# User profiles **A user profile is a live record of everything a visitor has done, kept on the server and available to audiences, experiences, and experiments at request time.** Every click has a story behind it. Croct keeps a profile for each visitor, connects their anonymous history to their identified one, and makes the whole timeline queryable. Profiles are built in, so behavioral segmentation does not require buying, connecting, and maintaining a separate customer data platform. ## How it works Events land on the profile as they happen, from your application, your commerce platform, your data layer, and your own systems. When a visitor identifies themselves, identity resolution merges the anonymous history into the identified profile, so nothing about their journey is lost. Audiences and content read those profiles at request time. Because evaluation happens on the server, profile data drives the experience without being exposed to the browser. ## Features - **Visitor profiles.** Live profiles for anonymous first-timers and returning buyers alike. - **No CDP required.** Events, traits, and IDs are centralized automatically, with no external data platform to integrate. - **Linked journeys.** Anonymous and identified history merged into one continuous story. - **Events timeline.** The full sequence of what someone did, across visits. - **User attributes.** A readable snapshot of statistical, behavioral, and, optionally, personal traits. - **Real-time events.** Engagement, conversion, shopping, web, session, and custom events out of the box. - **Live sessions.** See who is active right now, which makes tracking and debugging concrete. - **Profile schemas.** Typed profiles, so what you store stays consistent. - **Identity resolution.** Fragmented identities are merged and kept in sync with external tools. - **Cross-device consistency.** An identified visitor gets the same content and variants everywhere. - **Custom attributes.** Model the traits your business actually segments on. - **Data retention and export.** Your data, exportable through CSV or the export API. ## Building with it Profiles are populated automatically by the SDKs and the integrations, so most teams write no tracking code. Custom events and attributes are available when you want to model something specific to your business. Setup is one command, `npx croct@latest init`, which installs the SDK, wires the provider and generates TypeScript types for every slot. Official SDKs cover Next.js, React, Vue, Nuxt, JavaScript, PHP, Laravel, Symfony, Drupal, and Shopify Hydrogen. Most teams are live the same day, and the forever-free plan needs no credit card or commitment. ## Frequently asked questions ### How does Croct build unified user profiles? We centralize events, traits, and IDs into live, comprehensive [visitor profiles](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/user-profiles/introduction). We use an identity resolution process to automatically connect fragmented data from different contexts, such as browsing anonymously on a phone and later logging in on a laptop, keeping the data in sync to provide a complete, unified view of the visitor. ### Do I need a CDP to use profiles and segmentation? No. Most personalization tools and headless CMS platforms leave visitor data to an external customer data platform, which means buying and maintaining a second system before personalization does anything. Croct centralizes events, traits, and IDs into live profiles on its own, with no CDP, external integration, or historical data required to get started. ### Can I bring in my own first-party data from my CRM or CDP to enrich profiles? Yes, you can easily connect your stack and bring in data from your analytics, CMS, CDP, or other external tools using simple integrations. ### What kind of attributes are stored in a user profile? [Attributes](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/user-profiles/attributes) store personal details, behavioral signals, and collected statistics. Out-of-the-box, it includes real-time tags indicating if the visitor is a new, returning, or longtime user, whether they are a buyer, and includes available work and contact information. You can also track and store custom attributes tailored to your specific business needs. ### What is the timeline view, and what insights does it provide about a user's journey? The [events timeline](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/user-profiles/timeline) is a chronological view of a user's sessions and all the events that occurred within them. It provides deep insights into how a user navigates your applications over time, the specific actions they take, and how their behavior and engagement evolve across different visits. ### Can I see live events in the timeline as the visitor browses? Yes. For live sessions, a marker sits on the most recent event with a pulsing dot, indicating the session is currently active and updating in real-time. ### Is cross-device tracking supported for authenticated users? Yes. For identified (authenticated) users, we use their persistent user ID to ensure cross-device consistency. This means they will receive the same personalized content and experiment variants whether they are visiting from a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. We also track concurrent sessions when a user is active on multiple devices simultaneously. ### What is identity resolution, and how does it connect anonymous and identified data? [Identity resolution](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/user-profiles/identity-resolution) is the process that connects separate profiles for the same visitor and automatically keeps their attributes in sync. When an anonymous user identifies themselves (such as by logging in or signing up), the data previously collected on their anonymous profile is merged into their newly identified profile to preserve the continuity of their journey. For privacy reasons, the reverse never happens; personal data captured on an identified profile never flows back into an anonymous profile. ### Do I have to instrument every event by hand? No. The SDKs and integrations track the common events automatically, so most teams write no tracking code. Custom events and attributes are there when you need to model something specific to your business. ### Can I use profile data that Croct doesn't collect? Yes. You can pass your own attributes, such as subscription plan, quota usage, or account age, as [context](https://docs.croct.com/reference/cql/context) at request time and reference them in audience conditions. Because evaluation happens on the server, that data drives the experience without ever reaching the browser. ### How long is user profile data retained? The [retention period](https://docs.croct.com/explanation/organization/data-retention) varies by plan. On the Scale plan, however, you can control exactly how long data is stored using add-ons. This flexibility lets you retain data only as long as needed to meet your specific business goals and compliance standards. ### How does Croct handle data privacy and compliance? We're privacy-first, so we let you enforce privacy rules while still activating the data you need for performance. We offer flexible data retention controls to meet legal compliance standards and maintain strict privacy boundaries, ensuring that personal data from identified profiles is never mixed with anonymous profiles. ### Can I export visitor profiles through APIs? Yes, we provide a [Data Export API](https://docs.croct.com/reference/api/service/data-export/quick-start) that lets you seamlessly export user profiles, sessions, and events to your data lake, integrations, or custom workflows. CSV export is also available on paid plans. ### What does it cost? The forever-free plan covers 10,000 monthly active users with 3 content slots and 1 experience or experiment, and needs no credit card. Growth starts at $100 per month billed annually for 20,000 monthly active users. Scale is custom.