Channels & formats

The channels

Channel	Default format	Identifier	Notes
Google Shopping	RSS 2.0	`id`	Merchant Center primary feed, `g:` namespace
Google Local Inventory	CSV	`id`	Per-store availability and price; needs `store_code`
Meta (Facebook & Instagram)	CSV	`id`	Commerce Manager catalog
Pinterest	RSS 2.0	`id`	Catalogs data source
Microsoft (Bing) Shopping	TSV	`id`	Microsoft Merchant Center
TikTok	CSV	`sku_id`	TikTok Shopping catalog
Snapchat	CSV	`id`	Snapchat Catalogs
Criteo	XML	`id`	`<products><product>`, `instock` as `true`/`false`
Awin	CSV	`merchant_product_id`	Affiliate datafeed columns
idealo	CSV	`id`	German vocabulary out of the box
Kelkoo	XML	`offer-id`	Hyphenated element names
PriceRunner	TSV	`SKU`	Title-case column names
Shopzilla / Connexity	TSV	`Unique ID`
Rakuten Advertising	TSV	`SKU`
Custom	CSV	yours	Name every column or element yourself

Every channel accepts every format Eat can write, except where the channel genuinely does not support it — Criteo and the comparison engines have no RSS shape, so RSS is not offered for them.

What a channel template gives you

Its attribute names, in its own spelling — merchant_product_id, not id.
Its required set, so a product missing one can be skipped and counted rather than rejected later by the channel.
Its default mapping, so a new feed is useful the moment it is created.
Its file shape — RSS 2.0 with a <channel> wrapper, or a bare document with its own root and item element names.
Its namespace rules. In an RSS feed, title, link and description are RSS's own elements and are written bare; everything else is written in the channel's namespace. Google rejects <g:title>, and it is exactly the kind of mistake a hand-written template makes.
Its vocabulary. in_stock for Google, in stock for Meta and Pinterest, true for Criteo, 1 for Awin, In Stock for PriceRunner, auf Lager for idealo.

Formats

Format	Notes
RSS 2.0	`<rss><channel><item>` with the channel's namespace bound. Feed title, link and description are configurable.
XML	A bare document. Root and item element names default to the channel's and can be overridden.
CSV	Configurable delimiter and enclosure, optional header row.
TSV / TXT	Tab separated. Tabs and newlines inside values are flattened to spaces rather than quoted, because that is what breaks line-by-line parsers.
JSON	Streamed, optionally wrapped in a named key.

Any of them can be gzipped, which appends .gz and sets the right content type on the live route.

Values containing markup are written as CDATA in XML, and a value containing ]]> is split across two sections so it cannot end the block early and corrupt the document. Attribute names that are not legal XML element names — PriceRunner's Product name, a custom feed's 9lives — are sanitised deterministically.

Building a channel that isn't here

Choose the Custom channel. It starts with four rows and no required attributes; add one row per column or element you need, name it exactly as the channel's specification does, and pick a source. For XML output, set the root and item element names on the Schedule tab.

That covers most "our affiliate network has its own spreadsheet" cases without waiting for a plugin update. If a channel is common enough to deserve a template of its own, ask — a channel is a definition in one file, not code.

Large catalogues

Generation reads products in batches and streams them straight to the file, so memory is flat whether the catalogue has 200 products or 200,000. Two knobs matter at the top end:

Batch size — how many products are read at a time.
Generate in the queue — leave it on, so the work happens in a queue worker rather than in a control panel request.

Gzip is worth turning on once a feed passes a few megabytes; every major channel accepts it.