Set Up Real-Time Data Feed Max on Craft CMS

Expose Craft entries or Commerce products as a JSON feed

Pro Plan

What Your Feed Should Look Like

Real-Time Data Feed Max accepts any public URL returning JSON or plain text. The AI reads whatever you give it — products, services, bookable slots, property listings, menus, opening hours, anything — and uses it to answer visitor questions. There is no required shape or field name.

The one exception is Dynamic Product Cards. If you want matching items to render as visual cards in the chat, use these specific field names: name, price, description, image_url, button_link, in_stock.

Example — products (triggers Dynamic Product Cards)

{
  "products": [
    {
      "name": "Wireless Headphones Pro",
      "price": "$149.99",
      "description": "Premium over-ear wireless headphones with ANC.",
      "image_url": "https://example.com/images/headphones.jpg",
      "button_link": "https://example.com/products/headphones",
      "in_stock": true
    }
  ]
}

Example — services (any shape works)

{
  "services": [
    {
      "service": "Deep tissue massage",
      "duration_minutes": 60,
      "price_from": "$95",
      "therapists_available": ["Anna", "Mark"],
      "booking_link": "https://example.com/book/deep-tissue"
    },
    {
      "service": "Haircut & style",
      "duration_minutes": 45,
      "price_from": "$55",
      "booking_link": "https://example.com/book/haircut"
    }
  ]
}

Example — plain text (works too)

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 10-4, closed Sunday.
Delivery: Free over $30, minimum order $15, within 5 miles.
Lunch specials (weekdays only):
- Margherita pizza $12
- Caesar salad $9
- Soup of the day $7

Rule of thumb: Use descriptive field names the AI can interpret (service, duration, price, location, etc.). If Dynamic Product Cards make sense for your business, follow the exact field names above. If they don't, use whatever shape fits your data — the AI still searches it and answers questions correctly.

Option 1 — Element API Plugin (recommended)

Element API is the canonical way to expose Craft elements as JSON. It's a free official plugin that lets you define JSON endpoints directly in config — no custom Twig or PHP controllers required.

Install the Element API plugin In your Craft project root: composer require craftcms/element-api. Then install it in Craft admin → Settings → Plugins.

Create config/element-api.php Define an endpoint that returns your entries in our JSON shape.

Visit the endpoint to verify Open your-site.com/ai-feed.json in a private browser tab.

<?php
// config/element-api.php
use craft\elements\Entry;

return [
  'endpoints' => [
    'ai-feed.json' => function() {
      return [
        'elementType' => Entry::class,
        'criteria' => ['section' => 'products'],
        'transformer' => function(Entry $entry) {
          return [
            'name'        => $entry->title,
            'price'       => $entry->price ? '$' . $entry->price : '',
            'description' => (string)$entry->shortDescription,
            'image_url'   => $entry->productImage->one()?->getUrl(),
            'button_link' => $entry->getUrl(),
            'in_stock'    => (bool)$entry->inStock,
          ];
        },
        'elementsPerPage' => 1000,
        'meta' => ['products' => '@self'],
      ];
    },
  ],
];

Feed URL: https://your-site.com/ai-feed.json

Option 2 — Custom Twig Template

If you'd rather not install a plugin, output JSON directly from a Twig template and route to it via a page rule:

{% header "Content-Type: application/json" %}
{{ {"products": craft.entries.section('products').limit(5000).all()
  | map(e => {
    name:        e.title,
    price:       e.price ? '$' ~ e.price : '',
    description: e.shortDescription|striptags,
    image_url:   e.productImage.one().url ?? null,
    button_link: e.url,
    in_stock:    e.inStock,
  }) | json_encode | raw
} }}

Add a route in config/routes.php mapping 'ai-feed' to this template and visit your-site.com/ai-feed.

Option 3 — GraphQL API

Craft Pro includes a GraphQL API. Create a read-only token in admin → GraphQL → Tokens, then query via a proxy:

POST https://your-site.com/api
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_GQL_TOKEN

{ entries(section: "products", limit: 1000) { title ... on product_Entry { price } } }

Tip: Element API is typically the easiest for this use case — it outputs clean flat JSON without needing token management.

Troubleshooting

I see a password page instead of JSON

Your site is in maintenance, staging, or password-protected mode. Real-Time Data Feed Max needs a fully public URL.

Real-Time Data Feed Max says the feed failed

Open the URL in a private browser window. If you don't see JSON, the URL is wrong or the endpoint is down. If you see JSON but we still fail, the response may be missing a Content-Type: application/json header or exceeding the 10,000,000 character limit.

Product cards don't render

Dynamic Product Cards require specific field names (name, price, image_url, button_link, in_stock). If your platform uses different names, reshape the response in a small custom script before exposing it.

Data looks wrong or outdated

The feed auto-refreshes every 24 hours. For immediate updates, click Refresh Now in Real-Time Data Feed Max. For live fields (price, stock), the AI pulls fresh data on every message — so the 24h cycle only affects which items are known, not their current state.

Feed size exceeded

Real-Time Data Feed Max accepts up to 10,000,000 characters (~25,000 items). If you exceed that, trim fields (skip long HTML descriptions), split your catalog, or use the standard Real-Time Data Feed alongside for secondary data.

Still stuck? Start with the simplest option for your platform and verify the URL works in a browser before pasting it into Real-Time Data Feed Max. You can always upgrade to a more advanced option later — only the URL field changes on our side.

Documentation