A ruleset is a set of feed rules you write once and apply to as many catalogs as you like. Change a rule inside the ruleset, publish it, and every catalog using it picks up the change — no copying the same fix into ten catalogs by hand.
Rulesets live under Rulesets in the top navigation. A catalog's own rules stay on that catalog's Rules tab and are just called Rules — a ruleset is the shared thing.
When a ruleset earns its place#
Reach for one when the same cleanup applies to more than one catalog:
- You run several markets or stores whose feeds come from the same platform and need the same fixes.
- You keep re-writing the same "strip HTML from descriptions, normalize availability, drop out-of-stock" rules on every new catalog.
- You want one place to change a rule when an ad network changes what it accepts.
If a fix only ever applies to one catalog, leave it on that catalog's Rules tab. A ruleset that only one catalog uses is extra ceremony for no benefit.
Creating a ruleset#
- Open Rulesets in the top navigation.
- Choose New ruleset and give it a name. Name it after what it does — "Nordics base cleanup", "Sale price rules" — not after the catalog you happened to build it for.
- Add rules exactly the way you would on a catalog's Rules tab: conditions, then actions. See Fixing your feed data with rules for the rule editor itself.
- Publish the ruleset when you're happy with it.
You can also start from a ready-made ruleset: Start from a preset opens a gallery of prepared rulesets. Picking one makes your own copy that you can change freely — later changes to the preset never reach your copy.
Applying a ruleset to a catalog#
On the catalog's Rules tab, choose Apply ruleset and pick one. It becomes a card in the rule list, and position matters: the ruleset's rules run at that point in the catalog's order, so rules above it run first and rules below it run after.
The card shows how many rules the ruleset contains and links to it, so you can jump in and edit it.
Seeing which rulesets a project uses#
You don't have to open each catalog to find out. A project lists them in two places, both below its catalogs: on the Overview's Catalogs card, and in full on the project's Catalogs tab. Each ruleset shows how many of the project's catalogs use it, its status light, and an Unpublished marker when it has changes waiting. Click one to open it.
The status light there answers a narrower question than the one on the Rulesets page: it shows problems this ruleset is causing in that project, so a ruleset can look fine in one project and need attention in another.
A ruleset appears in this list once the catalog applying it has been published — until then the apply rule is still a draft on the catalog.
Column names belong to the applying catalog#
A ruleset reads and writes the column names in your feed, and every catalog's feed names its columns its own way. One shop's feed calls it title, another's calls it productname.
When a column name differs, fix it on the catalog, not in the ruleset. Add a Set field rule ABOVE the apply rule that copies the value across — set productname to {{title}} — and the ruleset works unchanged. Renaming a column inside the ruleset to suit one catalog silently breaks it for every other catalog using it.
Renable warns you when a ruleset reads a column the catalog doesn't seem to have. It's a warning, not an error — your rules still run, and a column a rule creates further up the list is perfectly fine. Treat it as a prompt to check the name, and add a Set field rule above if it really is a mismatch.
Publishing: publish the ruleset first#
Publishing a ruleset makes its rules live and reprocesses every catalog using it. The confirmation names those catalogs before you commit, so you always know what a publish touches.
The order matters when you've changed both a ruleset and a catalog:
- Publish the ruleset.
- Then publish the catalog.
A catalog always uses the ruleset's last published rules. Publish the catalog first and it goes live with the ruleset's OLD rules — and a ruleset that has never been published at all contributes nothing, as if the apply rule weren't there. The catalog's rule card shows an Unpublished marker when the ruleset it applies has changes waiting, so you can see it before you publish.
Previewing against a real catalog#
A ruleset has no feed of its own, so there's nothing to preview against until you pick one. Preview with catalog lists the catalogs using this ruleset; pick one and the rule previews and the product trace run against that catalog's real feed data, exactly as they do on the catalog itself.
The workspace also shows a compatibility table: the columns this ruleset reads, across the catalogs using it, so you can see at a glance where a column is missing or bridged.
Duplicating a ruleset#
Duplicate makes your own copy of a ruleset — from the copy button in the ruleset workspace's header, or from the ruleset's row menu on the Rulesets page. The copy includes any unpublished changes, so what you see in the workspace is what the copy gets. It starts out independent: changing the copy never affects the original, and the copy needs its own publish before it does anything.
If you belong to more than one organization, the dialog also lets you duplicate the ruleset into another of your organizations — useful for reusing a proven set of rules across clients. Switch to that organization to find the copy.
Archiving a ruleset#
Rulesets are archived, never deleted. Archiving hides a ruleset from the list and from the apply picker, but catalogs already using it keep working exactly as before — nothing breaks and nothing needs re-wiring. The confirmation names the catalogs still using it so you can decide with your eyes open. Turn on Show archived to find it again and unarchive it.
Asking Aimée#
Aimée can do all of this with you: "create a ruleset for my Nordics cleanup", "which catalogs use this ruleset?", "apply the Nordics ruleset to this catalog", "publish this ruleset". She'll tell you which catalogs a publish will reprocess before she asks you to approve it, and she follows the same publish-the-ruleset-first order.
Where to go next#
- Reuse rules across catalogs — the step-by-step walkthrough.
- Fixing your feed data with rules — how conditions and actions work.
- Transforming your feed — the catalog workspace a ruleset plugs into.
- Feed runs and warnings — where import problems show up.