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

# Import data

> How a data provider onboards data into a source through the ingest API.

For anything recurring, data is onboarded by a **data provider** — a custom integration that calls the ingest API. The provider is where system-specific business logic lives: reading from the source system, mapping fields, and pushing entries to Occtoo.

## What you need

1. A source to write into — see [Create a source](/guides/studio/sources/add-a-data-source).
2. A data provider that lists that source under **Allowed Sources** — see [Add a data provider](/guides/studio/sources/add-a-data-provider).
3. The provider's **ID** and **secret**, used to get a token.

The provider ID is shown on the provider in the **Data providers** tab. The secret is only shown once, when the provider is created or its secret is reset — see [Reset a provider secret](/guides/studio/sources/reset-a-client-secret).

<Info>
  Studio can generate a working snippet for you, prefilled with the provider ID and the source identifier: [View code examples](/guides/studio/sources/code-examples).
</Info>

## What arrives in the source

Entries are written by key. An entry whose key already exists in the source is updated; a new key creates a new entry. Each property carries an ID, a value and, for localized properties, a language code.

Properties the source has not seen before are created automatically. Occtoo infers a type, which you can then correct, along with capabilities and the display section — see [Add or edit a property](/guides/studio/sources/add-and-edit-a-property).

## Watching a run

After an ingest run, the source page shows what happened:

* **Updates over time** breaks the run into added, updated, deleted and ignored entries, and reports the request rate — see [Monitor onboarding](/guides/studio/sources/monitor-ingest).
* The freshness badge in the header moves back to **Fresh**.
* An entry's **Changelog** attributes each change to the provider that made it.

## Reference

* [Get data into Occtoo](/get-started/get-data-into-occtoo) — the quick start, end to end.
* [Ingest API overview](/api-reference/ingest/overview) — endpoints and payload shape.
* [Application token](/api-reference/authentication/application-token) — getting a token from a provider ID and secret.
* [Integrations](/integrations/providers/csv) — ready-made providers for common systems.

## Without an integration

For a one-off load, or while you are still modelling the data, upload a CSV in Studio instead: [Import data from a CSV file](/guides/studio/sources/manual-import). No data provider is needed for that route.