> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.digifist.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Meta Catalog

> Connecting, creating, and syncing your Meta Catalog in Galantis — the three available catalog flows and how ongoing sync works.

A Meta Catalog is the product database that powers WhatsApp's native commerce features — product cards, catalog browse, and the buy interface customers see when they tap a product in a WhatsApp message. Galantis connects to Meta Catalog to push your Shopify product data into WhatsApp, keeping the two systems in sync automatically.

Connecting a Meta Catalog is required before any SPM, MPM, or Whole Catalog message format can be used. Without it, product-based templates cannot be activated.

## What this covers

* The three Meta Catalog flows available in Galantis
* How to connect or create a catalog
* How ongoing automatic sync works
* Per-product sync status tracking
* Error handling and recovery

## Three catalog flows

Galantis supports three paths for connecting your product data to Meta, depending on whether you already have a Meta Catalog configured.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Import Existing Catalog">
    **Import an existing Meta Catalog** — connect a catalog you have already configured in Meta Commerce Manager and sync it into Galantis.

    Use this flow if:

    * You already have a Meta Catalog set up and populated in Meta Commerce Manager
    * You are migrating to Galantis from another tool that managed your Meta Catalog
    * You want Galantis to manage sync going forward but the catalog structure already exists

    **How it works:**

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Connect your Meta Catalog token">
        In Galantis, go to **Settings → WhatsApp Connection** and connect a Meta Catalog access token. This token is obtained from Meta Business Manager and grants Galantis permission to read and write to your catalog.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Select the catalog to import">
        Galantis fetches your available Meta Catalogs and lets you select which one to connect.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Import catalog data">
        Galantis imports the existing catalog structure and product data into Galantis records, reconciling them with your synced Shopify products.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Enable ongoing sync">
        Once imported, Galantis manages ongoing sync between Shopify product updates and the connected Meta Catalog automatically.
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    <Note>
      After importing, Galantis becomes the source of truth for catalog updates — it pushes changes from Shopify to Meta. Direct edits in Meta Commerce Manager will be overwritten the next time the catalog sync runs with updated Shopify data.
    </Note>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Create New Catalog">
    **Create a new Meta Catalog from Galantis** — build and push a catalog directly from your Shopify data, without needing to set anything up in Meta Commerce Manager first.

    Use this flow if:

    * You do not have an existing Meta Catalog
    * You are setting up WhatsApp commerce for the first time
    * You want the simplest possible setup path

    **How it works:**

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Connect your Meta Catalog token">
        In Galantis, go to **Settings → WhatsApp Connection** and connect a Meta Catalog access token with catalog creation permissions.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Create the catalog from Galantis">
        In **Catalog → Meta Sync**, select the option to create a new catalog. Galantis creates the catalog structure in Meta on your behalf and associates it with your WhatsApp Business Account.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Push your Shopify products">
        Galantis pushes all non-excluded Shopify products to the newly created Meta Catalog. Products with `PENDING` status are queued for upload.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Verify sync status">
        Review the per-product status in **Catalog** — products move from `PENDING` to `SYNCED` or `FAILED` as the push completes.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Automatic Ongoing Sync">
    **Automatic Meta sync** — once a catalog is connected (via either of the above flows), Galantis keeps Meta in sync automatically.

    This job runs periodically and handles:

    * Pushing product updates that arrived via Shopify webhook since the last sync
    * Propagating price changes, inventory updates, and image changes to Meta
    * Removing products from Meta that were deleted in Shopify
    * Queuing products with `PENDING` status for their initial push

    **Sync frequency:** The Meta catalog sync runs periodically for batch uploads.

    The automatic sync means you generally do not need to manually trigger a Meta push after your initial setup. Price changes, new product additions, and inventory updates flow through automatically.

    <Tip>
      If you make bulk product changes in Shopify and need them reflected in Meta immediately, trigger a Meta push from **Catalog → Meta Sync**.
    </Tip>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Per-product Meta sync status

Every product in Galantis has a Meta sync status that reflects its current state in the push pipeline:

| Status    | Description                                                           |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `PENDING` | Queued for Meta upload — not yet pushed                               |
| `SYNCED`  | Successfully pushed to Meta — product is live in the catalog          |
| `FAILED`  | Sync error — the product was not pushed to Meta; review error details |

Status is visible per product in **Catalog → \[Product Name]**. The overall catalog health view in **Catalog** shows aggregate counts across all three statuses. See [Catalog Health](./catalog-health) for how to interpret and act on these statuses.

## Meta Catalog access token

Connecting a Meta Catalog requires a catalog access token from Meta Business Manager. This token:

* Must have permissions to read and write to the target catalog
* Is stored encrypted per tenant in Galantis
* Can expire or be revoked if permissions change in Meta Business Manager

If catalog sync stops working or `FAILED` statuses appear unexpectedly across many products simultaneously, the first diagnostic step is to verify the Meta Catalog token is still valid under **Settings → WhatsApp Connection**. A revoked or expired token will cause all Meta push attempts to fail until the token is refreshed.

<Warning>
  If your Meta Catalog access token expires, catalog sync will fail silently for all products until the token is renewed. Product data in Meta will become stale — prices, availability, and images will not reflect Shopify changes. Monitor catalog health periodically to catch token expiry issues early. See [Catalog Health](./catalog-health).
</Warning>

## Related guides

* [Shopify Sync](./shopify-sync) — How product data flows from Shopify into Galantis before being pushed to Meta
* [Catalog Health](./catalog-health) — Monitoring SYNCED, PENDING, and FAILED status across your catalog
* [Support — Catalog Sync Errors](/whatsapp/support/troubleshooting/catalog-sync-errors) — Resolving failed Meta pushes
* [Templates — Template Formats](/whatsapp/templates/template-formats) — How Meta Catalog data is used in SPM, MPM, and Whole Catalog templates