# Accounts

A Tilia account represents an end user in your application.
End users with Tilia accounts in your application can perform transactions, such as buying or selling digital goods.

Registering a user creates a Tilia account with an `account_ID` to identify the user and their wallets
for the currencies supported in your environment.

## Shadow accounts

We assume that you, as a publisher, have an existing registration and user management system of your own.
In that context, the Tilia accounts in your application act as *shadow accounts*.

With shadow accounts, your users don't access Tilia directly.
Instead, you authenticate your users in your application and then use their Tilia `account_ID` to access Tilia resources.

## Examples and tutorials

For examples of using user accounts, wallets, and transactions, visit our [Tutorials](/tutorials).