Hi Everyone,

I’ve been working on a project called SHONiR CMS, built entirely on CodeIgniter 4. One of the core philosophies of this CMS is to keep things simple and high-performance for the end-user (the website owner), without the bloat.

I wanted to share a specific module I recently finalized: the Admin Panel Analytics Feature.

The Problem We’re Solving: While Google Analytics and Search Console are incredibly powerful, they are often too "professional" or complex for a typical business owner who just wants to see:

"How many people visited today?"

"When did I have the most traffic?"

"Where are they coming from?"

Technical Highlights & Features: Built on CI4: Leveraging the speed and clean architecture of CodeIgniter 4.

Traffic Heatmap: Integrated Chart.js to provide a 24-hour visual overview of traffic peaks and dips. It’s interactive and very easy for clients to read.

Visitor Insights: A "Last 100 Visitors" list showing IP, duration, browser info, OS, and page-path history.

IP-to-Location Integration: Uses the ipinfo.io API to map visitor IPs to physical locations. Developers can easily drop in their free API key via the Admin Configuration menu.

Performance First: To keep the database load light (especially on shared hosting), the system is designed to keep records of the last 24 hours only—providing real-time value without the "database bloat."

Screenshots / Demo: You can see the full breakdown and screenshots here: 8.shonir.com/shonir-cms/bpd19/shonir-cms-admin-an…

Developer Flexibility: Since it's built with CI4, I’ve kept the code modular. Developers can easily extend the Chart.js implementation to add more charts or modify the data retention period if their project requires long-term tracking.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this approach—do you think built-in lightweight analytics are a "must-have" for custom CMS projects, or do you always prefer external tools like GA4?

Cheers,