Hardware & tools: five attributes held in a single reference
An M8x20 screw and an M8x25 screw have nothing in common for your customer. They look nearly identical to a generalist search engine.
Two references, one character apart
Your references encode dimension, material, standard, and head type into one compact string: “M8 x 20 - Stainless A2, DIN 933” (the detail of each attribute). For a text-matching engine, “M8x20” and “M8x25” are nearly identical — two products no one confuses on the shop floor. The error doesn't show up in your search stats: it shows up as a return.
Dimensions, material and standard isolated
The outillage rule pack activates when you pick this industry, at indexing time. It produces these annotations, each becoming a usable filter:
| Annotation | What it isolates |
|---|---|
DIAM_M8 | the metric diameter, isolated from the rest of the reference |
LONG_20 | the length, whatever the separator: x, ×, * or a hyphen |
MAT_INOX | the material, by name or by its A2 and A4 codes |
TETE_HEX | the head type, workshop abbreviations included — TH, TF, CHC, BTR |
NORME_DIN933 | the DIN or ISO standard, with or without a space |
On top of those: the family — screw, nut, washer, bolt, stud, wall plug — and the strength class, from 4.6 to 12.9. Those six families are recognized in six languages: a Spanish tornillo and a German schraube land in the same filter as the French vis. Two annotations then compose themselves: VIS_M8X20 puts diameter and length back together as one reference, DIAM_M8_INOX crosses diameter with material — the pair a buyer asks for at the counter.
Three real references, broken down
| Indexed reference | What the engine extracts |
|---|---|
| M8 x 20 - Stainless A2 | DIAM_M8 · LONG_20 · MAT_INOX · FAM_VIS |
| Screw TF DIN 7991 M6x30 zinc-plated | DIAM_M6 · LONG_30 · NORME_DIN7991 · TETE_FRAISEE |
| Hex nut M10 brass | DIAM_M10 · MAT_LAITON · TETE_HEX · FAM_ECROU |
Three spellings, one single product
A customer types “screw m8 20 stainless” with no hyphen or “x”. Another types “M8X20” in solid capitals. A third searches “DIN933” with no space. All three mean the same product — and an unprepared engine returns three different results, or none at all.
Recognized from the first import
The hardware pack recognizes these variants from the very first import, with no configuration on your part. A generalist engine would require you to write and maintain this logic yourself, product line after product line.
A term specific to your catalog that the pack still misses (a non-standard supplier reference, for example)? Add your own Custom Rule from the console, simply describing what it should recognize — no regex required.
Index your tools catalog
The getting started guide covers the full setup, from sign-up to your first indexed catalog. The documentation details every endpoint.
Watch the breakdown happen. The table above is the engine's output, not hand-written. The same mechanism runs on the home page, with no signup — and on that very catalog: 2,821 hardware and fastener references (measured 1 September 2026). Try “M8x20 inox” and read what the engine pulled out of it.
Open the live engine →