Supply Chain (schain)
The supply chain (schain) object tells buyers which sellers and resellers are involved in offering your inventory, per the IAB OpenRTB SupplyChain spec. Anima carries the nodes you declare into every bid request.
Where it lives
Account mode → Setup → Supply Chain. Settings are scoped to a customer or a single domain (domain overrides customer), and apply on your next wrapper release.
Anima appends its own wrapper node automatically at runtime — you declare only your upstream nodes here.
Chain settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Include the supply-chain object in bid requests |
| Complete | Whether the chain lists every node from publisher to exchange (complete=1) |
| Version | Schain spec version string (default 1.0) |
| Wrapper Handles Payment | Whether payment flows through Anima's wrapper node (hp=1) |
Supply-chain nodes
Each node is one seller/reseller in the chain, in order. For each node:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ASI | Advertising system identifier — the seller's domain (e.g. exchange1.com) |
| SID | Your seller/reseller ID within that advertising system |
| Handles Payment (HP) | Whether payment flows through this node (1/0) |
| Name | The company name for this node (optional) |
| Domain | The business domain of this node (optional) |
The node's order in the chain is derived from its row position — arrange the rows top-to-bottom in sell-path order; there's no separate Order field to fill in. (There's no editable Request ID / RID field either.)
Add a node per direct seller relationship you want disclosed. Get the ASI/SID values from each seller — they're the same identifiers you'd put in your sellers.json / ads.txt relationships.
ads.txt and sellers.json
This is a common point of confusion, so to be clear about the boundary:
- Anima handles the schain object — the supply-chain nodes above are carried inside your bid requests at runtime.
- Anima does not generate or host your
ads.txtorsellers.jsonfiles. Those are files on your own domain (yourdomain.com/ads.txt) and in your exchanges'sellers.json. You maintain them yourself — Anima has no page that publishes them for you.
Your Seller ID
Anima generates a Seller ID for your account — one stable identifier that must match across all four places buyers check: your ads.txt account ID, your sellers.json seller_id, the SID on your schain nodes, and the OpenRTB publisher.id. It isn't shown on a self-service page today, so ask your onboarding specialist for your Anima Seller ID if you don't have it.
What to keep in your ads.txt
Maintain these manually on your domain:
- The lines each of your direct exchange/SSP relationships gives you (the exchange's domain, your account ID with them,
DIRECTorRESELLER, and the exchange's certification authority ID). - Any lines Anima's team provides for demand that runs through Anima's own seller account.
When you add or drop a demand partner, update ads.txt to match — a missing or stale entry can cause buyers to filter your inventory. If you're unsure which lines to include for Anima-brokered demand, ask your onboarding specialist for the current set.