> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cello.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Setup Overview
> Connect MCP, build your integration in pre-launch, verify it, then launch your program
Integrating Cello is a path you own end to end: connect the MCP server, build against your real product while your account is still in pre-launch, watch the steps verify themselves, then launch your program. This page covers the whole path.
## Start here
### Connect the Cello MCP server
Connect the [Cello MCP server](/mcp/introduction) to your editor before you write any code. Your coding tool then has live access to Cello's docs, your integration's health, and best-practice recommendations, so it can tell you what to build next and flag what's still missing.
It is also where your integration status lives, so connecting it is how you check your work as you go, not just how you build faster.
### Know where you're building
Everything below happens in your **production** account, while it is still in **pre-launch phase**. Events are recorded as test data, nothing is paid out, and notifications don't send until you launch your program.
You don't need a sandbox for any of it. If integrating in a separate environment suits your development process better, a sandbox is available under **My account** in the portal, and everything there stays test data as well.
### Select your event sources
Cello can't recognise your events until a **signup source** and a **purchase source** are both set in the portal. Until they are, nothing you build will flip to verified.
Stripe or Chargebee can only be your signup source if your payment-provider customer is created **at signup**. If the customer is created **at first purchase**, use the Cello API to send `new-signup` at the real signup moment instead.
## Build your integration
Effort: \~1 day with MCP connected
These four steps mirror the tasks on the Technical integration page in the portal, and each one flips to **Verified from your setup** on its own once Cello sees it working in your product. Complete them regardless of your tech stack or payment gateway.
With the MCP server connected, your coding tool writes most of this and checks its own work as it goes, so the four steps together are typically about a day of coding. Without it, expect longer.
The portal labels the same work slightly differently: Add the referral widget, Add attribution library, Track signups, Setup purchase event tracking, and Add discount code.
Add referral functionality to your web application with Cello's embeddable Referral Component.
You can also integrate the Cello Referral Component into your mobile apps. Choose the appropriate SDK for your platform:
Set up a [Referral Landing Page](/guides/user-experience/optimizing-landing-pages) and capture referral codes (`ucc`) when users click referral links. For Web signup flow, follow this guide:
Or choose the appropriate guide for your flow:
When users sign up or express interest in your product, attribute these events to their referrer for potential future rewards.
Choose your preferred method to send signup events to Cello:
Complete guide for tracking signup events
API reference for sending events
Complete the conversion tracking by sending purchase events to Cello when users make payments.
Choose your integration method based on your payment gateway:
Complete guide for tracking purchase events
Apply discounts to referred users when creating a subscription
}
href="/integrations/webhooks/stripe-webhook"
>
Stripe webhook integration for purchase events
}
href="/integrations/webhooks/chargebee-webhook"
>
Chargebee webhook integration for purchase events
## Integration Guides
Ready-to-use webhook integrations for Stripe and Chargebee provide the **fastest path** to track referral conversions automatically.
These guides are **optimized for the typical freemium scenario with Stripe or Chargebee**.
Use one of these guides if you:
* Create a Stripe or Chargebee customer on signup
* Use the Stripe or Chargebee webhook to send Cello referral conversion events
## Performance enhancements
Recommended, not required
The portal also shows **recommendations** (if they're enabled for your account): enhancements scored across activation, sharing and conversion. See [Performance Recommendations](/guides/attribution/recommendations) for how the score works.
They don't block **Launch program**, but they are **what separates a program that performs from one that merely works**. A referral program users can't find doesn't get used, however correct the integration behind it is.
These are as much user-experience decisions as technical ones, so they may take some alignment before you build - worth starting that early. They're also much easier to fold in while you're already in the code, since they touch your navigation, your product's key moments and your checkout.
Shipping a minimal integration first and adding these later is a legitimate plan - just expect your performance numbers to stay low until they're done.
**Ask your coding tool about recommendations.** With the Cello MCP connected, ask *"what recommendations apply to my program, and which of them need code changes rather than portal configuration?"* You get your own scored list, with the code work separated from what's only portal configuration.
## Verify and launch
Work through the pre-launch testbook while you build, and again at the end. It covers the manual, front-end checks Cello can't see for you: whether the referral component sits well in your UI, whether the new-user banner reads correctly, and whether the discount math is right on both monthly and yearly plans.
The **Go live** card in the portal stays locked while anything is outstanding. Once every task is complete, **Launch program** opens a short pre-launch checklist asking you to confirm you have tested:
* The referral widget loads and opens for signed-in users
* Notifications work: badge, announcement, email
* New users land on the correct page from a referral link
* The new-user discount shows correctly at checkout
* Signups and purchases are attributed correctly
Launching takes your account out of pre-launch and **can't be undone**. From that point rewards pay out, notifications reach real referrers, fraud checks run, the payout delay applies, and all new data is treated as live. To test changes after launch, use a sandbox.
This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.