Getting started

Product catalogue

Otto answers about products only from its catalogue. You fill it with an XML feed, a WooCommerce feed, through the API, or Otto reads your website.

Four ways

Way	When it fits	Refresh
XML feed	You have a feed for Heureka, Zboží or Google.	On its own once older than 5 hours
WooCommerce feed	You run WordPress with WooCommerce and the Otto plugin.	Like an XML feed
Catalogue API	Your catalogue lives in an ERP or your own system.	When you send a change
Reading your website	You have no feed, for example a services website.	Once every 7 days

XML feed

In the panel open Settings, the Catalogue section, and paste the feed address. Check feed tries it before you save: the panel tells you how many products it found and in which currency. Otto then loads the feed again whenever it is older than 5 hours. Use Update catalogue to bring in a change right away.

The Catalogue section in the Otto panel settings with the feed address — The feed address in Settings, Catalogue.

Otto understands two formats. It ignores other elements, so you do not need to change your feed.

Field	Heureka, Zboží (`<SHOP><SHOPITEM>`)	Google Merchant (`<rss><item>`)
Id	`ITEM_ID`, else `PRODUCTNO`, `EAN` or `URL`	`g:id`
Name	`PRODUCTNAME` or `PRODUCT`	`title`
Description	`DESCRIPTION`	`description`
Link and image	`URL`, `IMGURL`	`link`, `g:image_link`
Price	`PRICE_VAT`, else `PRICE`	`g:price`, a current sale `g:sale_price` with `g:sale_price_effective_date`
Availability	`DELIVERY_DATE`: 0 is in stock, a number is days, a date is the delivery date	`g:availability`: `in_stock`, `out_of_stock`, `preorder`, `backorder`
Category and brand	`CATEGORYTEXT`, `MANUFACTURER`	`g:product_type`, `g:brand`
Parameters	`PARAM` with `PARAM_NAME` and `VAL`	no

Otto takes the currency from the price when it carries a code (such as 12.90 EUR in a Google feed). Otherwise the Price currency setting in the panel applies, and without that, the currency from the feed domain (.cz is CZK, anything else EUR).

Keep sold-out products in the feed with the right availability. Otto will not offer them as available, but can tell customers you are out of them for now.

WooCommerce feed

The Otto plugin for WordPress publishes a product feed at /wp-json/otto-chat/v1/feed. Copy its address from the plugin settings and paste it into the Catalogue like any feed. See WordPress and WooCommerce.

Catalogue through the API

When your catalogue lives in your own system, send it to Otto through the API. These three routes work on every plan, because they replace the XML feed. A product only needs id and title.

POST /api/v1/products

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "1042",
      "title": "Espresso zmes Domáca 250 g",
      "description": "Zrnková káva, 70 % arabika, tóny čokolády a orieškov.",
      "url": "https://vas-obchod.sk/espresso-domaca",
      "image": "https://vas-obchod.sk/obrazky/espresso-domaca.jpg",
      "price": 12.9,
      "currency": "EUR",
      "availability": "skladom",
      "category": "Káva > Zrnková káva",
      "manufacturer": "Pražiareň Príklad",
      "params": { "Hmotnosť": "250 g", "Pôvod": "Brazília, Kolumbia" }
    }
  ]
}

Route	What it does	Limit
`POST /api/v1/products/snapshot`	The whole catalogue. Anything missing is deleted.	5000 products, 12 times per hour
`POST /api/v1/products`	Only the products you send, nothing is deleted. For price or stock changes.	500 products at once
`DELETE /api/v1/products/<id>`	Deletes one product by your id.

If a snapshot has far fewer products than Otto holds, Otto deletes nothing and returns a warning with errcode: "prune_skipped". It is a safety net against a broken export. If the smaller catalogue is right, send it once more.

Reading your website

Without a feed, turn on I have no XML feed, let Otto read my site in the Catalogue and enter your website address. Otto can only read a website where the chat is already running, which is how we check it is yours. It then reads it again every 7 days. Even with a feed it reads your pages once a week, so it can answer questions about shipping, payment and your company.