Three different times
source_updated_at is when Utah DABS says its data changed. It remains null when the source does not provide that information.retrieved_at is when Nektir successfully observed the upstream response.published_at is when the validated observation became visible through the API.
A recent retrieval does not prove that the source data was recently updated. An unchanged response does not establish the upstream refresh cadence.
Retrieval policy
When a response says an observation is within policy, that policy concerns the age of our successful retrieval—not the unknown age of Utah DABS data. Policy identifiers and maximum ages are published in /v1/meta.
Coverage
Inventory-scoped responses include the exact candidate-product and reviewed-store denominator used for coverage. Inspect:
expected_pair_countreported_positive_pair_countreported_zero_pair_countrow_absent_pair_countunchecked_pair_countretrieved_at_min and retrieved_at_max
Sequential collection naturally produces mixed observation times. A store or radius response can therefore be useful and still have partial coverage.
When coverage is partial or none, an empty filtered result does not mean that no matching stock exists.
