# Preparing your data

## Introduction

The Patchworks inbound API supports data within strings. This data must be passed within a `payload` key. 

## Required format

The required data format is a JSON object with a payload key containing a string of data. For example:

{% code lineNumbers="true" %}

```json
{
  "payload": "some data" | "<some-xml></>" | "{\"a-stringified-json-payload\": true}"
}
```

{% endcode %}

{% hint style="info" %}
Non-strings and raw payloads are not currently supported.
{% endhint %}

Here, note that the `payload` key is in a JSON object, and is being used to hold different types of data as strings - text, XML and JSON.