How TrueSpec works
One standard for building-product data. Publish your catalog once, and every customer — their website, their ERP, their estimator — reads it live and stays current on its own.
The big picture
The people who make products publish their data into one standard shape. The people who sell or build with them pull it through one clean API — no re-typing, no stale spreadsheets.
Every product lands in the same consistent format — names, sizes, colors, finishes, specs, images — so it’s ready to use the moment it’s published.
Which one are you?
Most organizations do one of these — some do both (a distributor often publishes and consumes).
I make or distribute products
Manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors with a catalog to share — decking, railing, siding, cabinet hardware, panel goods, laminates, lumber.
- Upload your catalog — we standardize it.
- Invite your customers; they each get one API key.
- Update once; everyone downstream stays current.
I sell or build with them
Dealers, retailers, eCommerce sites, and the ERPs they run on — anyone who wants rich, current product content without re-keying it.
- Get one key that reads every catalog you’re granted.
- Power your storefront with live vendor content.
- Match it to your own item numbers automatically.
Publish your catalog
From spreadsheet to a live, standardized API your customers can read — in an afternoon, not a quarter.
Create your account
Sign up and you’re the owner. Invite teammates to help categorize and enter data — they get a one-time link to set their own password and join as members.
Upload your catalog
Drop in a spreadsheet (CSV). TrueSpec auto-detects your column names — Item Number, Vendor SKU, color, size, finish — and maps them to the standard fields.
We standardize & check every row
Each product is validated against its category’s attributes and stored in one consistent shape. You get a clear, row-level report — nothing is silently dropped or guessed.
Invite your customers
Grant a customer read access by invitation. They accept and mint one secure API key that reads your catalog through a clean REST API. You decide who’s in, and you can revoke access any time.
Update anytime — everyone stays current
Re-upload the new version (it updates in place, no duplicates), edit a field by hand, or have your own systems push changes straight through the API. Consumers pull only what changed since last time, so no one is ever stuck on last spring’s colors.
Start with a spreadsheet. Graduate to the API.
Uploading a spreadsheet is how most publishers join — and it will always be an option. But your catalog on TrueSpec is a live system, not a place files go to be forgotten. The same API your customers read from, your own systems can write to: with a publish-scoped key, your PIM, ERP, or website pushes product updates and images the moment they happen — no export, no upload, no one in the loop.
Every push gets the same treatment as an upload — validated row by row, updated in place, never silently overwriting an edit your team made by hand — and your customers sync only the deltas. When both ends speak the API, a spec change in your system reaches every dealer site the same day: no snapshot, no re-keying, no drift anywhere in the chain. That’s the technology this industry has been missing — the spreadsheet is just how you get there.
Power your storefront or ERP
Pull rich, accurate vendor content — descriptions, images, specs, sizes, colors — and show it under your own item numbers.
Create your account & turn on consumer features
An owner enables consumer access (and accepts the agreement). Now your org can receive catalog invitations and create API keys.
Accept your vendors’ invitations
One API key reads every catalog you’ve been granted, merged into a single, consistent feed — no separate integration per vendor.
Your systems pull it live
Your website or ERP reads the catalog through one REST API — clean JSON, cursor pagination, and delta sync so you fetch only what changed. Your tech person wires it up in an afternoon.
Match it to your own SKUs
Upload your item list (your part numbers + the vendor SKUs you already have). TrueSpec links each of your SKUs to the authoritative vendor product — so your storefront resolves your own item number to the manufacturer’s real description, photos, colors, and sizes.
Where your data goes
The same clean record flows all the way down the channel — and nobody re-keys it at any tier.
When a color is discontinued or a box quantity changes, the correction starts at the manufacturer and reaches the contractor and the homeowner automatically — instead of being wrong on five different websites.
Why it’s better than emailing spreadsheets
One standard, every product
Consistent, industry-aligned fields plus per-category attributes (species, grade, finish, R-value, slip rating…). No bespoke spreadsheet format per vendor.
One key, one API
Publish once; every customer and their software read the same clean data through a single, versioned REST API with interactive docs.
Easy to join, built to automate
Non-technical? Upload a spreadsheet. Technical? A REST API your developer connects in an afternoon — reads for your customers, writes for your own systems. Both sides win.
Always current
Change it once and it propagates. Consumers sync only the deltas, so dealer sites and ERPs never drift out of date.
You stay in control
Invite-only access, revoke any time, and a record of who pulled what. Your product IDs are permanent, so a change on our end never breaks an integration.
Built for teams
Owners run the account — invites, keys, access. Members do the catalog work. Bring on helpers to categorize data without handing over the keys.
Ready to stop emailing spreadsheets?
Publish your catalog once. Your customers will thank you.