Syncing Your Product Catalog

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Syncing Your Product Catalog

Nobi needs access to your product catalog or inventory to provide accurate search results and answer visitor questions. Whether you sell clothing on Shopify, vehicles from a CSV feed, or real estate listings via an API, Nobi ingests and indexes your data automatically. This page explains how catalog sync works and what options are available.

Why Catalog Sync Matters

Nobi's semantic search and conversational assistance work by understanding your entire product catalog. When you connect Nobi to your store, we:
  • Index all your products - Titles, descriptions, variants, prices, images, and attributes
  • Build semantic understanding - Map relationships between products, categories, and customer intent
  • Enable accurate answers - Respond to questions about availability, sizing, materials, and more
  • Keep data current - Sync pricing, inventory, and product changes automatically
Without proper catalog sync, Nobi can't help customers find your products or answer questions about them accurately.

How Sync Works

Sync Frequency

Nobi syncs your product catalog twice daily to keep product information, pricing, and availability current. This means:
  • New products appear in Nobi within 12 hours of publishing
  • Price changes reflect within 12 hours
  • Inventory updates sync twice daily
  • Product deletions remove items from search within 12 hours
For most stores, twice-daily sync is sufficient. If you need real-time inventory updates for flash sales or high-turnover products, contact us about custom sync schedules.

What Gets Synced

Nobi reads and indexes:
  • Product basics - Title, description, handle, product type
  • Variants - Size, color, material, and other variant options
  • Pricing - Base price, compare-at price, variant pricing
  • Images - Product images and variant images
  • Availability - Published status, inventory levels
  • Metadata - Tags, metafields, vendor, collections

Shopify Integration Options

Shopify stores have two ways to connect their catalog to Nobi, depending on store size and requirements.

Option 1: Public Catalog Access (Standard)

Best for: Stores with fewer than 25,000 products
Nobi reads your publicly available product catalog without requiring app installation. This method:
  • Works automatically after adding the Nobi script
  • Requires no additional Shopify permissions
  • Syncs all products published to your online sales channel
  • Takes 2 minutes to set up
Setup: Follow the first two steps in the Installing Nobi For Shopify Stores guide.

Option 2: Custom App Integration (Large Stores)

Best for: Stores with 25,000+ products
For larger catalogs, Nobi installs as a custom Shopify app with access to your Admin API. This method:
  • Handles large catalogs efficiently
  • Provides faster, more reliable sync
  • Accesses additional product data through the API
  • Requires one-time app installation (2 minutes)
Setup: Follow all steps in the Installing Nobi For Shopify Stores guide.

Shopify Sales Channel Requirements

Important: Nobi only syncs products that are published to your online sales channel.

What This Means

In Shopify, each product has sales channel settings that control where it appears:
  • Online Store (your website)
  • Point of Sale
  • Facebook Shop
  • Instagram Shopping
  • Other channels
Nobi only indexes products published to "Online Store." Products published exclusively to other channels (POS only, Facebook only, etc.) won't appear in Nobi search results.

Non-Shopify Integration Options

Using a platform other than Shopify? We support custom catalog integrations via API. Requirements:
  • Product feed in a structured format (JSON, CSV, XML, etc)
  • Accessible online
  • Includes product titles, descriptions, pricing, images, and availability
Contact us to discuss custom catalog integration for your platform.

Product Data Quality

Better product data means better Nobi results. While Nobi works with your existing catalog, these improvements help:

Recommended Product Data

Detailed descriptions - Include materials, features, use cases, and specifications. Nobi uses this to answer customer questions.
Accurate titles - Clear, descriptive titles help semantic search understanding.
Complete variant information - Label all sizes, colors, and options clearly.
High-quality images - Product images appear in search results and chat.
Relevant tags and categories - Help Nobi understand product relationships.
Not on Shopify? Nobi supports multiple feed formats for ingesting your product catalog or inventory. You can configure your feed source in Settings > Catalog > Product Feed.

CSV Feed

Upload a CSV file containing your product or inventory data. Nobi uses AI to automatically detect what each column represents — which columns are product names, prices, descriptions, images, and unique identifiers. No manual mapping required.
CSV feeds can be hosted in a cloud storage bucket (like Google Cloud Storage) or provided via a URL. Nobi will resolve the latest file automatically if your feed files include dates in their names.

FTP Upload

Upload your feed files to our FTP server, and Nobi will process them automatically. FTP-uploaded files are stored in our cloud and processed as CSV feeds. Contact us at [email protected] for FTP credentials and setup instructions.

JSON API

Provide a JSON API endpoint that returns your product or inventory data. Nobi will poll this endpoint on a regular schedule to keep your catalog current. Contact us to discuss your API format and integration requirements.

Automatic Column Detection

For CSV and FTP feeds, Nobi automatically analyzes your column headers and sample data to determine the role of each column. It detects:
  • Unique identifiers (VIN, SKU, MLS number, etc.)
  • Display names and titles
  • Descriptions and specifications
  • Prices and availability
  • Image URLs
  • Product page URLs
It also generates search synonyms for each column to improve search quality. For example, a "drivetrain" column might get synonyms like "AWD", "4WD", "front-wheel drive" to help visitors find what they need using natural language. Column mappings are saved and reused on subsequent syncs — if your headers change, Nobi re-runs detection automatically.