Why am I getting a _ga cookie on my localhost project?

Question

I'll start by saying that I didn't put it there.

I am using PHPStorm and also used postman and getting the same cookie:

Where does this cookie originate from or/and how can I backtrack this _GA ID? Thanks.

Answer 1

Depends on what applications you have/had on localhost. If you have any application that uses google analytics and you make a request to it from your browser, than a cookie is set in your browser for that domain (localhost). Later you delete your application and create an empty index.html file that has nothing with google analytics, but when you make the request to it, your browser will send the cookie again. Postman uses your browser for making requests, so it uses the same cookies.

Answer 2

I just encountered the same situation, except i used brand new domain name for my project.

Initial conclusion is that Google Chrome browser injects this cookie for whatever reason.