What Is the Symlink Stork Extension?#

Symlink Stork is an extension for securely sharing and managing access to data feeds. It acts as an intermediary that creates one or more new unique URLs — known as symlinks — for an original existing file URL. You can then share the created symlinks with your partners and control who has access to them.

The main purpose is to have control over who accesses your data and to be able to revoke access for any specific party at any time, without affecting other parties who also need access to the same data.

The extension supports common data file formats such as XML, CSV, or ZIP. It is not primarily intended for HTML pages, where CSS styles and graphics might fail to load correctly.

The extension is ideal for:

  • Wholesalers who supply product data to many retailers.
  • Affiliate marketing, where there is a risk of feeds being misused by competitors or former partners.
  • Marketing specialists who manage connections between online stores and various advertising and external systems.

Pricing and billing#

The extension is priced at:

  • EUR 11 per month with monthly billing,
  • EUR 8.80 per month with annual billing.

The price is set for one online store (in Mergado) and is fixed, regardless of the number of symlinks created within that online store.

Due to technical dependencies, the extension is billed in line with the billing frequency selected in Mergado Editor. Different billing frequencies cannot be chosen for individual services.

The Symlink Stork extension comes with a 30-day free trial.

Symlink Stork can be used without a paid project in Mergado. However, you need to create a Mergado account for user authorisation and billing, and an online store for managing user access. Both can be created in Mergado free of charge, without a paid project.

  • Symlink — A new, unique, and hard-to-guess URL created for a file at its original address.
  • Persona — A named identity for a symlink “visitor” (system or user) that the extension recognises based on IP address and User Agent.
  • User Agent — A designation for the software accessing the link (e.g. a specific browser or bot).
  • A Mergado Editor account with an online store created within it.
  • An existing data file available at a public URL (e.g. an output feed from Mergado, but it can also be a file from any other system).

Technical information#

Symlink Stork downloads data from the original URL on its own servers and passes the result to the symlink. If your original file is protected by an IP address whitelist, you need to add the IP address 178.238.44.138 — the address from which Symlink Stork accesses the file — to the whitelist.

When downloading, the extension identifies itself with the User Agent SymlinkStorkBot/1.0 (+https://store.mergado.com/detail/symlinkstork/). You will see this string in the server logs of the original file. This is not external access — it is the extension itself loading the data and passing it to the created symlink.

Main features#

Symlink Stork allows you to create an unlimited number of new, unique URLs — known as symlinks — for a single original URL. Each of your partners (e.g. a retailer, affiliate network, or advertising platform) can receive their own unique address. They will download the same data as from the original source, but will not learn the actual (original) address. This protects your internal data from being exposed and misused.

Symlink management gives you full control over data distribution, which ordinary online store systems do not offer.

  • Deleting or temporarily deactivating a symlink — If you end a partnership, you can delete or temporarily deactivate that partner’s specific symlink without affecting other partners who have their own symlinks.

  • Advanced access control for each symlink — Directly in each symlink’s detail, you define its security mode. You can set it so that only an approved persona or personas can access the data from a specific link, or conversely block access for specific unwanted personas. Access can additionally be secured with a password that the downloading system must provide.

For any created symlink, you can change the original source URL at any time, while the partner retains the same working symlink.

Example use case: You have a symlink created for a partner. You decide to start sending them a different product range or data from a different system. You swap the original URL for a new one in that symlink, but the partner keeps the same working link — they do not need to change anything on their end.

4. Identifying access via personas#

The ability to identify and name specific partners, bots (e.g. Googlebot), or accesses from your own office. Identification is based on IP address and User Agent.

5. Tracking download history#

Symlink Stork automatically records the history of all accesses to your unique links, giving you instant insight into who downloaded your data, when, and how often. Each record also shows whether access was granted or blocked by the system.

This feature serves as a key analytical and diagnostic tool — it allows you to, for example, identify technical errors on the partner’s side (they are failing to download your data) or identify and subsequently block access by suspicious systems (you create a persona for the system and deny it access).

