Delta Sync: Shopify and BigCommerce – Athos Search & Product Discovery

What is delta sync?

Delta sync (also called incremental sync) updates your Athos Commerce index by processing changes since the last successful sync instead of reloading your entire catalog every time. For many stores, this means shorter sync times and faster availability of recent updates in search and merchandising.

When is it available?

Delta sync may be available depending on your platform, integration setup, and account configuration. If you are unsure whether or not it applies to your store, contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or Athos Commerce Support — they can confirm eligibility and next steps.

What it is designed to do

Focus processing on products that were added, updated, or removed since the last sync window.
Work alongside periodic full refreshes (on a daily basis) to help keep data complete and consistent over time.
Reduce unnecessary work compared with downloading the full catalog on every run.

Exact behavior can vary by platform and your feed configuration.

How it works

Incremental sync depends on how your platform tracks product changes and whether those changes are included in each sync. Some store actions do not register as a product update on the platform's side, which means that Athos Commerce may not detect those changes in the next incremental run — even if they are already visible in your store's admin portal.

In those cases, the change will be picked up during the next scheduled full refresh.

Known unsupported events

The following store actions are not currently detected by delta sync on each platform. They will be reflected after the next full catalog refresh.

Note: These limitations are specific to how each ecommerce platform tracks and reports changes. They are outside Athos Commerce’s control.

Shopify

Event

Add a new product metafield

Remove a product metafield

Update the name or description of a product metafield

Add a new variant metafield

Remove a variant metafield

Remove a product from a collection (without any other changes to the product)

Add a new product metaobject

Update the value of a product metaobject

Remove a product metaobject

Add a new variant metaobject

Update the value of a variant metaobject

Remove a variant metaobject

Product or variant goes out of stock due to a purchase on the storefront

Store currency change

BigCommerce

Event

Add a new variant

Update a core field of a variant

Remove a variant

Add a new product metafield

Update the value of a product metafield

Remove a product metafield

Add a new variant metafield

Update the value of a variant metafield

Remove a variant metafield

Change the inventory of a variant

Update custom fields

Remove a product from a category (without any other changes to the product)

If something looks out of date

If you notice stale products, collection/category data, or variants in search results:

Check if the change falls into one of the unsupported event types listed above.
Contact Support or your CSM with examples (product URL or ID, what changed, and when).

Summary

Topic	Customer takeaway
Purpose	Faster syncs by processing only recent changes.
Eligibility	Depends on platform and setup; confirm with CSM or Support.
Accuracy	Not every store action is detected by delta sync; see the unsupported events listed above.

Athos Commerce's incremental sync behavior depends on your ecommerce platform and your feed configuration. This list of unsupported events reflects known limitations at the time of publication and is subject to change.