> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.aloop.icustomer.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.aloop.icustomer.ai/how-it-works/how-the-loop-works.md).

# How the Loop works

Under the hood, the loop runs as five connected steps. Every step carries the same trace ID — the join key that makes honest, end-to-end measurement possible.

**Capture → Resolve → Score → Decide → Attribute**, then back to the top. Always on.

![The trace spine: events to outcomes, joined by a shared trace ID](/files/dO5hnZ0tlQp6RxfXM1jy)

* **Capture** (`events.v1`) — events from your site, tools, and channels come in.
* **Resolve** (`identity.v1`) — each event is tied to a real person and account.
* **Score** (`signals.v1`) — FIRE scoring rates each audience by Fit, Intent, Recency, and Engagement into Hot, Warm, or Cool. See [FIRE scoring](/using-audience-loop/explorer/fire-scoring.md).
* **Decide** (`decisions.v1`) — decision-first: what to do for this audience, right now.
* **Attribute** (`outcomes.v1`) — outcomes tie back to the decision that caused them.

## The trace ID is the join key

Because all five steps share one trace ID, a click, the decision it triggered, and the deal that closed can be joined from end to end. That's what lets Audience Loop measure across every channel honestly — and why no single channel tool can grade its own homework.

## Decision-first, channel-second

The loop decides what to do for each audience — engage, nurture, suppress, or escalate — *before* it picks a channel. Channel is the output of the decision, never the input.

## We decide, channels run

When it's time to act, Audience Loop hands the decision to your channels — Instantly and SmartLead for email, Meta and LinkedIn for paid, your trade desk for programmatic. They run the bids and the creatives; Audience Loop owns the decision and records every hand-off as a [Decision Trace](/how-it-works/decision-traces.md).

## Always on, over your AUM

Once onboarding is done, the loop runs continuously over your Audience Under Management (AUM), keeping context fresh and acting within the guardrails you set. Anything that needs a human surfaces in [Pulse](/using-audience-loop/overview-2.md).

## Goals and targets ride on top

The master loop runs your standing goals. On top of it you write **targets** — specific, time-bound objectives like "200 demos in 60 days" — and the loop paces toward them. See [Master goals & targets](/using-audience-loop/overview/master-goals-and-targets.md) and [Targets](/using-audience-loop/overview/master-goals-and-targets/targets.md).


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