# Sync with your ERP

> A complete nightly product and customer sync, and an order poller that pulls new orders into your own system.

This guide builds the two jobs most suppliers need:

1. **Nightly sync:** push products and customers from your ERP into TradeCatalog.
2. **Order poller:** every few minutes, pull new orders into your ERP and mark them acknowledged.

You need a **Read & write** API key. See [Authentication](/docs/api/authentication).

## How the nightly sync behaves

- Products are matched by SKU and customers by account code, so running the sync twice is harmless.
- New products go live at their list price straight away.
- Changed list prices **don’t** go live. They collect in draft price changes. Each morning someone opens **Price changes** in the app, checks the preview and warnings, picks a date and publishes. Customers can be emailed their own new prices.
- `brand`, `category`, `manufacturerRef` and `description` are written as sent, so always send the full product.
- Customers’ `email` and `discountBp` are written as sent too: `null` clears them.

**Only send what changed:** If your ERP can tell you which products changed since the last run, send just those. Fewer requests, and fewer products to scan in each draft.

## Nightly sync (Node.js)

Needs Node.js 20 or later, for the built-in `fetch`. Replace the two `fromErp` functions with reads from your system.

```js
// sync.mjs — run nightly: TRADECATALOG_API_KEY=tc_live_… node sync.mjs
const BASE = 'https://tradecatalog.app/api/v1'
const KEY = process.env.TRADECATALOG_API_KEY
const sleep = (seconds) => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, seconds * 1000))

async function api(method, path, body, attempt = 0) {
  const res = await fetch(BASE + path, {
    method,
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: body && JSON.stringify(body),
  })
  if ((res.status === 429 || res.status >= 500) && attempt < 5) {
    await sleep(Number(res.headers.get('Retry-After')) || 2 ** attempt)
    return api(method, path, body, attempt + 1)
  }
  const json = await res.json()
  if (!res.ok) {
    const detail = json.error.issues
      ?.map((i) => `${i.path}: ${i.message}`)
      .join('; ')
    throw new Error(`${method} ${path}: ${json.error.message} ${detail ?? ''}`)
  }
  return json
}

// Replace these with reads from your ERP. Money in pence, discounts in basis points.
async function productsFromErp() {
  return [
    {
      sku: 'HX-8510',
      name: 'Hex bolt M10 x 50 zinc',
      listPrice: 1950,
      unitLabel: 'Box of 100',
      brand: 'Northgate',
      category: 'Bolts',
      availability: 'in_stock',
    },
  ]
}
async function customersFromErp() {
  return [
    {
      accountCode: 'OAK01',
      name: 'Oakfield Joinery',
      email: 'accounts@oakfieldjoinery.co.uk',
      discountBp: 500,
    },
  ]
}

const batches = (rows, size = 100) =>
  Array.from({ length: Math.ceil(rows.length / size) }, (_, i) =>
    rows.slice(i * size, i * size + size),
  )

const { data: workspace } = await api('GET', '/workspace')
console.log(`Syncing into ${workspace.name} (${workspace.currency})`)

for (const customers of batches(await customersFromErp())) {
  const { data } = await api('PUT', '/customers', { customers })
  console.log(`Customers: ${data.created} new, ${data.updated} updated`)
}

// Every batch adds its price changes to the same draft.
let priceChangeId
for (const products of batches(await productsFromErp())) {
  const { data } = await api('PUT', '/products', { products, priceChangeId })
  console.log(`Products: ${data.created} new, ${data.updated} updated`)
  priceChangeId = data.priceChangeId ?? priceChangeId
  if (data.unknownCustomers.length)
    console.warn('Unknown customers in onlyFor:', data.unknownCustomers)
}

if (priceChangeId) {
  const { data } = await api('GET', `/price-changes/${priceChangeId}`)
  console.log(
    `Draft price change: ${data.counts.up} up, ${data.counts.down} down,` +
      ` ${data.warnings.length} warnings. Publish it in TradeCatalog → Price changes.`,
  )
}
```

Customers go first, so products with `onlyFor` can find them.

Run it from cron, a scheduled task, or your ERP’s job runner:

```text
0 2 * * *  cd /opt/tradecatalog && TRADECATALOG_API_KEY=tc_live_… node sync.mjs >> sync.log 2>&1
```

## Order poller (Node.js)

Every few minutes, fetch new orders, hand each to your ERP, then mark it acknowledged. The buyer gets an email saying their order has been acknowledged.

```js
// orders.mjs — run every 5 minutes. Copy BASE, KEY, sleep and api() from sync.mjs.
async function sendToErp(order) {
  // Create the sales order in your system. Use order.reference as its external
  // reference, and check it first so a retry can't create it twice.
  console.log(
    `${order.reference} for ${order.customer.accountCode}: ${order.lines.length} lines`,
  )
}

const { data: newOrders } = await api('GET', '/orders?status=new')
for (const summary of newOrders.reverse()) {
  const { data: order } = await api('GET', `/orders/${summary.id}`)
  await sendToErp(order)
  await api('PATCH', `/orders/${order.id}`, { status: 'acknowledged' })
}
```

Oldest orders are handled first (`reverse()`), because the list is newest first.

If your ERP step succeeds but the `PATCH` fails, the order is still `new` next time. That’s why `sendToErp` should check for `order.reference` before creating anything.

Later, when an order ships, mark it dispatched with the tracking details in the note:

```js
await api('PATCH', `/orders/${orderId}`, {
  status: 'dispatched',
  note: 'DPD tracking 1554 2210 0931',
})
```

## Order poller (Python)

The same poller with [requests](https://requests.readthedocs.io):

```python
# orders.py: run every 5 minutes. TRADECATALOG_API_KEY=tc_live_… python orders.py
import os
import time

import requests

BASE = "https://tradecatalog.app/api/v1"
session = requests.Session()
session.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {os.environ['TRADECATALOG_API_KEY']}"


def api(method, path, body=None, attempt=0):
    res = session.request(method, BASE + path, json=body, timeout=30)
    if (res.status_code == 429 or res.status_code >= 500) and attempt < 5:
        time.sleep(int(res.headers.get("Retry-After", 2**attempt)))
        return api(method, path, body, attempt + 1)
    data = res.json()
    if not res.ok:
        raise RuntimeError(f"{method} {path}: {data['error']['message']}")
    return data


def send_to_erp(order):
    # Create the sales order in your system; skip it if order["reference"] exists.
    print(order["reference"], order["customer"]["accountCode"], len(order["lines"]), "lines")


for summary in reversed(api("GET", "/orders?status=new")["data"]):
    order = api("GET", f"/orders/{summary['id']}")["data"]
    send_to_erp(order)
    api("PATCH", f"/orders/{order['id']}", {"status": "acknowledged"})
```

## Money and codes

- `listPrice`, `unitPrice`, `lineTotal` and `total` are in minor units (pence for GBP). Divide by 100 for pounds.
- Order prices are before tax. Your ERP adds VAT when it invoices.
- Use your ERP’s customer account codes as TradeCatalog account codes, so both systems match without a lookup table.

## Limits to plan for

- 100 rows per `PUT`, and 120 requests a minute per key. A 10,000-product catalogue is 100 requests, about a minute.
- `GET /orders` covers the 200 most recent matching orders. Poll often enough that fewer than 200 new orders arrive between runs.
- Publishing price changes, discount rules and agreed prices are done in the app.