SFTP data schema and file requirements

This guide covers the data side of an SFTP integration — what to send, where to put it, and how it should be shaped. For SSH keys, connection setup, and portal workflows, see Connect via SFTP.

The four required objects

Every Daylit SFTP integration must send the four required objects below. They are the minimum needed for open AR, collections workflows, and customer-level reporting. Payment is optional — send it for per-payment-event tracking (see Payment).

Object	What it is	Example filename	Required
Customer	Companies or individuals you bill	`customers_*.csv`	✓
Customer Contact	AP, billing, and primary contacts	`contacts_*.csv`	✓
Invoice	Every invoice with embedded payment info (paid amount, paid-on date, balance, due date)	`invoices_*.csv`	✓
Credit Note	Refunds, returns, and applied or unapplied credits	`credit_notes_*.csv`	✓
Payment	Individual payment events — one row per invoice allocation	`payments_*.csv`	Optional

Daylit accepts additional objects beyond these four without breaking your integration.

File format

Setting	Value
Format	CSV
Encoding	UTF-8 (no BOM)
Delimiter (CSV)	Comma `,`
Quote character	Double quote `"`, escape by doubling: `""` (RFC 4180)
Line endings	`\n` (LF) or `\r\n` (CRLF)
Header row	Required on every file
Dates	`YYYY-MM-DD` (default). Other patterns (`MM-DD-YYYY`, `MM/DD/YYYY`, and more) are selectable per field in the mapping UI.
Datetimes	ISO 8601 UTC — `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ` (default). `MySQL TIMESTAMP`, `IBM SQL`, and other patterns are selectable per field; timezone-naive values are assumed UTC.
Decimals	Dot separator — `1234.56`. Currency symbols and thousands separators are stripped automatically; accounting-style negatives (`(1234.56)`) become `-1234.56`.
Booleans	`true`/`false`, `yes`/`no`, or `1`/`0`
Nulls	Empty string

Where to put files (SFTP paths)

After provisioning, your SFTP user sees top-level directories for each upload phase. Place files in the matching object subfolder within each phase.

Upload paths

Path	Purpose
`/test/`	Connectivity check — no business validation
`/sample/`	Small file (≤ 100 rows) to validate your mapping
`/init/`	Full snapshot of every record in an object
`/delta/`	Incremental updates since your last successful upload

Per-object directory structure

/test/customer/customers_test_2026-06-04.csv
/test/customer_contact/contacts_test_2026-06-04.csv
/test/invoice/invoices_test_2026-06-04.csv
/test/credit_note/credit_notes_test_2026-06-04.csv
/test/payment/payments_test_2026-06-04.csv

/sample/customer/customers_sample_2026-06-04.csv
/sample/customer_contact/contacts_sample_2026-06-04.csv
/sample/invoice/invoices_sample_2026-06-04.csv
/sample/credit_note/credit_notes_sample_2026-06-04.csv
/sample/payment/payments_sample_2026-06-04.csv

/init/customer/customers_init_2026-06-04.csv
/init/customer_contact/contacts_init_2026-06-04.csv
/init/invoice/invoices_init_2026-06-04.csv
/init/credit_note/credit_notes_init_2026-06-04.csv
/init/payment/payments_init_2026-06-04.csv

/delta/customer/customers_delta_2026-06-04T140000Z.csv
/delta/customer_contact/contacts_delta_2026-06-04T140000Z.csv
/delta/invoice/invoices_delta_2026-06-04T140000Z.csv
/delta/credit_note/credit_notes_delta_2026-06-04T140000Z.csv
/delta/payment/payments_delta_2026-06-04T140000Z.csv

Rules:

If a daily delta has nothing to send for an object, skip that object. Daylit won’t penalize an empty interval. Daylit warns if a normally active object goes silent for more than 1.5× its usual cadence.
Send one file per object per push. For large inits, use a single .csv.gz rather than splitting into parts.

Upload order for init

Push parents before children so foreign keys resolve immediately:

customer first
customer_contact (references Customer)
invoice (references Customer)
credit_note (references Customer)
payment (optional; references Invoice)

Daylit can accept files in any order and holds ingestion until referenced parents exist, but dependency order surfaces FK errors sooner.

Canonical schema per object

Every object has a canonical schema — the field names and types Daylit expects after your mapping is applied. You don’t rename columns in your source system; you map them in the portal on Settings -> SFTP connection. Schemas are versioned. Schemas below are v1.

