4 Data API for the plausibility view: realtime users,
session_startandpage_view, channel distribution,(not set)shares, e-commerce plausibility, site search.
The checks land in the status-light row at the top of the dashboard and use the standard status (Pass / Warning / Fail), the same one described in the Features & test catalog.
When does a check trigger?
The concrete thresholds straight from the code:
| Check | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Realtime users | 0 active users = critical |
| Data streams | at least 1 web stream required |
| Enhanced measurement | disabled = info |
| Key events | optimal 3-10; ≥ 25 = info ("too many") |
| Data retention | < 14 months = warning |
| BigQuery export | reachable=false = critical |
The logic lives in app/services/ga4_live_check_rules.py:build_live_check_findings()
and is called in the dashboard by app/services/ga4_api_check_service.py:get_overview().
Common causes
- 0 realtime users → the tracking code is missing or being blocked, Consent Mode is configured incorrectly, or the production URL doesn't match the GA4 stream.
- No web streams → the property is set up incompletely, only app streams exist.
- BigQuery unreachable → GCP project access is missing, dataset permissions aren't set correctly, or the region between GA4 and BigQuery doesn't match.
How to proceed
- Scan the status-light row at the top of the dashboard - every card is clickable and opens hint and solution texts right below the status.
- For realtime-
0findings, open the tracking debugger first - it shows incoming events per stream and second. - For
(not set)anomalies, use the BigQuery tab in parallel - the status-light checks from BigQuery show the same question with a lot more detail. - If a configuration warning shows up (e.g. missing custom dimensions): change it via the GA4 Admin UI and recheck after 24 h - the Data API reflects changes with a delay.
When is the Live Check enough, and when do you need BigQuery?
- The Live Check is enough for day-to-day monitoring, setup audits and quickly spotting tracking outages.
- BigQuery (status-light tab) adds value as soon as you need event detail, funnel consistency, duplicates, PII hints or deep attribution analysis - see status-light checks from BigQuery.