Product Catalog Ingestion

Intempt supports two ways of ingesting product data into the Recommendations engine:

Catalog Source Integration — recommended for large or feed-based catalogs

Direct API-Based Product Ingestion — recommended for programmatic sync jobs (e.g. WooCommerce / Shopify)

Both approaches ensure your product information remains accurate, up to date, and usable for recommendations and personalization.

This document explains both methods and highlights important rules to avoid common ingestion issues—such as accidentally creating anonymous users.

1. Catalog Source Integration (JSON or XML)

Use this approach when your product catalog is available as a publicly hosted JSON or XML feed.

This is the recommended method for:

Shopify stores

WooCommerce stores

Large catalogs (more than 1,000 products)

Nightly or scheduled cron-based sync jobs

Supported File Types

Catalog feeds can be provided as:

JSON

XML

Your feed must contain a products array.

JSON Example

{
  "products": [
    {
      "product": {
        "id": "123",
        "title": "Product Name",
        "description": "Details...",
        "url": "https://example.com/product",
        "image_link": "https://example.com/image.jpg"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Minimum Required Product Fields

Each product must include the following fields:

Field	Description
`id`	Unique product identifier
`title`	Product name
`description`	Textual description
`url`	Product page URL
`image_link`	Image URL

These fields ensure every product is visible, linkable, and usable within Intempt’s Recommendations engine.

Creating a Catalog Source

Step 1 — Initiate

Go to Recommendations

Click Manage Catalog Sources

Click Create Catalog Source

Enter a name for your catalog

Step 2 — Configure Source URL

Enter the feed URL (JSON or XML)

Enable authentication only if required

Click Next

Step 3 — Map Fields

Map your feed fields to Intempt’s required catalog fields:

Source Field	Intempt Field
`id`	`id`
`title`	`title`
`link`	`url`
`description`	`description`
`image_link`	`image_link`
`price`	`price`

Optional fields you may map include:

categories

tags

brand

variants

custom fields

Enable Sync Field for any field you want Intempt to ingest.

Click Create Catalog Source to complete the setup.

Managing Catalog Sources

Once created, Intempt automatically:

fetches updates from the feed

updates existing product records

keeps the catalog synchronized

You can edit a catalog source at any time to:

change the feed URL

update authentication credentials

modify field mappings

Deleting a Catalog Source

Go to Manage Custom Catalog Sources

Open the dropdown next to the source

Click Delete

This is useful for removing test catalogs or deprecated sources.

2. Direct API-Based Product Ingestion

Important: Prevents accidental anonymous user creation

You can also ingest products directly using the Track API, provided the payload is structured correctly.

This method is commonly used for:

WooCommerce sync jobs

Shopify webhooks

Custom backend or ERP integrations

Rule (Very Important)

If productId is provided:

You do not need to send userId or profileId

This prevents Intempt from creating anonymous users during bulk product ingestion.

API Payload Format (Correct)

Use the following structure when sending product data directly to Intempt:

{
  "productId": "123",
  "data": {
    "title": "Wine Bottle",
    "amount": 150,
    "quantity": 4,
    "categories": [
      { "id": 2300, "name": "Closed Reflex", "slug": "closed-reflex" },
      { "id": 2151, "name": "Optics", "slug": "optics" }
    ],
    "images": [
      {
        "id": 11689,
        "src": "https://example.com/image1.jpg",
        "name": "image1.jpg"
      },
      {
        "id": 11690,
        "src": "https://example.com/image2.jpg",
        "name": "image2.jpg"
      }
    ],
    "tags": [
      { "id": 10, "name": "Featured" },
      { "id": 14, "name": "Best Seller" }
    ]
  }
}

Supported Nested Data

You may include any nested product data inside the data object, including:

categories (any depth)

Wrong Payload (Causes Anonymous Users)

Do not send product arrays as part of an event:

{
  "eventTitle": "Products",
  "data": {
    "products": [ ... ]
  }
}

This causes Intempt to create a user profile per event, resulting in hundreds of anonymous users.

Correct: Treat Product Sync as Product Records

Use:

{
  "productId": "...",
  "data": { ... }
}

Not:

{
  "eventTitle": "...",
  "userId": "...",
  "data": {
    "products": [ ... ]
  }
}

Why `productId` Removes the Need for `userId` / `profileId`

When productId is included:

Intempt switches into catalog ingestion mode

no new user profile is created

no profile merging logic is triggered

the product is stored directly in the catalog

This is the correct and intended approach for WooCommerce, Shopify, and custom backend product syncs.

Summary

Product catalog ingestion in Intempt supports:

Catalog Source Integration
For JSON or XML feeds managed through the UI

Direct API-Based Product Ingestion
For programmatic product syncs

No userId / profileId required when using productId
Prevents anonymous users and ensures clean ingestion

Rich nested product structures
Including categories, tags, images, metadata, and variations

Using the appropriate ingestion method ensures your product catalog is imported cleanly and remains fully compatible with Intempt’s Recommendations engine.

Product Catalog Ingestion via API

Product Catalog Ingestion#

1. Catalog Source Integration (JSON or XML)#

Supported File Types#

JSON Example#

Minimum Required Product Fields#

Creating a Catalog Source#

Step 1 — Initiate#

Step 2 — Configure Source URL#

Step 3 — Map Fields#

Managing Catalog Sources#

Deleting a Catalog Source#

2. Direct API-Based Product Ingestion#

Rule (Very Important)#

API Payload Format (Correct)#

Supported Nested Data#

Wrong Payload (Causes Anonymous Users)#

Correct: Treat Product Sync as Product Records#

Why productId Removes the Need for userId / profileId#

Summary#