fix: propagate module-level settings to default client

[marandaneto]

💡 Motivation and Context

Module-level configuration is intended to configure the lazily initialized default client, but privacy_mode, project_root, and project_api_key were not propagated. In particular, setting posthog.privacy_mode = True still allowed AI wrappers to capture full prompts and outputs.

This also clarifies the established API key naming: project_api_key is the preferred setting and takes precedence, while api_key is the deprecated legacy alias retained for backwards compatibility.

Fixes #768.

💚 How did you test it?

• python -m pytest -q posthog/test/test_module.py posthog/test/ai/openai/test_openai.py::test_privacy_mode_global posthog/test/test_code_variables.py (185 passed)
• ruff format --check posthog/__init__.py posthog/test/test_module.py
• ruff check posthog/__init__.py posthog/test/test_module.py
• python -W error -c "import posthog"

📝 Checklist

• I reviewed the submitted code.
• I added tests to verify the changes.
• I updated the docs if needed.
• No breaking change or entry added to the changelog.

If releasing new changes

• Ran sampo add to generate a changeset file

🤖 Agent context

Autonomy: Human-driven (agent-assisted)

Implemented with the Pi coding agent after validating the issue against the current source and confirming the API key naming history in issues #31 and #33 and PR #32. The API key resolution preserves the SDK's established project_api_key or api_key precedence, while privacy mode is re-synchronized on repeated setup() calls so late module-level changes take effect. A human-authored review is still required; no agent session transcript was published.

[github-actions]

posthog-python Compliance Report

Date: 2026-07-27 20:43:28 UTC
Duration: 338391ms

✅ All Tests Passed!

111/111 tests passed

---

Capture_V1 Tests

✅ 94/94 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Endpoint And Method.Targets V1 Endpoint	✅	518ms
Endpoint And Method.Does Not Use Legacy Endpoints	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has Authorization Bearer Header	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has Content Type Json	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Sdk Info Format	✅	1008ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Attempt Header	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Request Id	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has Posthog Request Timestamp	✅	1009ms
Required Headers.Has User Agent	✅	1008ms
Body Format.Body Has Created At And Batch	✅	1009ms
Body Format.No Api Key In Body	✅	1009ms
Body Format.No Sent At In Body	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Event Has Required Root Fields	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Event Uuid Is Valid	✅	1008ms
Event Format.Event Timestamp Is Rfc3339	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Distinct Id Is String	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Distinct Id At Root Not Properties	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Custom Properties Preserved	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Set Properties Preserved	✅	1009ms
Event Format.Set Once Properties Preserved	✅	1008ms
Event Format.Groups Properties Preserved	✅	1011ms
Event Format.Sdk Generates Uuid If Not Provided	✅	1008ms
Event Format.Event Has Required Root Fields Batch	✅	1013ms
Event Format.Event Uuid Is Valid Batch	✅	1014ms
Event Format.Event Timestamp Is Rfc3339 Batch	✅	1012ms
Event Format.Distinct Id Is String Batch	✅	1013ms
Event Format.Distinct Id At Root Not Properties Batch	✅	1012ms
Event Format.Custom Properties Preserved Batch	✅	1012ms
Event Format.Set Properties Preserved Batch	✅	1013ms
Event Format.Set Once Properties Preserved Batch	✅	1013ms
Event Format.Groups Properties Preserved Batch	✅	1013ms
Event Format.Sdk Generates Uuid If Not Provided Batch	✅	1012ms
Batch Behavior.Multiple Events In Single Batch	✅	1507ms
Batch Behavior.Batch Envelope Smoke	✅	1014ms
Batch Behavior.Flush With No Events Sends Nothing	✅	1006ms
Batch Behavior.Flush At Triggers Batch	✅	1508ms
Batch Behavior.Created At Reflects Batch Creation Time	✅	1011ms
Deduplication.Generates Unique Uuids	✅	1506ms
Deduplication.Different Events Same Content Different Uuids	✅	1508ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid On Retry	✅	7515ms
Deduplication.Preserves Timestamp On Retry	✅	7513ms
Deduplication.Preserves Uuid And Timestamp On Batch Retry	✅	7512ms
Deduplication.No Duplicate Events In Batch	✅	1504ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Attempt Header Starts At One	✅	1009ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Attempt Header Increments On Retry	✅	14524ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Request Id Preserved On Retry	✅	7509ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Different Requests Have Different Request Ids	✅	3514ms
Header Behavior On Retry.Request Timestamp Changes On Retry	✅	7516ms
Response Format Validation.Success Response Has Uuid Keyed Results	✅	1006ms
Response Format Validation.Success Response Has Ok For Each Event	✅	1506ms
Response Format Validation.Success No Retry After When All Ok	✅	1507ms
Response Format Validation.Success Retry After Present When Retry Events	✅	2511ms
Response Format Validation.Success No Retry After When Drop Only	✅	1507ms
Response Format Validation.Response Echoes Request Id	✅	1010ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 408	✅	7513ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 500	✅	7513ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 503	✅	9517ms
Retry Behavior.Retries On 504	✅	7510ms
Retry Behavior.Retryable Errors Have Retry After	✅	4511ms
Retry Behavior.Respects Retry After On Retryable Error	✅	12516ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 400	✅	3504ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 401	✅	3507ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 402	✅	3509ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 413	✅	3506ms
Retry Behavior.Does Not Retry On 415	✅	3509ms
Retry Behavior.Non Retryable Errors Have No Retry After	✅	3506ms
Retry Behavior.Implements Backoff	✅	23533ms
Retry Behavior.Max Retries Respected	✅	23507ms
Partial Batch Handling.Handles 200 Full Success	✅	2515ms
Partial Batch Handling.Handles 200 With All Ok	✅	4508ms
Partial Batch Handling.Does Not Retry Dropped Events	✅	4508ms
Partial Batch Handling.Does Not Retry Limited Events	✅	4508ms
Partial Batch Handling.Prunes Ok Events On Partial Retry	✅	7509ms
Partial Batch Handling.Prunes Dropped Events On Partial Retry	✅	7519ms
Partial Batch Handling.Retries Only Retry Events From Partial	✅	7512ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Preserves Uuids	✅	7511ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Attempt Header Increments	✅	7508ms
Partial Batch Handling.Partial Retry Request Id Preserved	✅	7512ms
Partial Batch Handling.Respects Retry After On Partial	✅	9516ms
Partial Batch Handling.Unknown Result Treated As Terminal	✅	4505ms
Partial Batch Handling.Mixed Ok Drop Limited No Retry	✅	4508ms
Compression.Sends Gzip Content Encoding	✅	1009ms
Compression.No Content Encoding When Disabled	✅	1009ms
Compression.Compressed Body Is Decompressible	✅	1009ms
Error Handling.Does Not Retry On Unknown 4Xx	✅	3508ms
Event Options.Cookieless Mode Override	✅	1009ms
Event Options.Disable Skew Correction Override	✅	1009ms
Event Options.Process Person Profile Override	✅	1009ms
Event Options.Product Tour Id Override	✅	1009ms
Event Options.Unset Options Omitted	✅	1008ms
Event Options.Options Override In Batch	✅	1012ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Geoip Disable Injected Into Properties	✅	1009ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Historical Migration Set In Body	✅	1009ms
Geoip And Historical Migration.Historical Migration Absent By Default	✅	1008ms

