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Introduction

The Category Search endpoint enables you to explore and discover available product categories within a retailer’s hierarchical taxonomy structure. Product categories allow retailers to create a hierarchical structure that helps narrow down products into unique groups or subgroups based on shared characteristics. This endpoint provides the ability to see what categories are available to serve against a retailer’s inventory, making it an essential tool for understanding targeting options and campaign planning. Unlike recommendation endpoints, Category Search allows you to actively explore the retailer’s category structure through flexible search parameters. You can search for categories using category IDs to find specific categories and their relationships, or use text substring matching to discover categories by name. The endpoint supports pagination for large result sets, making it easy to browse through extensive category hierarchies efficiently. This functionality is particularly valuable for campaign setup, category discovery, and understanding the breadth of targeting options available within a retailer’s ecosystem.

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Endpoint

Method

Endpoint

Description

POST

/retailers/{retailerId}/categories/search

Searches for available categories within a retailer’s taxonomy

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Attributes table

Attribute

Data Type

Description

retailerId*

string

Unique identifier for the retailer.

Found using theGETretailer’s endpoint.

Required in URL path.

Writable? N / Nullable? N

categoryIds

array

Array of category ID strings for search filtering.

Must be positive integer strings.

Writable? Y / Nullable? Y

textSubstring

string

Text string to search for in category names.

Used for category name filtering.

Writable? Y / Nullable? Y

offset

integer

Pagination offset for search results.

Default:0.

Query parameter.

Writable? Y / Nullable? Y

limit

integer

Maximum number of results to return.

Default:500.

Query parameter.

Writable? Y / Nullable? Y

*Required

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Search Categories

This endpoint enables searching for available categories within a retailer’s hierarchical taxonomy structure. You can search by category IDs or text substring, with pagination support for large result sets. Results are paginated using offset and limit query parameters; if omitted, defaults to 0 and 500, respectively. Sample Request 
curl -L -X POST 'https://api.criteo.com/{version}/retail-media/retailers/12345/categories/search?offset=0&limit=50' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <MY_ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  -d '{
          "data": {
            "attributes": {
              "categoryIds": [
                "520020"
              ],
              "textSubstring": "headphones"
            },
            "type": "CategoriesSearchRequestV1"
          }
      }'
Sample Response 
{
    "metadata": {
        "count": 2,
        "offset": 0,
        "limit": 50
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "id": "673311",
            "type": "CategoryV1",
            "attributes": {
                "text": "Electronics|Audio|Headphones|Wireless",
                "name": "Wireless Headphones",
                "parentId": "683708"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "4830673",
            "type": "CategoryV1",
            "attributes": {
                "text": "Electronics|Audio|Headphones",
                "name": "Headphones",
                "parentId": "683706"
            }
        }
    ],
    "warnings": [],
    "errors": []
}

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Responses

Code

Meaning

Troubleshooting Hint

🟢 200

Success

Request processed successfully with pagination metadata

🔴 400

Bad Request

Check thatcategoryIdsare positive integer strings andretailerIdis valid in URL path

🔴 403

Forbidden

Verify authorization and retailer access permissions

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Common Error Scenarios

Invalid Category ID Format 
{
    "metadata": null,
    "data": null,
    "warnings": [],
    "errors": [
        {
            "type": "validation",
            "code": "InvalidCategoryId",
            "title": "Validation error",
            "detail": "Category ids can only be positive integer strings."
        }
    ]
}
Invalid Retailer ID 
{
    "warnings": [],
    "errors": [
        {
            "traceId": "954eab48899860c9b18880eb0018fd3f",
            "type": "validation",
            "code": "model-validation-error",
            "title": "Model validation error",
            "detail": "The value ':retailerId' is not valid."
        }
    ]
}