Missing mp_first_event_time in Engage API JSON Output?

·Jan 09, 2026 02:22 PM·

Hi everyone I'm using the engage api to export profiles data, but I noticed that the mp_first_event_time column isn't being returned in the JSON output. Does anyone know if this is a limitation of the api? When using a manual export in Mixpanel UI I can see this column and looks good, but using engage api it isn't present. PS: Even when I'm not defining "output_properties" parameter the column not appear in the json output https://developer.mixpanel.com/reference/engage-query

7 comments

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Mixpanel Community
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Mixpanel Community
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Thanks for your question! Hopefully, your peers in the community can help answer your questions. However, if you need some review from our Support team, leave 🎫 on your question and we should reach out shortly! If you do this, please make sure to not send duplicate tickets through the Support webform. Appreciate it! In the meantime, let us know if this feedback is similar to any previous discussions below:
1.
How to Transfer First Seen Timestamp in Event Properties (10 months ago)
Andrew S.
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I just checked the last time I did it and I only see the "last seen" data on a profile object. Obviously I can export the events an get that data to do a join and find the first event date, but the engage profile export itself did not have the first event date in it.
Vlad S.
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I think this is expected... the first event time is a property calculated from events, so it involves a join with the events collection, which the API doesn't do
Vlad S.
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it's the same with the event export API: in the interface, you can list columns that are user properties (like the email) and export them to CSV (you can also use them to filter your output) but when you use the API you need to make a separate call to get the user property...
Vlad S.
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I don't like this behavior, I've run into it several times, and it always ends up sending me on a lengthy workaround that could be easily avoided if the exposed API matched the internal one (whatever is used by the UI)
Claudio C.
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Yeah, I think this is some limitation in the API and to get this info I will need to search in another place