UTM Builder

Generate clean, validated UTM-tagged URLs for Google Analytics campaign tracking — in the browser or from the CLI — with saved presets, channel templates, and shareable form links.

The UTM Builder is a free tool at brandstack.dev/tools/utm-builder. It builds Google Analytics campaign URLs with validation and quality checks that Google’s own URL builder skips.

Run it from the command line (recommended for agents)

npx @brandstack/cli utm-builder https://example.com/launch \
  --source newsletter --medium email --campaign q3-launch

Offline, no account. The tagged URL prints to stdout (pipe-friendly); validation warnings print to stderr with suggested fixes. Add --json for structured output. The CLI reports problems rather than silently rewriting your values — apply the suggestions it prints (the web form’s Auto-lowercase toggle does this for you as you type).

A “Share this form” settings link is itself a valid command:

npx @brandstack/cli "https://brandstack.dev/tools/utm-builder?dest=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=q3"

What UTM parameters are

UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL so Google Analytics (GA4) knows which campaign, channel, and piece of content drove a visit. Without them, traffic from newsletters, social posts, and ads all shows up as “direct” in your reports.

The five parameters:

utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign are required. The others are optional (utm_id is also supported for GA4 cost-data import).

Channel templates

Click any of the 10 quick-start chips to prefill source and medium for common channels:

Newsletter, Twitter / X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Podcast, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads

Validation

The builder catches three issues that silently break GA reports:

• Spaces in values: GA treats product launch and product%20launch as different campaigns
• Uppercase letters: GA is case-sensitive, so Email and email create separate rows in your reports
• Consecutive hyphens: cosmetic but flagged for consistency

Each warning has a one-click Apply button in the browser; the CLI prints the same suggestions to stderr.

Saved presets

Every value you copy is saved as a suggestion for next time (browser localStorage). When you click into a field, your previously used values appear as autocomplete options, so your team’s UTM taxonomy (source=newsletter, medium=email) is one keystroke away on repeat use.

Paste to deconstruct

Paste a fully tagged URL into the destination field — or pass it to the CLI as the destination — and the builder automatically splits the existing UTM parameters into the matching form fields. Useful for editing or auditing URLs that were built elsewhere.

Share this form

Click Share to copy a link that encodes the current form state. Send it to a teammate and they open the builder pre-filled — or hand it to an agent, whose CLI accepts the link directly. Useful for sharing a half-built campaign template on Slack or in a brief.

For AI agents

Prefer the CLI (above). The form also pre-fills from URL parameters (dest plus the standard utm_* fields), so a link can carry a complete taxonomy. This page is also served as plain markdown at /tools/utm-builder.md, and listed with instructions in /llms.txt.

Tips

• Keep utm_source and utm_medium consistent across all campaigns; inconsistency is the #1 cause of fragmented GA reports
• Use Auto-lowercase (on by default in the browser) to avoid the case-sensitivity trap
• Save a few base templates as browser bookmarks using the Share link feature