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

# Enable real-time personalization

export const Affinity = () => <Tooltip tip="Affinity is a preference score that Algolia calculates for each user based on their behavior. It reflects how likely a user is to prefer a specific facet-value pair and helps personalize their search results." cta="Affinity" href="/doc/guides/personalization/advanced-personalization/configure/prerequisites/consider-requirements-limits#affinities">
    affinity
  </Tooltip>;

<Callout icon="credit-card" color="#c084fc">
  This feature isn't available on every plan.
  Refer to your [pricing plan](https://www.algolia.com/pricing) to see if it's included.
</Callout>

[**Real-time personalization**](https://dashboard.algolia.com/advanced-personalization/configuration/real-time) dynamically optimizes search results based on users' real-time interactions within their current session. This personalization approach:

* Provides coverage for all users, including first-time visitors
* Happens in real-time as users interact with your website
* Adapts continuously to the user's changing intent
* Complements historical personalization for a comprehensive strategy

<Note>
  Real-time personalization will activate only for new users,
  while historical personalization will apply for returning users.
</Note>

By relying on immediate behavioral signals,
real-time personalization delivers a responsive search experience that evolves with the user's journey,
enhancing desirability without requiring previous visit history.

For a detailed comparison,
read about the [differences between real-time and historical personalization](/doc/guides/personalization/advanced-personalization/what-is-advanced-personalization/in-depth/real-time-personalization-and-historical-personalization).

## Enable real-time personalization

**Prerequisite**:
you must configure [Advanced Personalization](/doc/guides/personalization/advanced-personalization/what-is-advanced-personalization) before enabling real-time personalization.

Go to the Algolia dashboard to [enable real-time personalization](https://dashboard.algolia.com/advanced-personalization/configuration/real-time).

<Frame caption="Dashboard interface enabling real-time personalization">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/algolia/aN8Lr52w2iijNnTe/images/guides/advanced-personalization/enable-real-time-personalization.jpg?fit=max&auto=format&n=aN8Lr52w2iijNnTe&q=85&s=020cc798d533af276768a2fa33cde4a1" alt="Dashboard interface for enabling real-time personalization" width="1003" height="587" data-path="images/guides/advanced-personalization/enable-real-time-personalization.jpg" />
</Frame>

## Troubleshooting

You can use the Advanced Personalization [user inspector](https://dashboard.algolia.com/advanced-personalization/user) to review each user <Affinity />.
A badge indicates if real-time affinities are being used.

<Frame caption="Dashboard interface for inspecting user affinities">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/algolia/aN8Lr52w2iijNnTe/images/guides/advanced-personalization/real-time-personalization-user-badge.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=aN8Lr52w2iijNnTe&q=85&s=a1605e29674e20fff2f35e39171cbf50" alt="Screenshot of a user's real-time affinities list showing categories like 'Electronics' and 'United States' with scores." width="814" height="654" data-path="images/guides/advanced-personalization/real-time-personalization-user-badge.png" />
</Frame>