Support for qaMode in Node.js On-Device Decisioning?

[ChrisRaser]

Hi all, 

The Node.js getOffers() method seems to be ignoring my QA parameters. 

The docs for Node.js getOffers() method indicate that it conforms to the spec for the REST-based Delivery API . 

My request object contains the request.qaMode value as described in the Delivery API spec.

const offers = targetClient.getOffers({
  // ...
  "request": {
    //... 
    "qaMode": {
      "token": "s_c15OYe-jBHIvKsmzAuL7zP_DDcGGb87aV06x_KWVo",
      "listedActivitiesOnly": true,
      "evaluateAsTrueAudienceIds": [],
      "previewIndexes": [
        {
          "activityIndex": 1,
          "experienceIndex": 2
        }
      ]
    },
    // ...
});

However, getOffers() seems to be ignoring this. (I'm 100% sure it's correctly formatted, etc. - it's created & populated using the same code that's creating the qaMode object we pass to the Delivery API endpoint in production.)

Can anyone point me to any documentation on this? 

[Gokul_Agiwal]

Hi @ChrisRaser 

Seems there is no mentioned about qaMode in documentation, however I can see same issues reported before on github repo. 

https://github.com/adobe/target-nodejs-sdk/issues/30

and I noticed one thing - in example they haven't used below parameter in qaMode object, though its there in type definition. 

evaluateAsTrueAudienceIds

in this thread, https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-target-questions/php-and-adobe-target-deliver... 

one of our advisor @alexbishop also mentioned to use without "evaluateAsTrueAudienceIds" parameter ..  

It's actually only token & the previewIndexes array that are required within the qaMode object 

I'm unable to check as I'm working on client PC which bit restricted but will give a try, meantime can you please check and see if this is working for you? 

Hope this helps. 

[ChrisRaser]

Thanks for the suggestion, Gokul!

I tried removing the evaluateAsTrueAudienceIds property, but the qaMode still has no effect.  I also took a look at that issue on github, but when I use the request JSON suggested there, I get no Offers at all. (The options property is empty.)

I'll continue digging through documentation, but so far I just don't see much info on how the various request parameters interact. Clearly something is causing the SDK to ignore the qaMode value, but I feel like I'm going to have to go read the full SDK source code to determine what.

I'm hoping that adding more detail here will give folks more to go on, so here's the full run-down.

Initializing the Target Client (Including the rules.json Artifact):

