Use Playcademy

Overview

Direct Timeback integration requires managing OAuth, courses, events, and gradebooks manually.

Playcademy handles this complexity so you can focus on building great learning experiences.

Feature	Direct Integration	Playcademy
Setup time	Multi-day integration	5 minutes
Authentication	Implement OAuth yourself	Zero config
Track activity & award XP	5+ API calls, manual logic	1 SDK call
Multi-grade support	Custom routing required	Built-in
Course management	Manual OneRoster API	CLI commands

Quick Start

Enable Timeback

Add Timeback to your project using the Playcademy CLI:

$ playcademy init # Select Timeback when prompted

$ playcademy timeback init

Create Courses

Run setup to create OneRoster courses in Timeback:

Command

$ playcademy timeback setup

Output

✔ Created 3 course(s)✔ Timeback integration set up successfully!  Grade 3 (Math): course-abc123  Grade 4 (Math): course-def456  Grade 5 (Math): course-ghi789

This creates courses, classes, and the necessary OneRoster structure automatically.

Track Activities

Use the Playcademy SDK to track student progress:

client/lesson.tsx

import { PlaycademyClient } from '@playcademy/sdk'

const client = await PlaycademyClient.init()

client.timeback.startActivity({
    activityId: 'fractions-quiz',
    grade: 4,
    subject: 'Math',
})

/**
 * Student does the activity
 */

await client.timeback.endActivity({
    correctQuestions: 8,
    totalQuestions: 10,
})