Feature_Flags Tests

✅ 17/17 tests passed

View Details

Test	Status	Duration
Request Payload.Request With Person Properties Device Id	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Uses V2 Query Param	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Hits Flags Path Not Decide	✅	1006ms
Request Payload.Flags Request Omits Authorization Header	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Token In Flags Body Matches Init	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Groups Round Trip	✅	1006ms
Request Payload.Groups Default To Empty Object	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip False Propagates As Geoip Disable False	✅	1007ms
Request Payload.Disable Geoip Omitted Defaults To False	✅	1006ms
Request Payload.Flag Keys To Evaluate Contains Only Requested Key	✅	1007ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Init Alone	✅	503ms
Request Lifecycle.No Flags Request On Normal Capture	✅	1507ms
Request Lifecycle.Two Flag Calls Produce Two Remote Requests	✅	1010ms
Request Lifecycle.Mock Response Value Is Returned To Caller	✅	1003ms
Retry Behavior.Retries Flags On 502	✅	1006ms
Retry Behavior.Retries Flags On 504	✅	1007ms
Side Effect Events.Get Feature Flag Captures Feature Flag Called Event	✅	1509ms

[greptile-apps]

Prompt To Fix All With AI

### Issue 1
posthog/__init__.py:1175
**Blank preferred key disables capture**

When `project_api_key` contains only whitespace and `api_key` is valid, this expression selects the truthy preferred key before trimming it, producing an empty configured key and disabling the default client, so module-level events are silently dropped.

---

For each issue above, determine whether it is valid and should be fixed. If so, fix it directly.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "docs: clarify module API key naming" | Re-trigger Greptile}

[greptile-apps]

Prompt To Fix All With AI

### Issue 1
posthog/__init__.py:1175
**Blank preferred key disables capture**

When `project_api_key` contains only whitespace and `api_key` is valid, this expression selects the truthy preferred key before trimming it, producing an empty configured key and disabling the default client, so module-level events are silently dropped.

---

For each issue above, determine whether it is valid and should be fixed. If so, fix it directly.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "docs: clarify module API key naming" | Re-trigger Greptile}

[greptile-apps]

Blank preferred key disables capture

When project_api_key contains only whitespace and api_key is valid, this expression selects the truthy preferred key before trimming it, producing an empty configured key and disabling the default client, so module-level events are silently dropped.

Knowledge Base Used: Client Core

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: posthog/__init__.py
Line: 1175

Comment:
**Blank preferred key disables capture**

When `project_api_key` contains only whitespace and `api_key` is valid, this expression selects the truthy preferred key before trimming it, producing an empty configured key and disabling the default client, so module-level events are silently dropped.

**Knowledge Base Used:** [Client Core](https://app.greptile.com/posthog-org-19734/-/custom-context/knowledge-base/posthog/posthog-python/-/docs/client-core.md)

---

For each issue above, determine whether it is valid and should be fixed. If so, fix it directly.