Conventions used in every object

Field	Purpose
`remote_id`	The record’s identifier in your source system. Required on every row. Daylit upserts on this value.
`remote_updated_at`	ISO 8601 UTC timestamp of the last modification in your source system. Must increase monotonically per `remote_id`.
`*_remote_id`	Foreign key to another object’s `remote_id` (for example, `customer_remote_id` on an invoice).
`status`	Normalized lifecycle state. Allowed values are listed per object.

Customer

One row per customer. Daylit upserts on remote_id — a repeated remote_id updates the existing customer, a new one inserts. Upload to /init/customer/ and /delta/customer/. Customer is the parent record, so make sure to upload Customers before any other object.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`remote_id`	string	✓	Unique per customer in your source system
`customer_company_name`	string	✓	Legal/billing entity name
`remote_updated_at`	datetime	✓	Source-system last-modified timestamp. Drives incremental sync.
`address_line1`	string	optional
`address_line2`	string	optional
`address_city`	string	optional
`address_state`	string	optional	2-letter US state or ISO 3166-2 subdivision
`address_zipcode`	string	optional
`address_country`	string	optional	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (`US`, `GB`, `IN`). Can be set to a static value if all customers share one country.
`default_payment_terms`	string	optional	Net-N days, e.g. `30` for Net 30
`credit_limit`	decimal	optional

Customer Contact

One row per contact; a customer can have zero, one, or many. Daylit upserts on remote_id. Upload to /init/customer_contact/ and /delta/customer_contact/, after the customers they reference via customer_remote_id.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`remote_id`	string	✓	Unique per contact
`customer_remote_id`	string	✓	FK to `Customer.remote_id`
`email`	string	✓	Primary email for this contact
`first_name`	string	optional
`last_name`	string	optional
`phone`	string	optional	E.164 preferred
`title`	string	optional	Job title, e.g. Accounts Payable Manager
`department`	string	optional	e.g. Finance, Accounting
`is_primary`	boolean	optional	`true` if this is the customer’s main contact. Defaults to `false`.

If your source stores contacts as columns on the customer record (billing_email, billing_contact_name), you can emit a synthetic Contact row per customer using customer_remote_id + "_primary" as the contact’s remote_id, or put the email on the Customer record and skip Contacts. Contact Daylit if you’re unsure which fits your data shape.

Invoice

One row per invoice. Payment summary fields (paid_amount, paid_on_date, balance) are embedded on the invoice row, not sent as a separate object. Daylit upserts on remote_id. Upload to /init/invoice/ and /delta/invoice/, after the customers they reference via customer_remote_id.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`remote_id`	string	✓	Unique per invoice
`customer_remote_id`	string	✓	FK to `Customer.remote_id`
`remote_updated_at`	datetime (ISO 8601 UTC)	✓
`number`	string	✓	Human-readable invoice number
`issue_date`	date	✓	Date the invoice was issued
`due_date`	date	✓	Date the invoice is due
`total_amount`	decimal	✓	Grand total, including taxes and fees
`paid_amount`	decimal	✓	Cumulative amount paid. `0` if unpaid
`balance`	decimal	✓	Send explicitly — don’t make Daylit calculate it
`paid_on_date`	date	optional	Date the invoice was fully paid. Empty if not fully paid.
`currency`	string	✓	ISO 4217
`status`	enum	✓	See allowed values below
`memo`	string	optional

Allowed status values:

Value	Meaning
`DRAFT`	Not finalized or sent; excluded from AR totals
`SUBMITTED`	Issued to the customer; payment still expected
`OPEN`	Outstanding, amount still due
`PARTIALLY_PAID`	Some payment received, balance > 0
`PAID`	Fully paid, balance = 0
`VOID`	Cancelled or invalidated; excluded from AR totals

If your source system uses different status text (for example Fully Paid or Not Sent), map it to a canonical value in the portal mapping UI under the status field. Matching is case-insensitive.

Credit Note

One row per credit note — refunds, returns, and credit memos issued to customers. Daylit upserts on remote_id. Upload to /init/credit_note/ and /delta/credit_note/, after the customers they reference via customer_remote_id.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`remote_id`	string	✓	Unique per credit note
`customer_remote_id`	string	✓	FK to `Customer.remote_id`
`total_amount`	decimal	✓	Always positive — Daylit treats it as a credit
`remote_updated_at`	datetime	optional	Source-system last-modified timestamp
`number`	string	optional	Human-readable credit note number
`transaction_date`	date	optional	Date the credit note was issued
`status`	enum	optional	See below. Defaults to `SUBMITTED`.
`remaining_credit`	decimal	optional	Unapplied credit still available. `0` if fully applied.
`currency`	string	optional	ISO 4217. Defaults to `USD`.
`exchange_rate`	decimal	optional	Rate at issuance, if multicurrency
`inclusive_of_tax`	boolean	optional	`true` if `total_amount` includes tax. Defaults to `false`.
`memo`	string	optional

Allowed status values:

Value	Meaning
`SUBMITTED`	Issued but not yet approved or applied (default)
`AUTHORIZED`	Approved and available to apply against invoices
`PAID`	Fully applied; no remaining credit

If your source system uses different status text (for example Open or Applied), map it to a canonical value in the portal mapping UI under the status field.

