Set Up Real-Time Data Feed Max on DatoCMS

Expose DatoCMS content via the GraphQL Content Delivery API

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.

How DatoCMS Works

DatoCMS exposes content via a GraphQL Content Delivery API. Queries need a read-only API token sent as a Bearer header — so you always need a small proxy between DatoCMS and Real-Time Data Feed Max.

Setup via GraphQL Proxy

Generate a read-only API token DatoCMS admin → Settings → API tokens → New API token → role: Read-only API token. Copy the token.

Identify your model's GraphQL name In DatoCMS, each model gets a GraphQL query — e.g. allProducts, allArticles, allServices. Check the GraphQL explorer under Content delivery.

Deploy a small proxy Cloudflare Worker or Vercel function — keeps the token secret and reshapes the GraphQL response into our flat JSON.

Paste the proxy URL into Real-Time Data Feed Max The DatoCMS token stays inside the proxy — only the public proxy URL is shared with us.

Example GraphQL query

query AIFeed {
  allProducts(first: 500) {
    name
    price
    description
    image { url }
    slug
    inStock
  }
}

Cloudflare Worker proxy

const QUERY = `query { allProducts(first: 500) {
  name price description image { url } slug inStock
} }`;

export default {
  async fetch() {
    const r = await fetch('https://graphql.datocms.com/', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_READ_ONLY_TOKEN',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({ query: QUERY }),
    });
    const { data } = await r.json();
    const products = data.allProducts.map(p => ({
      name:        p.name,
      price:       p.price ? `$${p.price}` : '',
      description: p.description,
      image_url:   p.image?.url,
      button_link: `https://your-site.com/products/${p.slug}`,
      in_stock:    p.inStock,
    }));
    return new Response(JSON.stringify({ products }), {
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    });
  }
};

Tip: DatoCMS image fields return a URL object with optional transforms. Use image { url(imgixParams: { w: 400, auto: format }) } to request smaller, format-optimized images — keeps your feed size down.

GraphQL pagination: DatoCMS limits responses to 500 records per query. For larger datasets, paginate with skip and first, and combine results in your proxy before returning.

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