Tutorial: Import and Update Products

Before you can sell, count, or fulfill anything, the product has to exist in your catalog. This tutorial covers getting products in and keeping them current: create, look up by SKU, and update. You'll need a token with products:read and products:write.

1. Create a product

Create one with POST /api/products. At minimum a product needs a sku and a name:

curl -X POST "https://acme.sku.io/api/products" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKU_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sku": "WDG-003",
    "name": "Green Widget",
    "type": "standard",
    "unit_cost": 4.75,
    "barcode": "0123456789013"
  }'

The response returns the created product with its assigned id. For a large catalog, loop this call — or use the dedicated bulk Product Import endpoints, which take a file and process asynchronously.

Idempotency

sku is your natural key. Before creating, check whether the SKU already exists (step 2) so a re-run of your importer updates instead of erroring on a duplicate.

2. Look up by SKU

To resolve a SKU to a product (and its id) without knowing the id, use GET /api/products/by-sku:

curl "https://acme.sku.io/api/products/by-sku?sku=WDG-003" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKU_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

A 404 means the SKU isn't in the catalog yet — create it. A 200 returns the product, including its id for the next step.

3. Update a product

Change a product with PUT /api/products/{id}, using the id from step 1 or 2:

curl -X PUT "https://acme.sku.io/api/products/501" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKU_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Green Widget (v2)",
    "unit_cost": 5.10
  }'

Send only the fields you're changing. The full editable field set is on the Update Product reference.

4. List and verify

Confirm the catalog with GET /api/v2/products — a paginated, filterable, sortable list:

curl "https://acme.sku.io/api/v2/products?filter[search]=widget&sort=sku&per_page=25" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKU_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

See Filtering & Sorting for the available filter keys and Pagination for walking the full list.

Where to next

• Sync Inventory Levels — set on-hand quantities once products exist
• Create & Fulfill an Order — sell what you just imported
• Products reference — variations, images, pricing, and bulk import