> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trackplay.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How TrackPlay works

> A play, a session, a sale, and the thread that ties them together.

Every other video host stops at the play. TrackPlay's whole design is about what happens
after it.

## The thread

<Steps>
  <Step title="Someone watches">
    You embed one snippet. The player starts, and TrackPlay opens a **session** for that
    viewer: where they came from, which ad, which affiliate, which device.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The video does its job">
    Autoplay with sound on one click. A CTA at the exact second the offer lands. A pixel at
    75% watched, not on page load. A form when they want the rest, not before they care.
  </Step>

  <Step title="They buy">
    Every cart link on the page is silently tagged with that session. The session rides
    into the checkout.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The sale comes back">
    Your cart posts it back. TrackPlay joins it to the session, and so to the play, the
    ad, the affiliate, and the split-test arm.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You find out what worked">
    Not "4,812 people pressed play". Which second moved the buyer.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The pieces

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The player" icon="circle-play" href="/configuration/player-options">
    What the viewer sees, and every lever that makes it sell.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The embed" icon="code" href="/embed/placement">
    One snippet. ClickFunnels, GoHighLevel, Kajabi, WordPress, or your own build.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Integrations" icon="plug" href="/integration/configuration">
    Your cart posts the sale back so it can be credited.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Analytics" icon="chart-line" href="/analytics/overview">
    Retention, funnel, source economics, player quality.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Split tests" icon="flask" href="/split-tests/overview">
    Winner picked on real sales, with a real significance test.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The API" icon="key" href="/api-reference/authentication">
    Send events and conversions from your own backend.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Viewer identity" icon="fingerprint" href="/identity/overview">
    Session, device, profile: how one viewer stays one viewer across a sale.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Two ideas worth understanding early

**The session is the thread.** Almost everything here (a conversion, a custom event, a CRM
tag, a retention curve split by buyer) works by landing on the viewer's session. When
something comes back unattributed, it is because the session never reached it. The [Custom
Events API](/api-reference/custom-events) is blunt about this: it tells you
`"attributed": false` rather than guess, because a fabricated session would corrupt your
traffic sources and your affiliate payouts.

**A custom event is not a conversion.** Events are things that happened. Conversions are
money. TrackPlay keeps them apart on purpose, so a quiz completion can never quietly
inflate your revenue, ROAS or EPC.

<Note>
  Ready? [Get your first video live](/get-started/quick-start).
</Note>