> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.referly.so/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Introduction > Start building with Referly: browser tracking, server-side conversion reporting, the REST API base URL and bearer-token authentication, rate limits, webhooks, and platform integrations. [Referly](https://www.referly.so) is an affiliate platform: it records who referred a visitor, keeps that attribution when the visitor becomes a customer, calculates the commission on every payment they make, and settles it in a payout. These docs cover the parts you build against — the browser tracking script, server-side conversion reporting, the REST API, webhooks, and the platform integrations that replace all of the above. ## What you can build Drop in one script tag and Referly records clicks, stores the referral, and survives across pages and subdomains. Report sales from your backend, where you already know the real amount charged. Create affiliates, issue links and coupons, and read performance data from your own app. Receive an HTTP callback whenever an affiliate, referral, sale, or coupon changes. ## Who these docs are for You are writing code against Referly — installing tracking on a site you control, wiring your checkout to report conversions, or syncing affiliate data into another system. You are comfortable with HTTP requests, JSON, and a bit of JavaScript. If you manage the program itself — commission plans, approving affiliates, running payouts — the [Help Center](/docs/help-center) covers that side, and none of it requires code. ## How the pieces fit together Every integration is some combination of three moving parts. ### 1. Attribution: who referred this person A visitor arrives through an affiliate's referral link (or uses their coupon code) and Referly records a **click**. The tracking script stores that attribution in the browser so it survives page navigation and return visits. ```html theme={null} ``` Once the script has resolved the referral it exposes it on the page, so your own code can read it and pass it along at checkout: ```js theme={null} window.addEventListener("affiliate_referral_ready", function () { console.log(window.affiliateRef); // the affiliate's referral code console.log(window.affiliateId); // the click this visit belongs to }); ``` See [Install the snippet](/docs/developer-documentation/tracking/install-the-snippet) and the [JavaScript API reference](/docs/developer-documentation/tracking/javascript-api/reference). ### 2. Conversion: this person became a customer When the visitor signs up or pays, you tell Referly. The click becomes a **referral** (a tracked customer), and each payment they make becomes a **sale** that produces a commission. You have three ways to do this, and most programs use exactly one: Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, Paddle, and others report payments to Referly for you. No conversion code to write. Post the sale from your backend after the charge succeeds. The most reliable option when you control the payment flow. Call the tracking script's helpers on your confirmation page. Quickest to ship, but subject to ad blockers and abandoned redirects. ### 3. Reading and reacting Once data is flowing, the [REST API](/docs/api-reference/introduction) reads and writes affiliates, referrals, sales, links, coupons, and promotional codes, and [webhooks](/docs/developer-documentation/webhooks/introduction) push changes to you as they happen. ## Base URL and environments The REST API lives under a single base URL: ```bash theme={null} https://www.referly.so/api/v1 ``` The tracking script is served from `https://www.referly.so/affiliate-tracker.js`. Referly has one live environment — there is no separate sandbox, and API keys are not split into test and live modes. To try things end to end without touching real data, create a second program in your dashboard and point your staging site at that program's ID. Sales you create while testing can be deleted afterwards. API access is included with the Business plan. If your key returns `403` with `User does not have API access`, check your plan on the [pricing page](https://referly.so/pricing). ## Authentication Every API request carries an API key as a bearer token. Keys are created in your dashboard and scoped to one program, so the key itself determines which program's data you are reading and writing — you never pass a program ID to the API. ```bash theme={null} curl https://www.referly.so/api/v1/affiliates \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" ``` A missing or unrecognised key returns `401`. Full details, including how to generate and rotate a key, are in [Authentication](/docs/developer-documentation/api/authentication). API keys grant full read and write access to your program. Keep them on your server and out of browser code, mobile apps, and version control. ## Rate limits Requests are counted per API key, and the ceiling depends on what the endpoint does — reads are the most generous, sales the strictest, because each one triggers attribution and commission calculation. Exceeding a limit returns `429` with `Too many requests. Please slow down.` Retry after a short pause rather than immediately, and batch where you can. The exact windows are listed in [Rate limits](/docs/developer-documentation/api/rate-limits). ## Webhooks Referly can push events to an endpoint you own, so you do not have to poll. Events are emitted for affiliates, referrals, sales, coupons, and promotional codes, each in created, updated, and deleted form — for example `affiliate.created`, `sale.updated`, `referral.deleted`. Deliveries are signed, retried on failure, and logged, so you can replay anything you missed. See [Webhooks](/docs/developer-documentation/webhooks/introduction). ## Skip the code If you are on a platform Referly already integrates with, the fastest integration is no integration at all. ## Related Install tracking and record your first sale, end to end. Programs, affiliates, clicks, referrals, sales, commissions, and payouts. Every term Referly uses, defined once. Endpoint-by-endpoint documentation for the REST API.