Cookie Categories
CookieBoss organizes cookies into four categories. Visitors can consent to each category independently (except necessary, which is always allowed).
Categories
Necessary
Cookies essential for the website to function. These cannot be declined.
Examples: session cookies, CSRF tokens, load balancer cookies, consent preferences.
Analytics
Cookies used to collect information about how visitors use the website.
Examples: Google Analytics (_ga, _gid), Plausible, Mixpanel, Hotjar.
Marketing
Cookies used for advertising and tracking across websites.
Examples: Meta Pixel (_fbp), Google Ads (_gcl_au), LinkedIn Insight, TikTok Pixel.
Functional
Cookies that enable additional functionality like chat widgets, video embeds, or personalization.
Examples: Intercom, YouTube embed cookies, language preferences, theme preferences.
Cookie Inventory
The Cookie Inventory in your dashboard shows all cookies detected on your site. Each cookie has:
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
name | string | Yes | - | Cookie name (e.g. _ga) |
domain | string | Yes | - | Cookie domain (e.g. .google.com) |
category | string | Yes | - | Assigned category: necessary, analytics, marketing, functional |
purpose | string | No | - | Description of what this cookie does |
expiryDays | number | No | - | Cookie expiry in days |
Cookie scanning
CookieBoss can scan your site to automatically detect cookies:
- Manual scan: Click “Scan Now” in the Cookie Inventory to run an immediate scan
- Scheduled scans: Set up automatic scans on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule
- New cookie alerts: Newly detected cookies are flagged so you can categorize them
How scanning works
The scanner visits your site in a headless browser, interacts with the page, and records all cookies that are set. It compares the results against your existing inventory and flags any new or removed cookies.
Scan accuracy
Cookie scans detect cookies set during a typical page visit. Cookies that only appear after specific user interactions (e.g. form submissions, deep navigation) may not be detected. We recommend manually reviewing your cookie inventory periodically.
Categorizing cookies
When new cookies are detected, they appear as “uncategorized” in the Cookie Inventory. To categorize them:
- Open the Cookie Inventory
- Look for cookies with the “NEW” badge
- Click on a cookie to edit its category, purpose, and description
- Publish to update the consent banner with accurate cookie information
Category display in the banner
When using the preference center layout, visitors see each category with:
- Category name and description
- List of cookies in that category
- A toggle to enable/disable the category
- “Necessary” is always on and the toggle is disabled