targetClient = TargetClient.create({
    client: "acme",
    organizationId: "A9733BC75245B1A30A490D4D@AdobeOrg",
    property: "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX", // prod
    decisioningMethod: "on-device",
    events: { clientReady: startExpressApp },
    artifactPayload: {
        "version": "1.0.0",
        "meta": {
            "clientCode": "acme",
            "environment": "staging"
        },
        "globalMbox": "target-global-mbox",
        "geoTargetingEnabled": false,
        "responseTokens": [
            "activity.id",
            "activity.name",
            "experience.id",
            "experience.name",
            "offer.id",
            "offer.name",
            "profile.adobeQA",
            "profile.geat1085_bbi",
            "profile.geat1085_cid",
            "profile.getBorderfreeCountry",
            "profile.isSeabiscuit",
            "profile.rand1to100"
        ],
        "remoteMboxes": [
            "Seabiscuit_Test",
            "target-global-mbox"
        ],
        "remoteViews": [],
        "localMboxes": [
            "Seabiscuit_Test_Pdp",
            "Seabiscuit_Test_Plp",
            "Seabiscuit_all_pages",
            "abba_odd_research",
            "server_side_plp",
            "test_server_side",
            "test_server_side_analytics",
            "test_server_side_matt"
        ],
        "localViews": [],
        "rules": {
            "mboxes": {
                "test_server_side_odd": [
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "590584",
                        "activityId": 590584,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 590584,
                            "activity.name": "ODD_STRIPED_PDP_50-50_SPLIT",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 0,
                            "experience.name": "Experience A",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2127551,
                            "offer.name": "/odd_striped_pdp_50-50split/experiences/0/pages/0/zones/0/1733941108493",
                            "option.id": 2,
                            "option.name": "Offer2"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C=": [0, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [1, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "cFJpfz+u9dHUNU9rkyalQ2qipfsIHvVzTQxHolz2IpSCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "ab": "pdpStripedBackground:false",
                                        "experience": "A"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "590584",
                        "activityId": 590584,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 590584,
                            "activity.name": "ODD_STRIPED_PDP_50-50_SPLIT",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 1,
                            "experience.name": "Experience B",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2127552,
                            "offer.name": "/odd_striped_pdp_50-50split/experiences/1/pages/0/zones/0/1733941108531",
                            "option.id": 3,
                            "option.name": "Offer3"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C": [1, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [2, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "cFJpfz+u9dHUNU9rkyalQ5NWHtnQtQrJfmRrQugEa2qCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "ab": "pdpStripedBackground:true",
                                        "experience": "B"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "590584",
                        "activityId": 590584,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 590584,
                            "activity.name": "ODD_STRIPED_PDP_50-50_SPLIT",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 2,
                            "experience.name": "Experience C",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2129141,
                            "offer.name": "/odd_striped_pdp_50-50split/experiences/2/pages/0/zones/0/1734026672581",
                            "option.id": 4,
                            "option.name": "Offer4"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C": [2, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [100, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "cFJpfz+u9dHUNU9rkyalQwreqXMfVUcUx0s/BHR5kCKCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "ab": "pdpStripedBackground:false",
                                        "experience": "C"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "583168",
                        "activityId": 583168,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 583168,
                            "activity.name": "Matt AB Test Target Delivery API",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 0,
                            "experience.name": "Control",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2075351,
                            "offer.name": "/matt_ab_test_targetdeliveryapi/experiences/0/pages/0/zones/0/1729604726549",
                            "option.id": 2,
                            "option.name": "Offer2"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C=": [0, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [34, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "1Kimq1NLhZPKdw19pi/3MWqipfsIHvVzTQxHolz2IpSCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "pdp_redesign_2024_title": "control"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "583168",
                        "activityId": 583168,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 583168,
                            "activity.name": "Matt AB Test Target Delivery API",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 1,
                            "experience.name": "Challenger A",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2075352,
                            "offer.name": "/matt_ab_test_targetdeliveryapi/experiences/1/pages/0/zones/0/1729604726553",
                            "option.id": 3,
                            "option.name": "Offer3"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C": [34, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [67, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "1Kimq1NLhZPKdw19pi/3MZNWHtnQtQrJfmRrQugEa2qCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "pdp_redesign_2024_title": "challengerA"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "583168",
                        "activityId": 583168,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 583168,
                            "activity.name": "Matt AB Test Target Delivery API",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 2,
                            "experience.name": "Challenger B",
                            "location.name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "location.type": "mbox",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [],
                            "offer.id": 2075350,
                            "offer.name": "/matt_ab_test_targetdeliveryapi/experiences/2/pages/0/zones/0/1729604726489",
                            "option.id": 4,
                            "option.name": "Offer4"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "\u003C": [67, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "\u003E=": [100, {
                                        "var": "allocation"
                                    }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "test_server_side_odd",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "json",
                                    "eventToken": "1Kimq1NLhZPKdw19pi/3MQreqXMfVUcUx0s/BHR5kCKCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": {
