Set up SKU rules and codebooks

A SKU rule makes the code for you. The SKU can read the way your team speaks, for example LF-SOY-LAV-200 for a Lumen & Fern soy candle in lavender, 200 g, instead of a number nobody can read.

Add a rule

1. Open Settings → SKU and serial numbers.
2. Click Add rule.
3. Name the rule and choose a Mode:
   • Manual: you type every SKU yourself.
   • Auto code: a prefix plus a counter or random characters. Set the Prefix, the Suffix type (Digits, Letters or Letters and digits), and either Sequence padding (1 to 12 digits) for Sequential or Suffix length (2 to 12) for Random. The prefix takes letters, digits and hyphens, and prefix plus code stays within 16 characters.
   • Structured codebook: a code assembled from the product’s attributes, described below.
   • Serial number: numbers individual units, never a SKU. See Serial numbers and the serial register.
4. Choose the Assignment: Workspace default, Brand default, or Brand + canonical category.
5. Click Create rule, or Create and configure for a structured rule.

When a product needs a SKU, the rule is chosen in this order: product override, brand plus category, brand default, workspace default, then manual. You can also set a brand’s default rule in Settings → Brands.

Design a structured SKU

1. Click Create and configure when you add a structured rule, or open the rule’s configure action later. Both open Pattern and codebooks.
2. On Pattern, click Add slot for each segment. A slot’s Source is an Attribute, a Category level, a Literal value or a Counter. Drag slots to reorder them. Set a Separator, and optionally a Total length.
3. On Codebooks, add a codebook for each attribute slot: for each value, such as Lavender, write its code, such as LAV. A Scoped (matrix) codebook picks the code by another slot’s value, for example a size code that depends on the product line.
4. On Preview, check the assembled SKU and whether it already exists.
5. Click Save changes.

To fill a codebook faster, use Import from attribute, or Download template and Upload a file. Sync … to attribute pushes a codebook’s values into the attribute’s list.

Generate a SKU on a product

A new product gets its SKU when it is created. If the brand’s structured rule cannot run yet because attributes are missing, the product gets a sequential fallback code so that creating a product never stops. Find these with the Fallback SKU only quick filter in Catalog → Products.

To replace a fallback code:

1. Fill in the attributes the rule needs. The product’s identity panel shows a checklist with what is not set or has no codebook entry yet.
2. Click Generate SKU, or on the Identifiers tab click Generate SKU from rule in the row.
3. Review the candidate, then click Save generated SKU. Nothing is written until you do.

You can also type a SKU straight into the cell. It is saved as a manual SKU.

Regenerate a whole family

If a rule changes, SKUs on existing variants may no longer match it. Keelvy tells you how many, and changes nothing by itself, because a SKU may already be on a printed label or on a channel.

1. Open the family’s Identifiers tab.
2. Click Regenerate all SKUs.
3. Read the summary: regenerated, unchanged, skipped (SKU entered manually), failed (missing values, no brand, a SKU another product uses).

Archive a rule

Archiving a rule stops it generating SKUs. Products keep their current SKUs. You can restore it from the Archive, and it comes back inactive so you choose when it works again.

Related

• Barcodes, QR codes and labels
• Attributes and what each category asks for
• Families and variants