How events reach PixelFox
Five ways to get events from your store into PixelFox - from the plain tag to a dedicated server-side GTM container - and how to pick one.
Every setup ends in the same place: events in your dashboard, stitched to a
visitor, and sent server-side to the destinations you connected, with one
event_id so each conversion counts once. What differs is where the events
travel through on the way in, and that decides how much ad blockers see, how
long attribution cookies live, and whether you can run your own Google Tag
Manager server tags.
| Setup | What you need | Plan | Ad-blocker resilience | Cookie lifetime | Your own GTM server tags | GTM preview mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The tag on the PixelFox host | One script tag | Every plan | Standard | Browser-limited (about 7 days on Safari and Firefox) | - | - |
| Custom ingest endpoint | A CNAME on your domain | Every plan | High - script, events and vendor tags are first-party | 2 years for _fbp, _fbc, _ga | - | - |
| Shared server-side GTM | A CNAME, and gtag or GTM pointed at it | Every plan | High | 2 years | No - PixelFox is the server container | No |
| Forward from your own GTM server | A server container you already run, plus one tag | Every plan | Depends on your container | Depends on your container | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated server-side GTM | Your GTM server container's Container Config | Enterprise | High | 2 years | Yes | Yes |
The setups combine. A site can run the tag on a custom ingest endpoint for the storefront, a shared container for gtag, and the forwarder tag inside a server container you host elsewhere, all at the same time.
Which one
- You installed the tag and want fewer missed conversions. Add a custom ingest endpoint. It takes one DNS record and changes nothing else.
- Your measurement lives in gtag or a GTM web container and you want Meta, TikTok and the rest fed server-side without building a server container. Use a shared container.
- You already run a GTM server container on Cloud Run or anywhere else and want its events in PixelFox too. Add the PixelFox Forwarder tag.
- You need a GTM server container with your own tags and preview mode, but do not want to host it. Create a dedicated container.
Hostnames and DNS, in one place
All hostnames you use with PixelFox are CNAME records, created at your DNS provider and kept DNS-only (the grey cloud on Cloudflare). Each hostname belongs to exactly one site and one purpose.
| Purpose | Example | CNAME target |
|---|---|---|
| Custom ingest endpoint (the tag) | t.yourstore.com | connect.pixelfox.app |
| Shared container custom hostname | ss.yourstore.com | connect.pixelfox.app |
| Hosted forms | forms.yourstore.com | connect.pixelfox.app |
| Dedicated container custom hostname | ss.yourstore.com | the container's own <id>.sgtm.pixelfox.app |
Certificates are issued automatically on the first request after the record resolves and renewed without you doing anything. They are only issued for hostnames saved in the dashboard, so point DNS at PixelFox and save the name.