                                        "pdp_redesign_2024_title": "challengerB"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    }
                ],
                "target-global-mbox": [
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "494148-0",
                        "activityId": 494148,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 494148,
                            "activity.name": "minh_test_vec",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 0,
                            "experience.name": "Experience A",
                            "location.name": "target-global-mbox",
                            "location.type": "view",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [8381310],
                            "option.id": 0
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "and": [
                                        {
                                            "\u003C=": [0, {
                                                "var": "allocation"
                                            }
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        {
                                            "\u003E=": [0, {
                                                "var": "allocation"
                                            }
                                            ]
                                        }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "and": [
                                        {
                                            "==": [
                                                "bfgp-001.ecm.acme.com",
                                                {
                                                    "var": "page.domain"
                                                }
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        {
                                            "or": [
                                                {
                                                    "==": [
                                                        "/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Cart-Show/",
                                                        {
                                                            "var": "page.path"
                                                        }
                                                    ]
                                                },
                                                {
                                                    "==": [
                                                        "/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Cart-Show",
                                                        {
                                                            "var": "page.path"
                                                        }
                                                    ]
                                                }
                                            ]
                                        }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "target-global-mbox",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "eventToken": "BIBKq6v6RDg+ANCndw29eGqipfsIHvVzTQxHolz2IpSCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q=="
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "ruleKey": "494148-0",
                        "activityId": 494148,
                        "meta": {
                            "activity.id": 494148,
                            "activity.name": "minh_test_vec",
                            "activity.type": "ab",
                            "experience.id": 1,
                            "experience.name": "Experience B",
                            "location.name": "target-global-mbox",
                            "location.type": "view",
                            "location.id": 0,
                            "audience.ids": [8381310],
                            "option.id": 2,
                            "option.name": "Offer2"
                        },
                        "condition": {
                            "and": [
                                {
                                    "and": [
                                        {
                                            "\u003C": [0, {
                                                "var": "allocation"
                                            }
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        {
                                            "\u003E=": [100, {
                                                "var": "allocation"
                                            }
                                            ]
                                        }
                                    ]
                                },
                                {
                                    "and": [
                                        {
                                            "==": [
                                                "bfgp-001.ecm.acme.com",
                                                {
                                                    "var": "page.domain"
                                                }
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        {
                                            "or": [
                                                {
                                                    "==": [
                                                        "/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Cart-Show/",
                                                        {
                                                            "var": "page.path"
                                                        }
                                                    ]
                                                },
                                                {
                                                    "==": [
                                                        "/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Cart-Show",
                                                        {
                                                            "var": "page.path"
                                                        }
                                                    ]
                                                }
                                            ]
                                        }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        "consequence": {
                            "name": "target-global-mbox",
                            "options": [
                                {
                                    "type": "actions",
                                    "eventToken": "BIBKq6v6RDg+ANCndw29eJNWHtnQtQrJfmRrQugEa2qCnQ9Y9OaLL2gsdrWQTvE54PwSz67rmXWmSnkXpSSS2Q==",
                                    "content": [
                                        {
                                            "type": "setHtml",
                                            "selector": ".b-cart-page_title",
                                            "cssSelector": "${cssSelector}",
                                            "content": "Your shopping cart"
                                        }
                                    ]
                                }
                            ],
                            "metrics": []
                        },
                        "propertyTokens": [
                            "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "views": {

