Categories

Categories are hierarchical. A category is identified by its full root→leaf path slug (see Identifiers), e.g. integrated-circuits-ics/linear. These endpoints resolve names to canonical categories and let you walk the tree. Free — no match or part-record billing (abuse-tracked only).

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).

Try it

1{
2  "query": "op amp",
3  "limit": 5
4}

curl -X POST "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories/match" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "query": "op amp",
  "limit": 5
}'

Browse the tree

The same GET /v1/categories endpoint serves the tree two ways — one level at a time or the whole thing at once — controlled by two optional query parameters:

Both forms return a list of CategoryNodes — { slug, name, has_children, part_count }. has_children tells you whether a node can be drilled into; part_count is the subtree-inclusive part count.

1# Top-level (root) categories
2curl https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories \\
3  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR API KEY HERE>"
4
5# Direct children of one node
6curl "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories?parent=integrated-circuits-ics" \\
7  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR API KEY HERE>"
8
9# The entire taxonomy, flat, in one call
10curl "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories?all=true" \\
11  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR API KEY HERE>"

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}

Try it — one level at a time

Leave parent empty for the root categories, or set it to a category slug (e.g. integrated-circuits-ics) to list that node's direct children. Follow has_children to know which results you can expand next — this is the lazy way to walk the tree as a user clicks through it.

curl -X GET "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

Try it — the whole taxonomy

Prefer one flat call when you want the entire tree (e.g. to build a picker client-side). ?all=true returns all ~1,200 categories at once; each slug encodes its full path, so you can reconstruct the hierarchy without further requests. Use one-level browsing instead when you're drilling in interactively and don't need every node.

curl -X GET "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories?all=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

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).

Try it

The slug may span several segments — enter the full path (e.g. integrated-circuits-ics/linear):

curl -X GET "https://api.zenode.ai/v1/categories/integrated-circuits-ics/linear" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

Next

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