In affiliate marketing, advertising networks provide publishers with the URL of your data feed. The key risk is that virtually anyone can become a publisher, including your direct competitor.

If an advertiser shares a direct link to their feed (e.g. in the form of myshop.com/heureka.xml), they expose themselves to these threats:

  • Uncontrolled data mining — A competitor can note down the feed address and continue downloading and analysing your data (pricing, product range, parameters) even after you remove the feed from the affiliate network’s catalogue.
  • Easy data misuse — Data from a feed is far easier to process than automated web crawling.
  • Inability to selectively block — Without a symlink, you cannot terminate access for one specific partner without changing the address for all others.

Symlink Stork solves this by letting you create a unique symlink for each affiliate network or partner. If you end the partnership or discover data misuse, simply delete the specific link and access is immediately and permanently revoked, while other partners can continue downloading data.

Activate the extension in Mergado Store: I want to activate → select the online store for which you want to enable the extension → Activate.

In the Symlink Stork interface, you will see three main sections in the menu: Links, History, Personas.

The Links section is the main workspace of the Symlink Stork extension, where all management of your data distribution takes place. This section shows a list of all created active and inactive symlinks. The following information is displayed for each link:

  • Name — Your internal label for easy navigation.
  • Original address — The URL of the source file from which data is pulled.
  • New address — The generated symlink you share with partners.
  • Access status — An icon indicating the current access setting. A green dot for open access (“everyone except”) or a padlock for access restricted to specific personas (“no one except”).
  • Last visit — The date and time the symlink was last used to download data.

Directly from this list, you can perform further actions on links using icons:

  • Edit (pencil icon) — Allows you to change the access settings, name, or source URL.
  • Deactivate/Activate — You can temporarily disable a link without deleting it.
  • Duplicate — Useful for quickly creating multiple similar symlinks with the same source but different persona settings.
  • Delete — Permanently removes the link. After deletion, the URL immediately stops working for the partner. This action is irreversible.
  1. In the Links tab, click the Create new link button.
  2. Enter a Name — Name the link so you can immediately tell who it is for (e.g. “XML feed for partner ABC”).
  3. Enter the Original address — Paste the URL of the source file into the field (e.g. the address of an output feed from your project in Mergado, or from any other system).
  4. Define the New address — Specify the final part of the link. For maximum security and unpredictability, we recommend creating your own naming convention — for example, a combination of the partner’s name and a random “secret” key (e.g. /partner_xy-f5t8z2). The exact format is up to you; you can also use a period.
  5. Add a Note (optional) — You can add supplementary information for your own reference.
  6. Set access restrictions — In the right part of the form, choose one of two persona-based security modes: a. Everyone except the listed personas has access to the symlink — Works as a blacklist, blocking access for specific personas you select and tick in the field below. b. No one except the listed personas has access — Works as a whitelist, granting access only to specific personas you select and tick in the field below.
  7. Password protection (optional) — You can additionally require a password in the “Restrict access with password” field.
  8. Click the Save link button to activate the symlink and make it ready to send to your partner.

After saving, the new symlink appears in the list, from where you can copy its new URL. Once the partner accesses this link for the first time, you will see this entry in the History section.

History#

The History section in Symlink Stork is used for detailed tracking of all accesses to the created symlinks. It serves as a key analytical and diagnostic tool that gives you an overview of what is happening with your shared data.

For each access attempt to a unique link, Symlink Stork records the following key data:

  • Who — Shows the IP address and User Agent (software or browser designation) of the visitor. If the given IP address or User Agent is already assigned to a specific persona, you will see its name in the overview.
  • When — The date and exact time of the data download or download attempt.
  • Access status — Symlink Stork distinguishes between granted and denied access to the link. Blocked download attempts are marked with a red dot; successful downloads are marked with a green dot.

For better clarity — especially if you manage a large number of links — the extension allows you to filter history records for one specific symlink.