            }
        }
    }
});

Call to getOffers():

    const response = await targetClient.getOffers({
        request: {
            "requestId": "4d5cf3f5a377423f9d9685bc3023124d",
            "id": {
                "marketingCloudVisitorId": "22263661887276736133741538669203887461"
            },
            "property": {
                "token": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
            },
            "context": {
                "channel": "web",
                "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
            },
            "qaMode": {
                "token": "s_c15OYe-jBHIvKsmzAuL7zP_DDcGGb87aV06x_KWVo",
                "listedActivitiesOnly": true,
                "previewIndexes": [
                    {
                        "activityIndex": 1,
                        "experienceIndex": 2
                    }
                ]
            },
            "experienceCloud": {
                "analytics": {
                    "supplementalDataId": "770206E6CE89C763-0D3BAF90D32A930E",
                    "logging": "server_side"
                }
            },
            "execute": {
                "mboxes": [
                    {
                        "index": 0,
                        "name": "test_server_side_odd"
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    });

Response JSON:

{
  "visitorState": {
    "A9733BC75245B1A30A490D4D@AdobeOrg": {
      "sdid": {
        "supplementalDataIDCurrent": "3D6F8DE2EEDDCDE8-50A334FB833EF318",
        "supplementalDataIDCurrentConsumed": {
          "payload:target-global-mbox": true
        },
        "supplementalDataIDLastConsumed": {}
      }
    }
  },
  "request": {
    "requestId": "4d5cf3f5a377423f9d9685bc3023124d",
    "id": {
      "marketingCloudVisitorId": "22263661887276736133741538669203887461"
    },
    "property": {
      "token": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"
    },
    "context": {
      "channel": "web",
      "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
    },
    "experienceCloud": {
      "analytics": {
        "supplementalDataId": "3D6F8DE2EEDDCDE8-50A334FB833EF318",
        "logging": "server_side"
      }
    },
    "execute": {
      "mboxes": [
        {
          "index": 0,
          "name": "test_server_side_odd"
        }
      ]
    },
    "qaMode": {
      "token": "s_c15OYe-jBHIvKsmzAuL7zP_DDcGGb87aV06x_KWVo",
      "listedActivitiesOnly": true,
      "previewIndexes": [
        {
          "activityIndex": 1,
          "experienceIndex": 1
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "targetCookie": {
    "name": "mbox",
    "value": "session#8456439511c54a259b4cf25402837cf3#1734043908",
    "maxAge": 1861
  },
  "targetLocationHintCookie": {
    "name": "mboxEdgeCluster",
    "value": "35",
    "maxAge": 1860
  },
  "responseTokens": [
    {
      "activity.id": 590584,
      "activity.name": "ODD_STRIPED_PDP_50-50_SPLIT",
      "experience.id": 2,
      "experience.name": "Experience C",
      "offer.id": 2129141,
      "offer.name": "/odd_striped_pdp_50-50split/experiences/2/pages/0/zones/0/1734026672581",
      "activity.decisioningMethod": "on-device"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "decisioningMethod": "on-device",
    "remoteMboxes": [],
    "remoteViews": []
  },
  "response": {
    "status": 200,
    "requestId": "4d5cf3f5a377423f9d9685bc3023124d",
    "id": {
      "marketingCloudVisitorId": "22263661887276736133741538669203887461"
    },
    "client": "acme",
    "execute": {
      "mboxes": [
        {
          "name": "test_server_side_odd",
          "options": [
            {
              "type": "json",
              "content": {
                "ab": "pdpStripedBackground:false",
                "experience": "C"
              },
              "responseTokens": {
                "activity.id": 590584,
                "activity.name": "ODD_STRIPED_PDP_50-50_SPLIT",
                "experience.id": 2,
                "experience.name": "Experience C",
                "offer.id": 2129141,
                "offer.name": "/odd_striped_pdp_50-50split/experiences/2/pages/0/zones/0/1734026672581",
                "activity.decisioningMethod": "on-device"
              }
            }
          ],
          "index": 0
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

[Gokul_Agiwal]

Hi @ChrisRaser Happy 2025.

Just wondering - did you able to get through qaMode using Node JS. Any further update on this thread?

Thanks

[ChrisRaser]

I did some more digging. From what I can see in the src for the SDK, qaMode is completely ignored for On-Device Decisioning. That seemed odd, since the SDK documentation indicates that getOffers() should support the same request structure as the Delivery API, which includes qaMode.

I opened a support request to confirm my findings. They confirmed that they saw the same behavior as I do, but could not determine whether this is expected behavior or not, or recommend a way to ensure that the qaMode value is honored.

At this point, I have to proceed under the assumption that On-Device Decisioning doesn't support qaMode.

[Gokul_Agiwal]

Hi @ChrisRaser Thank you for coming back to me.  

When you say support request - I hope you raised this with Adobe support team only right? Does support team said anything further like - they will take this with product team? or any follow up? 

We have an option here to raise this concern as Product ideas and AT product team will look into it. In case if you would like to raise - use below thread 

Adobe Target Ideas - Adobe Experience League Community and just answer the below 3 questions. 

• Why is this feature important to you -
• How would you like the feature to work -
• Current Behavior -  

And then I'll tag with right people there. 

Thanks

[ChrisRaser]

Correct. I raised the issue with Adobe Support. They indicated that while they saw the same behavior I do, they were unable to investigate further due to the reduced staff availability over the holiday season.

I re-opened the issue today, but have not yet heard back.

[Gokul_Agiwal]

@ChrisRaser ahh ok. So let's wait for someone from support team to pick this issues. You can change the priority of ticket to P2 so they can take a look quickly. let's update the outcome. 

Thanks,

[ChrisRaser]

I've re-opened the ticket, but it's still marked as P4, and I don't seem able to change that. The ticket is Case #E-001473110.

[Gokul_Agiwal]

@ChrisRaser - You can add a comment into the ticket and ask their to change the priority of the ticket or by email you can follow up with them.

I do not have access to support ticket system. 

[ChrisRaser]

Done.

[Gokul_Agiwal]

Hi @ChrisRaser  Thank you. Let's wait and hear from support team first and then we can take the next action.

Thanks