> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.prequel.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Prequel Export works

> Connect a source, declare what is shared, and Prequel syncs it to each customer's destination on a schedule.

Prequel Export moves data from a database, warehouse, or object store you control into your customers' own data stores, on a schedule, filtered to each customer's rows. You configure it once through the API or Admin UI, and Prequel handles extraction, type mapping, change detection, and delivery across vendors and connection types.

<Frame>
  ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/prequel_docs/images/prequel-illustrative-setup-steps.png)
</Frame>

## The building blocks

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Source" icon="database" href="/export/concepts/sources">
    The database, warehouse, or object store Prequel reads from.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Model" icon="table" href="/export/concepts/models">
    Declares which source table and columns are shared, how rows are filtered per tenant, and how changes are detected.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Recipient" icon="users" href="/export/concepts/recipients">
    One of your customers. Their rows are matched by a tenant identifier so they only receive their own data.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Destination" icon="bullseye-arrow" href="/export/concepts/destinations">
    Where a recipient receives their data. Owned by the recipient.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

[Models](/export/concepts/models) can be grouped into [products](/export/concepts/products) to control which subset of data each recipient receives.

## How a transfer works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect a source">
    Prequel connects directly to your source and reads only the tables your models reference.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Declare your models">
    Each model maps a source table to destination columns, with one column flagged as the primary key and one as the last-modified timestamp for change detection.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Onboard recipients and destinations">
    Add a recipient for each customer and connect the destination they receive data into. The recipient's tenant identifier scopes every transfer to that customer's rows.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Prequel syncs on a schedule">
    The first transfer runs a full refresh; subsequent [transfers](/export/concepts/transfers) sync only changed rows on the configured [frequency](/export/features/orchestration), with [schema evolution](/export/features/schema-evolution) and [data integrity checks](/export/features/data-integrity-checks) handled automatically.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Ready to build a pipeline end to end? Start with the [Quickstart guide](/export/getting-started/quickstart).