# User profiles

Every click has a story behind it. Croct keeps a live profile for each visitor, connects their
anonymous history to their identified one, and makes the whole timeline available to audiences,
experiences and experiments.

## 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.

## Features

- **Visitor profiles.** Live profiles for anonymous first-timers and returning buyers alike.
- **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.
- **Profile schemas.** Typed profiles, so what you store stays consistent.
- **Identity resolution.** Fragmented identities merged and kept in sync with external
  tools.
- **Live sessions.** See who is active right now, which makes tracking and debugging
  concrete.
- **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, Astro, Remix, Svelte, Gatsby, JavaScript, PHP, Laravel and Shopify Hydrogen. Most
teams are live the same day, and the forever-free plan needs no credit card.

## Frequently asked questions

### What happens when an anonymous visitor signs up?

Identity resolution merges the anonymous history into the identified profile, so the journey
stays continuous.

### Can I export the data?

Yes, through CSV or the export API, to your warehouse or to any tool you already run.

### Do I have to instrument every event by hand?

No. The SDKs and integrations track the common events automatically. Custom events are there
when you need something specific.

### 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. See [pricing](/pricing) for the
full table.