Lesson 3 of 8

Your First Setup

You do not need to write any server code. The fastest path is a managed host; the most flexible is Google Cloud Run directly. Either way the flow is the same.

1Create server container→2Provision hosting→3Set tagging URL→4Point GA4 at it→5Verify

Step by step

In GTM, create a new container of type Server.
Provision the tagging server. Stape.io is the common managed option; Cloud Run is the direct Google option. You get a default *.run.app URL, then map a first-party subdomain like sst.yourdomain.com.
Add the GA4 client in the server container (it is there by default) so it can claim GA4 requests.
On the client side, set your GA4 configuration's server_container_url to your tagging URL so hits go to your server instead of straight to Google.
Open the server container's Preview and load your site, confirm the request arrives, the client claims it, and the GA4 tag forwards it.

// Client-side GA4 config parameter
server_container_url = "https://sst.yourdomain.com"

// Use a first-party subdomain (not the raw *.run.app)
// so cookies are first-party and the endpoint is harder to block.

Key takeaway

Create a Server container, host it (Stape or Cloud Run), map a first-party subdomain, add the GA4 client, then point your client-side GA4 tag's server_container_url at it and verify in the server Preview.