Overview
A Channel in Luminous is a named integration configuration that connects your account to an external sales platform, order management system (OMS), or warehouse. Channels are where you define:
- Where orders come from (e.g., your Shopify store)
- Where fulfillment orders are sent (e.g., a third-party warehouse/3PL)
- Whether inventory levels are pushed back to your sales platform
- And much more, depending on the channel type
You can view and manage all your channels by navigating to Manage → Channels in the main menu.
Channel Types
Every channel has one of three types, which determines what it can do:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Sales Channel | Pulls orders in from an external sales platform (e.g., Shopify). Pushes fulfillment updates (tracking, shipping status) back to that platform. Does not route orders to a warehouse. |
| Fulfillment Channel | Pushes fulfillment orders outward to a warehouse or 3PL. Does not pull orders from an external sales source directly. |
| End to End Channel | Combines both: pulls orders from a source platform and pushes them to a warehouse/3PL destination. |
Supported Platforms
Channels can connect to the following external platforms (store types):
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Amazon
- Api2Cart
- HubSpot
- Ecart API
- Trackstar
Key Channel Settings
When you create or edit a channel, you can configure the following capabilities:
Pull Orders from Source
Enable this to have Luminous automatically import orders from your connected sales platform. You can also set order filters to control which orders are imported (e.g., filter by tags or order attributes).
Push Orders to Destination
Enable this to have Luminous automatically send fulfillment orders to a connected warehouse or 3PL. You can configure:
- The destination integration account and store
- Auto-push behavior (immediately, on a wave schedule, or pick-n-pack)
- Custom field mappings to pass additional data to the destination
Push Stock to Platform
Push your real-time inventory levels from Luminous back to the connected sales platform. You can configure:
- Which inventory location to push from
- Whether to include incoming stock as sellable
- A scheduled push (daily at set times, or hourly) to keep stock levels in sync automatically
- The formula for how sellable quantity is calculated (e.g., add/subtract specific quantity fields)
Push Costs to Platform
Push unit cost data to the connected platform alongside stock information.
Auto-Create Invoices
Automatically generate an invoice in Luminous whenever an order arrives through this channel. You can choose the invoice type and when the invoice should be created (e.g., when the order is received, when the first shipment is created).
Dropship Mode (Fulfillment Channels)
Mark a fulfillment channel as a dropship channel. This lets you link a supplier and automatically create purchase orders so the supplier ships directly to the end customer.
Warehouse Group
For Fulfillment and End-to-End channels, you assign a Warehouse Group so Luminous knows which warehouse(s) can fulfill orders from this channel.
Order Filters
Apply rules to limit which incoming orders are pulled into Luminous (e.g., only orders with a specific tag or source).
Custom Field Mapping
Map custom fields from the external platform to Luminous order fields (incoming), or map Luminous fields to custom fields in the destination system (outgoing).
Default Business Account
Pin all orders from this channel to a specific CRM company (Business Account). Useful for EDI or B2B channels where orders won't always contain a customer email for automatic matching.
Restriction Rules
Define eligibility rules that control when this channel is available for fulfillment routing.
Channel Product Mapping
In addition to the channel settings above, you can manage Channel Product Mapping — a dedicated screen (opened with the Product Mapping button at the top of the Channels page) that lets you map external SKUs from the connected platform to your internal Luminous SKUs. This is important when the SKU codes used in your sales platform differ from the ones in Luminous.
Creating or Editing a Channel
- Go to Manage → Channels in the main navigation.
- Click Create to set up a new channel, or click an existing channel to Edit it.
- Give the channel a Channel Label (and optionally a description).
- Select the Channel Type (Sales, Fulfillment, or End to End).
- Configure the relevant settings for your use case (see sections above).
- Click Save.
Tip: If you have an existing channel with similar settings, you can use the Prepopulate from channel option when creating a new channel to copy the configuration as a starting point.
Enabling and Disabling a Channel
From the Channels list, you can toggle a channel's Active switch on or off without deleting it. Disabling a channel stops it from pulling orders or pushing data until it is re-enabled.