Payment

Daylit ingests payments as one row per invoice allocation. A single payment applied across several invoices is sent as multiple rows that share the same remote_id, each pointing at a different invoice_remote_id with its own applied_amount. Upload to /init/payment/ and /delta/payment/, after the invoices they reference.

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`remote_id`	string	✓	Payment identifier. Repeated across rows when one payment covers multiple invoices.
`invoice_remote_id`	string	✓	FK to `Invoice.remote_id` — the invoice this row applies to
`total_amount`	decimal	✓	Total amount of the payment (the same value on every row for that payment)
`applied_amount`	decimal	optional	Portion of the payment applied to this invoice row. If omitted, the total amount is assumed to be applied to the linked invoice.
`transaction_date`	date	optional	Date the payment was received
`currency`	string	optional	ISO 4217. Defaults to `USD`.
`status`	string	optional	Source payment status, e.g. `completed`, `pending`
`payment_method`	string	optional	e.g. `ach`, `card`, `wire`, `check`
`transaction_id`	string	optional	Bank or processor reference
`notes`	string	optional	Free-form note
`remote_updated_at`	datetime	optional	Source-system last-modified timestamp

Sample CSV files

Example exports showing what each object looks like as a CSV — typical column names from a source system, not the canonical Daylit field names. Use them to understand the shape of each table, as a starting point for your own exports, or to map columns in Settings → SFTP connection. See the canonical schema above for the fields Daylit expects after mapping. For full sample data across all five objects, open the Sample CSV spreadsheet — one tab per object. Use File → Download in Google Sheets to export as CSV.

Customer, contact, invoice, credit note, and payment rows share the same IDs across these files (for example, CUST-900001 and INV-900001). Match that pattern in your exports so foreign keys line up between objects.

Customer — customers_sample.csv

customers_sample.csv

ERP_Customer_ID,Customer_Name,Last_Modified,Billing_Address1,Billing_Address2,Billing_City,Billing_State,Billing_Zip,default_payment_terms
CUST-900001,Sterling Enterprises 620,09-07-2024 3:01:47,4507 Cedar Dr,Suite 9035,Chicago,IL,60601,
CUST-900002,Quantum Enterprises 3711,05-24-2026 2:13:14,8280 Hill St,,Portland,OR,97201,NET 60
CUST-900003,Vertex Group 3627,03-21-2025 18:17:51,107 Sunset Blvd,,Austin,TX,78701,

Customer Contact — contacts_sample.csv

contacts_sample.csv

ERP_Contact_ID,ERP_Customer_ID,First_Name,Last_Name,Email,Phone,Title,Is_Primary
CONT-900001,CUST-900001,Tina,Nguyen,tina.nguyen0@sterlingenterprises620.com,(424) 851-4115,Billing Manager,TRUE
CONT-900002,CUST-900002,Elena,Davis,elena.davis0@quantumenterprises3711.com,(842) 861-1645,AP Manager,TRUE
CONT-900003,CUST-900003,Elena,Chen,elena.chen0@vertexgroup3627.com,(502) 534-7807,Accounts Payable Specialist,TRUE

Invoice — invoices_sample.csv

invoices_sample.csv

ERP_Invoice_Number,Customer_Account_ID,Updated_At,Invoice_Number,Date_Billed,Due_Date,Paid_On,Grand_Total_USD,Paid_Total_USD,Open_Balance_USD,Merge_Status
INV-900001,CUST-900001,10-03-2024 17:05:32,IN-900001,08-23-2024,10-07-2024,11-06-2024,1730.31,1730.31,0,PAID
INV-900002,CUST-900002,01-07-2026 19:46:57,IN-900002,12-19-2025,01-18-2026,03-02-2026,1636.33,1636.33,0,PAID
INV-900003,CUST-900003,06-14-2026 1:41:49,IN-900003,04-13-2026,04-28-2026,05-10-2026,1561.97,1561.97,0,PAID

