# Custom XML Feed

> Source: https://docs.recombee.com/catalog_feeds/custom-xml-feed

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).

# Custom XML Feed

An XML that contains structured information about the items.

## How to Set Up

1. Set the URL of your XML feed.
2. Set _Items Path_ \- the [XPath](https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xpath_syntax.asp) to the root element of the items records
3. Set _Item ID Path_ \- Path (relative to the items path) to the element that contains the itemId. If your IDs contain some special characters, enable the _MD5 Item IDs_ option (see [this section](/catalog_feeds#feeds-md5-item-id) for more details).
4. The feed gets processed and a list of properties that were recognized in the feed is presented in the Suggested properties section. You can pick from this list the properties that you want to synchronize to Recombee.  
You can also create a custom new property and set an [XPath](https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xpath_syntax.asp) for it (relative to the item entry). This is needed especially in the case of large _.zip_ feeds which cannot be fully processed in this step to obtain the suggested properties.
5. Continue to _Preview_ and check that you are getting expected data for all the properties. When you are satisfied, confirm the settings and the feed will get scheduled for processing.

For information about handling items deletion and updating items availability see [Handling of removed items](/catalog_feeds#feeds-availability-property).

## Tips & Tricks

* Arrays in XML: if we have set item property `categories` and we want to fill its data, we need to define multiple fields with the same ID inside item entry. It's relative path is `/categories`. It will correctly process and assign 3 values to the property.  
```  
<item>  
  <categories>Drama</categories>  
  <categories>Horror</categories>  
  <categories>Thriller</categories>  
</item>  
```