Data Sources
One important concept to understand when working with Orama Cloud, is the concept of data source. A data source, as the name suggests, refers to the original source from which data is derived. This could be a database, a web service, a JSON file, or any other platform that handles and stores your data.
Connecting your data source to Orama Cloud is the first step in creating an index. An index is a collection of documents that you can search through.
Choosing a data source
When choosing a data source for your Orama Cloud index, consider the following: if you’re looking to test the platform, you can easily upload a JSON or CSV file and index its data in just a few clicks. If you’re looking to integrate Orama Cloud with your app, CMS, or E-commerce platform, we recommend using a native integration if available. If your platform is not listed, you can always build a custom integration using REST APIs.
Static files
You can easily upload any JSON or CSV files and index their data in just a few clicks. This feature is particularly useful when you want to test an Orama Cloud indexes with a database dump or a spreadsheet export.
Native integrations
Orama Cloud offers a rich variety of Native integrations and plugins that helps you integrate with your app with ease. When available, we suggest using native integrations over custom integrations, as they are highly optimized and provide a better developer experience, performance, and maintainability.
Integrating is very straight-forward. Install the plugin for your application, CMS or E-commerce platform. If your platform is not listed, you can always build a custom integration using REST APIs.
Custom Integrations
If you need to regularly update the Orama Cloud index for production-grade workflows, or on a demand basis, we highly recommend considering feeding your index via REST APIs.
By utilizing this data source, you can decide when to redeploy the index or only update a segment of it. Typically, you might set up a cron job to periodically update the index based on your needs. You also trigger deployments on demand.
Other data sources
If you are looking for an alternative data source to integrate with Orama Cloud, you can use our Web Crawler to index the contents of your website. This is particularly useful when you want to index a website that does not provide an API.
Need Help?
If you still have doubts about the right data source for you after reading this guide, join our Community Slack channel at https://orama.to/slack. We’d be happy to help you and your team get started with Orama.