--- title: Category slug: rainforestapi/product-data-api/parameters/category docTags: createdAt: 2024-07-30T12:48:41.128Z --- # Category Parameters `GET` `/request` The Category Parameters are applicable when making a request with `type=category` to retrieve category results for an Amazon category. Categories can be specified either via passing an Amazon category URL in to the `url` parameter, or by passing a Category ID in to the `category_id` (where the `category_id` is returned from the [Categories API](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/categories-api/overview)) and an Amazon domain in to the `amazon_domain` parameter. The parameters should be appended as querystring parameters to the Product Data API `GET` HTTP request. Category results are retrieved from the [category listing page](https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011\&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052) on Amazon. ![](https://apiimages.imgix.net/rainforestapi/images/png/docs/category.png?auto=format\&ixlib=react-9.5.1-beta.1\&w=600 "Category Listing Page") For example, to request category results for [this category URL](https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011\&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052), the request would be: :::CodeblockTabs HTTP ```HTTP https://api.rainforestapi.com/request?api_key=demo&type=category&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fbbn%3D16225009011%26rh%3Dn%253A%252116225009011%252Cn%253A502394%252Cn%253A281052 ``` ```curl curl -L --get https://api.rainforestapi.com/request \ -d api_key="demo" \ -d type="category" \ -d url="https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052" ``` ```nodejs const axios = require('axios'); // set up the request parameters const params = { api_key: "demo", type: "category", url: "https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052" } // make the http GET request to Rainforest API axios.get('https://api.rainforestapi.com/request', { params }) .then(response => { // print the JSON response from Rainforest API console.log(JSON.stringify(response.data, 0, 2)); }).catch(error => { // catch and print the error console.log(error); }) ``` ```python import requests import json # set up the request parameters params = { 'api_key': 'demo', 'type': 'category', 'url': 'https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052' } # make the http GET request to Rainforest API api_result = requests.get('https://api.rainforestapi.com/request', params) # print the JSON response from Rainforest API print(json.dumps(api_result.json())) ``` ```php 'demo', 'type' => 'category', 'url' => 'https://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=16225009011&rh=n%3A%2116225009011%2Cn%3A502394%2Cn%3A281052' ]); # make the http GET request to Rainforest API $ch = curl_init(sprintf('%s?%s', 'https://api.rainforestapi.com/request', $queryString)); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true); # the following options are required if you're using an outdated OpenSSL version # more details: https://www.openssl.org/blog/blog/2021/09/13/LetsEncryptRootCertExpire/ curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, false); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 180); $api_result = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); # print the JSON response from Rainforest API echo $api_result; ?> ``` ::: *** ### Category Parameters The following parameters are available for all requests made when `type=category` . | *`Parameter`* | *`Required`* | *`Description`* | | ----------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | *`category_id`* | *`optional`* | A category ID to retrieve results from. You may supply any arbitary value in the `category_id` parameter however we recommend using a category ID returned from the [Categories API ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/categories-api/overview)as these are known-good category IDs from Amazon.
Rainforest will use the `category_id` in the following form: `https://amazon_domain /s?node= category_id`.
**Note** that pagination for **top-level** categories is not supported by the Amazon sites. If you wish to iterate the contents of a category the recommended approach is to pick the lowest level categories to perform your iteration / pagination on. | | *`amazon_domain`* | *`optional`* | The Amazon domain to retrieve category results from. For a full list of supported Amazon domains see [Supported Amazon Domains ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/product-data-api/reference/amazon-domains). | | *`url`* | *`optional`* | The Amazon category results page URL to retrieve category results from. Be sure to URL-encode the `url` parameter.
**Note** the `url` parameter is supplied, the `category_id` parameter cannot be used (as the `url` itself defines the category ID used). | | *`sort_by`* | *`optional`* | Determines the sort order of category results to return. Valid values are:


1. `bestseller_rankings`
2. Sort search results by bestseller\_rankings.


1. `most_recent`
2. Sort category results by newest arrivals.

1. `price_low_to_high`
2. Sort category results by lowest to highest price.

1. `price_high_to_low`
2. Sort category results by highest to lowest price.

1. `featured`
2. Sort category results by featured first.

1. `average_review`
2. Sort category results by average customer review.
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:inlineImage[]{src="https://apiimages.imgix.net/rainforestapi/images/png/docs/search_sort_by.png?auto=format&ixlib=react-9.5.1-beta.1&w=150" alt caption} | | *`page`* | *`optional`* | The current page of category results to retrieve. Inspect the `pagination.total_pages` property in the [Category results ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/product-data-api/results/category)to see how many pages of category results are available. | | *`max_page`* | *`optional`* | Use the `max_page` parameter to get multiple pages of results in one request. The API will automatically paginate through pages and concatenate the results into one response.
See the [Pagination ](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/product-data-api/pagination)docs for more information. | | *`refinements`* | *`optional`* | A comma-seperated list of refinement values to filter the category results by. These allow you to refine your category results by values such as "Reviews rating 4 and over", "price range" and "brand".
Refinement values are returned in the `refinements` array of each `type=category` result. Refinement values are dynamic and change by category area or search term used. If you wish to use refinements you should first issue a `type=category` request without specifying any `refinements` to retrieve a master list of the avaialble refinements for the given category area/search term. You can then cache these refinement values for use on subsequent requests.
For example, to run a `type=search` request specifying two refinements with values `p_85/2470955011` and `p_36/2421886011` the value of the `refinements` parameter would be `refinements=p_85/2470955011,p_36/2421886011`
**Note** that sometimes Amazon do not present a explicit refinement value and instead a `link` is returned. In this instance you should pass the `link` into the `url` request parameter of your `type=category` request to retrieve data from that refinement-filtered page.
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:inlineImage[]{src="https://apiimages.imgix.net/rainforestapi/images/png/docs/search_refinements.png?auto=format&ixlib=react-9.5.1-beta.1&w=150" alt caption} | *** **Next Steps**      [Category Results](https://docs.trajectdata.com/rainforestapi/product-data-api/results/category)