Categories

Categories are hierarchical. A category is identified by its full root→leaf path slug (see Identifiers), e.g. amplifiers/operational-amplifiers. These endpoints resolve names to canonical categories and let you walk the tree.

Match a category

Resolve a full or partial category name to canonical Zenode categories — useful for turning a free-text category into the path slug you pass to catalog search filters.

Request

1{
2  "query": "op amp",
3  "limit": 10
4}

Response

1{
2  "query": "op amp",
3  "results": [
4    {
5      "category": {
6        "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers",
7        "name": "Operational Amplifiers",
8        "path": [
9          {
10            "slug": "amplifiers",
11            "name": "Amplifiers"
12          },
13          {
14            "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers",
15            "name": "Operational Amplifiers"
16          }
17        ]
18      },
19      "confidence": 98
20    }
21  ],
22  "request_id": "req_3d90..."
23}

Each result is { category, confidence }, ranked best-first. The category is a CategoryRef (slug, name, path).

Browse the tree

A category's slug is its full path, so you navigate by walking the URL — the path mirrors the tree. Three forms:

Top-level (root) categories.

One category + its immediate children.

Every category, flat, in one call.

Start at the roots, then request a child by its slug to see its children — repeat to go as deep as you need:

1# Top-level categories
2curl https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories \
3-H "Authorization: Bearer zk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
4
5# The "amplifiers" node and its children
6curl https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories/amplifiers \
7-H "Authorization: Bearer zk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
8
9# Deeper — note the URL is just the category's path slug
10curl https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories/amplifiers/operational-amplifiers \
11-H "Authorization: Bearer zk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

The root list and the ?all=true list both return CategoryNodes:

1{
2  "categories": [
3    {
4      "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers",
5      "name": "Operational Amplifiers",
6      "has_children": true,
7      "part_count": 1284
8    },
9    {
10      "slug": "amplifiers/instrumentation-amplifiers",
11      "name": "Instrumentation Amplifiers",
12      "has_children": false,
13      "part_count": 212
14    }
15  ],
16  "request_id": "req_7a02..."
17}

Each CategoryNode is { slug, name, has_children, part_count } — has_children tells you whether a node can be expanded, and part_count is the number of parts in its subtree.

Category detail

The {slug} is the full path and may span several URL segments. Returns the Category object — slug, name, description, the path breadcrumb, and its immediate children (each a CategoryNode):

1{
2  "category": {
3    "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers",
4    "name": "Operational Amplifiers",
5    "description": "Amplifiers that amplify the voltage difference between two inputs …",
6    "path": [
7      {
8        "slug": "amplifiers",
9        "name": "Amplifiers"
10      },
11      {
12        "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers",
13        "name": "Operational Amplifiers"
14      }
15    ],
16    "children": [
17      {
18        "slug": "amplifiers/operational-amplifiers/precision",
19        "name": "Precision",
20        "has_children": false,
21        "part_count": 318
22      }
23    ]
24  },
25  "request_id": "req_4f51..."
26}

404Not Found not_found if the path matches no category. Inside part results, categories appear as the lighter CategoryRef (slug, name, path).

Next

• Manufacturers — the same pattern for manufacturers
• Part Catalog search — filter parts by category
• Identifiers — how category path slugs work