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Creating a catalog

Creating a catalog involves importing a CSV file of non-user data into Braze. This allows you to then access that information to enrich your messages. You can bring in any type of data into a catalog. This data is typically some sort of metadata from your company such as product information for an eCommerce business, or course information for an education provider.

Use cases

Commons use cases for catalogs include:

  • Products
  • Services
  • Food
  • Upcoming events
  • Music
  • Packages

After this information is imported, you can begin accessing it in messages in a similar way to accessing custom attributes or custom event properties through Liquid.

Creating a catalog

To create a catalog, go to Data Settings > Catalogs, then select Create New Catalog and choose one of the following options:

Step 1: Review your CSV file

Before you upload your CSV file, ensure that your CSV file meets the following requirements:

Step 2: Upload CSV

Drag and drop your file to the upload zone, or select Upload CSV and choose your file.

Select a data type for each column.

Enter a name and optional description for your catalog. Keep the following requirements in mind when naming your catalog:

  • Must be unique
  • Maximum of 250 characters
  • Can only include numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores

A catalog named "my_catalog".

Select Process Catalog to create the catalog.

Tutorial: Creating a catalog from a CSV file

For this tutorial, we’re using a catalog that lists two games, their cost, and an image link.

id title price image_link
1234 Tales 7.49 https://picsum.photos/200
1235 Regeneration 22.49 https://picsum.photos/200

We’ll create the catalog by uploading a CSV file. The data types for id, title, price, and image_link are string, string, number, and string, respectively.

Four catalog column names: "id", "title", "price", "image_link".

Next, we’ll name this catalog “games_catalog” and select the Process Catalog button. Then, Braze will check the catalog for any errors before catalog creation.

A catalog named "games_catalog".

Note that you won’t be able to edit this name after the catalog is created. You can delete a catalog and re-upload an updated version using the same catalog name.

After creating the catalog, you can begin referencing the catalog in a campaign.

Prerequisites

Before you can edit or create catalogs in the browser, you’ll need the Manage Catalogs Dashboard permission.

Step 1: Enter catalog details

Enter a name and optional description for your catalog. Keep the following requirements in mind when naming your catalog:

  • Must be unique
  • Maximum of 250 characters
  • Can only include numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores

A catalog named "my_catalog".

Step 2: Create your catalog

Select your catalog from the list, then select Update Catalog > Add fields. Enter the Field name and use the dropdown to select the data type. Repeat as needed.

Two example fields "rating" and "name".

Select Update Catalog > Add items to add an item to your catalog by entering the information based on the fields you previously added. Then, select Save Item or Save and Add Another to continue adding your items.

Add a catalog item.

Using templates in catalog names

When naming your catalog, you can also use templates in a catalog name. This lets you dynamically generate catalog names based on variables like language or campaign. For example, you can use the following:

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{% assign language = "content_spanish" %}

{% catalog_items {{language}} fall_campaign %}
{{ items[0].body }}

Managing catalogs

In the dashboard

To update your catalog after uploading a CSV or creating a catalog in the browser, select Update Catalog > Upload CSV, then select whether to update, add, or delete items in your catalog.

Using the REST API

As you build more catalogs, you can also use the List catalogs endpoint to return a list of the catalogs in a workspace.

Supported data types for using API include: string, integer, float, boolean, or datetime. You can also upload arrays and objects when managing your catalogs with the API.

Managing catalog items

In addition to managing your catalogs, you can also use asynchronous and synchronous endpoints to manage the catalog items. This includes the ability to edit and delete catalog items, and to list catalog item details.

For example, if you want to edit an individual catalog item, you can use the /catalogs/catalog_name/items/item_id endpoint.

Catalog storage

The free version of catalogs supports CSV file sizes of up to 100 MB for all CSV files combined across your company, whereas the Catalogs Pro version supports CSV file sizes of up to 2 GB for a single CSV file.

Free version

The storage size for the free version of catalogs is up to 100 MB. You can have unlimited items as long as they’re under 100 MB.

Catalogs Pro

At a company level, the maximum storage for Catalogs Pro is based on the size of catalog data. The storage size options are: 5 GB, 10 GB, or 15 GB. Note that the free version’s storage (100 MB) is included in each of these plans.

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