Credit Note — credit_notes_sample.csv

credit_notes_sample.csv

ERP_Credit_Note_ID,ERP_Customer_ID,Credit_Note_Number,Transaction_Date,Status,Total_Amount,Remaining_Credit,Exchange_Rate,Inclusive_Of_Tax,Memo,Updated_At
CN-900001,CUST-900001,CR-900001,06-27-2025,SUBMITTED,518.29,518.29,1,FALSE,Promotional credit,12-09-2025 0:18:26
CN-900002,CUST-900002,CR-900002,09-19-2025,SUBMITTED,232.16,232.16,1,FALSE,Service credit,10-01-2025 5:43:24
CN-900003,CUST-900003,CR-900003,01-06-2025,AUTHORIZED,371.7,50.41,1,FALSE,Returned goods credit,01-26-2026 2:10:27

Payment — payments_sample.csv

payments_sample.csv

ERP_Payment_ID,Payment_Total_USD,Updated_At,Invoice_ID,Applied_Amount,Payment_Date,Payment_Status,Payment_Method,Payment_Reference,Notes
PAY-900001,1730.31,12-26-2025 7:37:20,INV-900001,1730.31,11-06-2024,processing,Wire,REF-PAY-900001,Batch settlement
PAY-900002,1636.33,06-21-2026 22:44:22,INV-900002,1636.33,03-02-2026,processing,Wire Transfer,REF-PAY-900002,Customer payment
PAY-900003,1561.97,05-19-2026 6:53:51,INV-900003,1561.97,05-10-2026,pending,Wire Transfer,REF-PAY-900003,Partial payment

Foreign keys and object relationships

Rules:

CustomerContact.customer_remote_id must match an existing Customer.remote_id.
Invoice.customer_remote_id must match an existing Customer.remote_id.
CreditNote.customer_remote_id must match an existing Customer.remote_id.
Payment.invoice_remote_id must match an existing Invoice.remote_id.
Foreign keys resolve at the end of each batch. If a child file arrives before its parent, Daylit holds it for up to 24 hours, then quarantines it with an FK-unresolved error.

Validation rules summary

A file passes validation when all of the following hold: Structure

Path is /{phase}/{object}/{filename} with recognized phase and object values.
Filename matches {object}_{phase}_{date}.
File parses cleanly: correct encoding, header row present, no truncated rows.

Per row

Every required field is non-empty.
Every cell satisfies its declared type.
remote_id is non-empty.

Per file

remote_id is unique within the file.
For init: row count is between 1 and 10× the largest sample ever sent for this object.
For delta: remote_updated_at per remote_id is monotonically increasing.

Cross-file (init/delta)

Every *_remote_id foreign key resolves to a known parent record.

If validation fails, the file is quarantined with a failure report listing the first 10 failing rows and the reason for each. Fix and re-upload — no penalty.

Worked example: ACME Corporation’s first init

ACME Corporation exports all five objects and uploads in order:

sftp daylit
sftp> put customers_init_2026-06-04.csv      /init/customer/
sftp> put contacts_init_2026-06-04.csv       /init/customer_contact/
sftp> put invoices_init_2026-06-04.csv       /init/invoice/
sftp> put credit_notes_init_2026-06-04.csv   /init/credit_note/
sftp> put payments_init_2026-06-04.csv       /init/payment/
sftp> bye

Within a few minutes the portal shows:

✓ Customer         init    1,842 rows ingested
✓ Customer Contact init    2,114 rows ingested
✓ Invoice          init   18,422 rows ingested
✓ Credit Note      init      211 rows ingested
✓ Payment          init    4,037 rows ingested

From this point, ACME’s cron uploads hourly deltas to /delta/{object}/ and Daylit stays current.

Need help?

Portal in-app chat — bottom-right on every page.
Email: support@daylit.com. Include your workspace name and the filename you’re asking about.
Status page: status.daylit.com for any active incidents.

​The four required objects

​File format

​Where to put files (SFTP paths)

​Upload paths

​Per-object directory structure

​Upload order for init

​Canonical schema per object

​Conventions used in every object

​Customer

​Customer Contact

​Invoice

​Credit Note

​Payment

​Sample CSV files

​Foreign keys and object relationships

​Validation rules summary

​Worked example: ACME Corporation’s first init

​Need help?

The four required objects

File format

Where to put files (SFTP paths)

Upload paths

Per-object directory structure

Upload order for init

Canonical schema per object

Conventions used in every object

Customer

Customer Contact

Invoice

Credit Note

Payment

Sample CSV files

Foreign keys and object relationships

Validation rules summary

Worked example: ACME Corporation’s first init

Need help?