Practical uses of History in real situations

You can use information from the history for, among other things:

  • Resolving technical disputes and issues — If a partner (e.g. a retailer) claims they do not have up-to-date product data, you can easily check in the history when their system last actually downloaded the file. If the last download was a month ago, the problem clearly lies with the partner’s automation, not the symlink itself.
  • Data protection — History allows you to detect suspicious systems or unknown IP addresses accessing your feeds. You can then simply create personas for these systems and deny them access.
  • Download analytics — Allows you to monitor how often and at what times your data is being downloaded.

Creating a persona directly from History

If you see an unnamed access in the list that you want to identify, simply click the pencil icon (edit) on that row. The extension will allow you to create and name a new persona directly from that specific “fingerprint” (IP address and User Agent).

If you open a specific symlink yourself in a browser, you will also see your own “fingerprint” in the history.

⚠️ History is tied to the active state of the extension. If you turn Symlink Stork off, the entire history and all created symlinks will be immediately and permanently deleted.

Personas#

The Personas section in Symlink Stork is used to identify and name specific users or automated systems (bots) that access your data (symlinks). Personas allow you to turn anonymous accesses from the history into a comprehensible overview of specific parties, such as business partners, bots, or your own employees. You can then grant or deny access to the created symlinks for selected personas.

What are Personas?#

A persona is a user-defined identity representing either software controlled by a person (e.g. a web browser) or a system running independently on a server (e.g. a partner’s online store system, warehouse management system, or bots like Googlebot). Assigning a specific name gives you better control over the security and analytics of your data.

How to create a persona?

There are two ways to add a new persona to the system:

  • On the Personas tab by clicking the Create persona button and filling in the identification details.
  • On the History tab by clicking the pencil icon on a specific row in the access history. In this case, the extension automatically pre-fills the detected IP address and User Agent — you just add the name.

Persona identification parameters

For correct persona recognition, Symlink Stork uses two technical parameters:

  • IP address — The extension supports the IPv4 standard. IP-based identification is reliable for parties with a fixed (static) address, such as corporate networks or data centres.
  • User Agent — A text string by which the software identifies itself during communication (e.g. the designation of a specific bot or browser).

When setting up, you can provide just one of the parameters, or both simultaneously. If you fill in both, both conditions must be met simultaneously for the persona to be recognised. The extension requires an exact match — it does not support IP address ranges or partial text matching in the User Agent.

Prioritisation of access assignment to personas

If a single access matches the settings of multiple personas simultaneously, Symlink Stork identifies them according to the following priority:

  1. Both IP address and User Agent match.
  2. Only IP address matches.
  3. Only User Agent matches.

Practical use of personas

The created personas are a prerequisite for the extension’s advanced features:

  • Access control (Whitelist/Blacklist) — For each link, you can set whether all personas except selected ones have access (e.g. blocking specific bots), or whether no one except selected approved personas has access.
  • Internal analytics — By naming a persona “Office” or “Home”, you can distinguish your own test accesses from partner data downloads.
  • Bot identification — Using the User Agent, you can recognise and name automated systems (e.g. Googlebot, Seznambot) and monitor their activity.
  • Diagnostics for partners — If a partner has a problem with outdated data, you can easily check in the history under their name (persona) when they last actually downloaded the data.

Tip: If you need to find out your own IP address to create a persona, simply visit your symlink in a browser. You will then see your current “fingerprint” in the History section, which you can convert to a persona with a single click.

FAQ#

Symlink Stork is a Mergado Editor extension that allows you to securely share data feeds with business partners. Instead of giving partners a direct link to your file, you create a unique address (symlink) for each of them. Partners download the same data that is at the original address, but you can revoke any specific partner’s access at any time without affecting the others.

When you share a direct link, you have no control over who accesses your data or for how long. Anyone can save the feed address and continue downloading data even after you end the partnership. Symlink Stork solves this — each partner has their own address, which you can deactivate or delete at any time, and the original address of your file remains hidden.

