---
title: Feed Troubleshooting
description: Diagnose common feed parsing, identity, update, and reference problems.
slug: indexing/feeds/troubleshooting
docKind: guide
hub: luigisbox-ai
---

Most feed problems come from incomplete snapshots, unstable IDs, inconsistent field types, or a mapping that no longer matches the source file.

## Common mistakes

- Sending only changed records instead of the full current snapshot.
- Changing source IDs between exports.
- Using a product type other than the exact canonical value `product`.
- Sending one field as different data types in different records.
- Putting catalog values in XML attributes. Attributes are ignored; use elements.

## My changes are not appearing

:::hub[Config → Catalog History → Load history]{path="/catalog-history"}
Answers "did my update land?" for one object without a request: the changes Luigi's Box
received for it, in order, each marked applied or still in flight. **Catalogs** shows what
is stored for it right now.
:::

- Confirm the feed URL is reachable using the access method agreed during onboarding.
- Confirm the source file contains the changed records.
- Return an accurate `ETag` or `Last-Modified` header and update its value whenever the content changes.
- Serve the feed with gzip compression. Conditional-update metadata and gzip are strongly recommended for timely, near-real-time synchronization.

See [Serving your feed](/indexing/feeds/#serving-your-feed) for polling and conditional request behavior.

## Far fewer products are indexed

Confirm the feed configuration and mapping still match the source:

- XML must use the configured repeating record element.
- JSON must contain records at the configured array path.
- CSV must use the configured delimiter and header row.
- Each record must map to non-empty `@id`, `@type`, and `@title` fields.

## IDs are rejected or analytics do not match

Product IDs must be type-prefixed, such as `product/123`.

- Keep the source ID immutable.
- Use the exact `product` type.
- Ensure the source ID prefix matches the object type. The mapping does not repair a missing or mismatched prefix.
- Ensure analytics events resolve to the same canonical product ID.
- Do not rely on a URL as the identity unless that mapping was explicitly configured.

## A large update is rejected

:::caution[Large drops are rejected]
A feed run that would remove more than 30% of the existing objects is rejected to protect the catalog from broken or truncated exports. Coordinate an intentional reduction of that size with Luigi's Box support.
:::

- Check that the export completed successfully.
- Check the record element, array path, and CSV delimiter.

## Category references do not resolve

Canonical product category references must use typed IDs:

```json
{
  "@category": ["category/cat-shoes"]
}
```

The referenced category is allowed to arrive later, so a temporarily dangling reference is not itself an ingest error. Check that:

- the reference uses the `category/` type prefix;
- the source mapping produces the expected category ID;
- existing path-based feeds use the configured delimiter and mapping.

## Text is broken or garbled

- Export feeds as UTF-8.
- In XML, entity-encode special characters or wrap text in CDATA.
- Do not entity-encode text inside CDATA.

## See also

- [Feeds overview](/indexing/feeds/)
- [Catalog object model](/concepts/catalog-object-model/)
- [Product feeds](/indexing/feeds/products/)
- [Category feeds](/indexing/feeds/categories/)