# How does your data get from Amazon to Nova?

Source: https://novadata.io/docs/getting-started/how-nova-works
Checked against Nova's code on 2026-10-29

Nova reads your data from Amazon's official APIs with the access you grant, keeps it as Amazon serves it, and rebuilds its models every time new orders and transactions land. The same figures then reach you three ways: the Nova App, the MCP server for your AI assistant, and Data Share, a read-only copy of your tables for your own tools.

## What does Nova read?

Everything comes from three Amazon connections and from what you type in yourself:

| Connection | What it brings |
|---|---|
| Seller Central (3P) | Orders, fees and refunds, sessions, inventory, listings, catalogue, reviews, Search Query Performance |
| Amazon Ads | Sponsored Products, Brands and Display, live ad spend, budgets, impression share, DSP |
| Vendor Central (1P) | Sales, traffic and inventory analytics, purchase orders, invoices, remittances |
| You | Cost of goods, VAT categories, FBM costs, your own costs, stock outside Amazon, tags and events |

The full list of APIs and reports is in [Data sources](/docs/your-data/data-sources). Nova adds daily exchange rates and nothing else from outside Amazon.

## What happens between Amazon and your screen?

1. **Connect.** An admin of your organization grants Nova access on Amazon's own consent page. See [Connect Seller Central](/docs/getting-started/connect-seller-central).
2. **Load your history.** Nova fetches your past months in the background: 3 months on a trial, 2 years on a paid plan. See [History depth](/docs/your-data/history-depth).
3. **Read on a schedule.** Each source has its own cadence. Orders arrive about 20 seconds after the sale through Amazon's order notifications; fees and the orders report every hour; most other reports daily. See [Refresh times](/docs/your-data/refresh-times).
4. **Keep it as served.** Amazon's reports are stored as they arrive. Recent days are read again, because Amazon restates them: about 14 days for advertising and 60 days for sales and fees.
5. **Rebuild.** Each time orders and transactions land, Nova rebuilds its models: the P&L, advertising, inventory and product views. Amounts are converted into your currency at the rate of their marketplace day, and every day is counted in the marketplace's own time zone. See [Currencies](/docs/your-data/currencies) and [Time zones](/docs/your-data/time-zones).
6. **Serve.** The App, the MCP and Data Share read those rebuilt models.

## Where can you read your data?

| Surface | What it is | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| App | Dashboards, the P&L, PPC, inventory, listings | Everyone in your organization, within the workspaces they belong to |
| MCP | A server your AI assistant connects to, at `https://mcp.novadata.io/api/mcp` | Each member, with their own assistant and their own workspaces |
| Data Share | Read-only database access over MySQL, HTTPS or native ClickHouse | Your analysts and BI tools |

The App and the MCP answer from the same metric definitions, so a question asked in Claude and a figure read on a dashboard agree. Most Data Share tables refresh every hour, a few minutes after each rebuild, and they only hold your organization's rows.

## Does Nova change anything on Amazon?

No, with one exception. Nova reads. The only write is a listing edit, which stays off until Nova turns it on for your workspace, and which a workspace owner previews and confirms before it is sent. Nova never changes your prices, your stock levels or your campaigns.

## Worked example

A customer buys at 14:00 Pacific time in the US:

| When | What you see |
|---|---|
| About 20 seconds later | The order and its units in the App and the MCP, with the amount estimated from the SKU's latest price |
| About a minute later | The order in the Data Share table `orders_live` |
| Within the hour | The orders report confirms the amount; the models rebuild |
| A few minutes after the rebuild | The day's figures in the Data Share table `product_metrics` |
| When Amazon posts it | Fees and refunds, from the Finances API, in the P&L |

## Ask your AI

> Walk me through where yesterday's net profit for my US account comes from, source by source, and tell me which parts could still change.