No. Symlink Stork can be used without a paid project in Mergado. You just need a free Mergado account with an online store created within it, which is used for access management and billing.

No. The extension works with any file available at a public URL, regardless of where the file comes from. It can be an output feed from Mergado, but also a file from your online store system, warehouse management system, or any other source.

The extension supports common data formats — XML, CSV, ZIP, and generally any file with its own URL. It is not primarily intended for HTML pages, where CSS styles or graphics might fail to load correctly.

The price is 286 CZK per month with monthly billing, or 228.80 CZK per month with annual billing. The price is fixed for one online store in Mergado, regardless of the number of symlinks created.

Yes. The extension comes with a 30-day free trial during which you have access to all features. If you turn off the extension during this period, you pay nothing.

An unlimited number. From one original URL you can create any number of unique symlinks — each for a different partner or purpose.

Will the partner find out what the original address of my file is?#

No. You only share the symlink with the partner. They download data via the Symlink Stork server, which hides the original address. The partner cannot find out the original address from the symlink.

Yes. For each symlink, you can change the name, note, access settings, or original source URL at any time.

Can I change the source file without sending the partner a new address?#

Yes. For an existing symlink, simply swap the original address for a new one in the edit settings. The partner’s symlink will continue to work.

Immediately. As soon as you delete or deactivate a symlink, the URL stops working for the partner without any delay.

Deactivation is temporary — the symlink and its settings remain saved and can be reactivated at any time. Deletion is permanent — the symlink and its URL are gone forever. If you are unsure whether you will need the symlink again, choose deactivation.

What is a persona?#

A persona is a named identity for an accessing system or user. The extension recognises it based on IP address, User Agent, or both parameters simultaneously. Thanks to personas, you see recognisable names in the access history (e.g. “Partner ABC”, “Office”) instead of anonymous IP addresses, and you can grant or deny access to selected symlinks for individual personas.

Identification is based on IP address and/or User Agent. An exact match is always required — the extension does not support IP address ranges or partial text matching in the User Agent. If a single access matches multiple personas, the following priority applies: first, both IP and User Agent match; then, only IP matches; finally, only User Agent matches.

Yes. For each symlink, you can restrict access using personas. First, name the partner as a persona and define their IP address or User Agent. Then set the symlink to “no one except the listed personas has access” mode and select their persona. From that point on, only this partner will be able to successfully download the data — all other accesses will be blocked. Alternatively, you can set the opposite mode — “everyone except specific selected personas has access” — which is useful for blocking unwanted bots or former partners.

Can I assign only an IP address to a persona without a User Agent?#

Yes. When creating a persona, it is sufficient to fill in just one of the parameters. If you fill in only the IP address, the persona will cover all accesses from that location regardless of what software is accessing it.

What can I find out from the history?#

For each access to a symlink, Symlink Stork records the IP address and User Agent of the accessing system, the date and time of access, and the result — whether access was granted (green dot) or blocked (red dot). If the accessing system is assigned to a persona, its name is displayed instead of anonymous data.

A partner says they do not have up-to-date data. How do I verify this?#

In the History section, filter the records for that partner’s symlink. You will see the exact date and time of the last download. If the last successful access was several days or weeks ago, the problem most likely lies with the partner’s automation, not the symlink itself.

The extension accesses the original URL from IP address 178.238.44.138. If your original file is protected by an IP address whitelist, you need to add this address to the whitelist, otherwise Symlink Stork will not be able to load the data.

When downloading data from the original URL, the extension identifies itself with the User Agent SymlinkStorkBot/1.0 (+https://store.mergado.com/detail/symlinkstork/). If you see this string in your server logs, it is standard behaviour of the extension, not external access.

All created symlinks and the entire history are immediately and permanently deleted. Partners’ addresses stop working immediately. When you turn the extension back on, it will be empty and everything needs to be set up from scratch.

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