Schema

Define the schema for your collection, which defines the way your data will be structured.

Overview

A schema defines the structure of your data in the search index. It defines the data types (string, integer, etc) and constraints for the data you want to index. This ensures the data stored in an index is interpreted correctly.

Each record of a collection must adhere to the defined schema for it to be added to the index.

From the schema section in the Console, you can view, add, edit, or delete schema fields.

Schema for an E-commerce Store or App

When setting up a collection for an e-commerce store or an app, you need to define a schema from scratch. Start by creating schema fields based on your data by creating a new collection from the console. Add a sample record in or upload your data that you want to index, and click on "Generate Schema".

Once done, the next step will allow you to verify the schema and make adjustments if required. You must choose at least one unique field to proceed to the next step. For most cases, the unique field is usually an id, SKU, or URL.

Schema for Site Search

When you create a Site Search collection, a pre-built website schema template is used by default. You can view the schema in the Schema section in the console. You can create additional schema fields if you want to index additional data items.

For example, your website may contain webpages with specific metadata or content (e.g. "Author Name") that you want to display in the search interface. To index the additional metadata or content in a Site Search collection, you need to:

1. Add a schema field (e.g. author_name) and select the relevant schema field type.

2. Add custom tags to your webpage or content.

3. Re-crawl the webpage (from the crawl statuses section of the Crawler page in the console).

Schema for Shopify

When a Shopify collection is created, a pre-built schema template is used by default. You can view the schema in the Schema section in the console. You can create additional schema fields if you want to index additional data items. Shopify metafields are also supported.

Adding schema fields or metafields will require you to 'Sync products', available as an option from the left-side menu in the console.

Understanding Schema fields

Field properties

Each schema field has the following properties.

Property	Description
Name	The name of the field. This uniquely defines the field
Type	The type of data stored in the field, see table below for description of types
List	The field can contain a single or multiple values of the specified type. Also referred as an "array" or "repeated field"
Mode	The mode defines levels of strictness and can be either NULLABLE, REQUIRED, OR UNIQUE

Mode:

• NULLABLE: the field can be null

• REQUIRED: the field must be present

• UNIQUE: the field must be present and unique across all records

Field Types

The following field types can be used on the records in your Collection.

Name	Description	Example
BOOLEAN	Two possible values: true or false	true
INTEGER	Whole numbers	42
FLOAT	Numbers with a fractional value - 32-bit float	12.34
STRING	String of text	"I'm the walrus"
TIMESTAMP	Date/time value	1234567890 (UNIX timestamp) or 2009-02-13T23:31:30+00:00 (RFC3339)
BYTES

Changing Schema fields

If your collection contains records and is not empty, you can:

• change 'description' of a schema field

• change 'mode' to a less restrictive value ('UNIQUE' -> 'REQUIRED' -> 'NULLABLE')

• change a field to be 'indexed'

All other properties of a schema field cannot be changed if your collection already contains records. There are possible workarounds:

• Add a new field with a different name with the desired properties

• Remove all the records from the collection, make the changes to the schema, and then add the records again.

Alternatively, you can also start again by creating a new collection.

Change a field to be indexed

To change a field to be indexed, you need to update the record pipelines.

Let's assume that you have a schema field name 'topics', and you didn't make it 'indexed' when you initially added it. To make the 'topics' field an indexed field, do the following:

1. Go to the Indexing section in the console

2. Choose the latest 'Record' pipeline (e.g. "'RECORD' website").

3. Add the field 'topics' in both 'create-indexes' and 'allow-fields' steps in the values. Save the pipeline and make it the default version.

4. You will need to do a full re-index of your collection to ensure the data on every record is indexed.

You will also need to update your query pipeline based on your desired relevance needs.