Categories
Official guide · English · Version 9c253d0cf11816df
Categories let you organize products into a hierarchical tree structure with parent and child relationships. A well-organized category tree helps both customers and the AI chatbot find products more efficiently.
Categories Page Layout
The categories page is divided into two panels:
- Left panel (3/5 width) -- The category tree view showing all your categories in a hierarchical list
- Right panel (2/5 width) -- The category form for creating or editing a category
Category Tree
The tree view displays all categories with indentation to reflect the parent-child hierarchy. Each category row shows:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Expand/Collapse arrow | Click to show or hide child categories. Only appears when a category has children |
| Category name | The name of the category |
| AI badge | A sparkle icon appears if the category was discovered automatically by AI during product import |
| Product count | A badge showing the number of products assigned to this category |
| Hover actions | Three action buttons appear when you hover over a category row (see below) |
Tree Controls
At the top of the tree card you will find:
- Expand All -- Expands every node in the tree so all categories are visible
- Collapse All -- Collapses every node, showing only top-level categories
- Search -- A search field that filters the tree by category name. Both matching categories and their parent chain remain visible
Hover Actions
When you hover over a category row, three action buttons appear on the right side:
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Add Subcategory | Creates a new category with the hovered category pre-selected as the parent. The parent node auto-expands |
| Edit | Opens the category form on the right panel, pre-filled with the category's current values |
| Delete | Opens a confirmation dialog to delete the category |
Selecting a Category
Click on any category row to select it (highlighted with a colored border). The selected category does not automatically open the edit form -- you must click the edit hover action to edit it.
Inactive Categories
Categories that are marked as inactive appear with reduced opacity in the tree view.
Creating a Category
Click Add Category
Click the Add Category button in the top-right corner of the page. The category form appears in the right panel.
Alternatively, hover over an existing category and click the Add Subcategory button to create a child category with the parent pre-selected.
Fill in the Form
The category form contains the following fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Category Name | Yes | The name of the category |
| Parent Category | No | Select a parent category from the dropdown to make this a subcategory. Choose "No parent" for a top-level category |
| Description | No | A text description of the category |
| Category Image | No | Upload an image for the category. For existing categories, an Generate AI Image button is also available |
| Slug | No | URL-friendly identifier. Leave empty for auto-generation |
| Display Order | No | Numeric value controlling the sort order of this category among its siblings (default: 0) |
| Active | No | Toggle switch to enable or disable the category (default: enabled) |
| SEO Title | No | Page title for search engines (max 70 characters) |
| SEO Description | No | Meta description for search engine results (max 160 characters) |
Save
Click Save to create the category. The tree refreshes automatically to show the new category.
AI-Generated Category Image
For existing categories (not new ones), the category image section includes a Generate AI Image button with a wand icon. Click this button to have AI generate a representative image for the category based on its name and context.
Info: AI image generation for categories is only available when editing an existing category, not when creating a new one.
Editing a Category
- Find the category in the tree (use the search field to filter if needed)
- Hover over the category and click the Edit (pencil) button
- The form on the right panel populates with the category's current values
- Make your changes and click Save
Parent Category Restrictions
When editing a category, the parent dropdown automatically excludes:
- The category itself (a category cannot be its own parent)
- All descendants of the category (this prevents circular references)
Deleting a Category
- Hover over the category you want to delete and click the Delete (trash) button
- A confirmation dialog appears with a warning message
- Click Delete Category to confirm
Warning: Deleting a category may affect products that are assigned to it. Products will lose their category assignment. Subcategories of the deleted category may also be affected. Review the warning message carefully before confirming.
Assigning Products from the Products List
On Products, click the Category cell for any product to open its current assignments. Select one or more categories, including child categories, and use the star to mark the primary category. Apply saves the changes and refreshes the list. Deselect every category to remove the product's assignments. The category chip on mobile opens the same editor.
For a group, select products with the row checkboxes and click Move to categories in the selected-products toolbar. Choose the categories and primary category, then click Apply. The chosen categories replace the current assignments for every selected product, including products with no category. A group can contain up to 500 products, with up to 100 categories selected per operation.
Cancel leaves the products unchanged. If loading or saving fails, retry without losing your selection. Category changes update the website's product/category views and linked website publication through the normal synchronization process. Linked-store ownership rules still apply. These actions do not call AI or consume AI credits.
AI Category Descriptions
For an existing category, open Edit Category and click Generate description with AI beside the Description editor. Save new categories, or changes to the name or parent, first so generation uses the saved category and its product assignments. In the preview, click Generate unfinished drafts. Review the rich-text description, SEO title and separate SEO meta description; all three can be edited. Use in editor copies the draft into the open form without saving the category. Click the form's Save button when ready.
For a group, tick the checkboxes beside category names in the tree. Click Generate descriptions for selected categories in the selection toolbar. Batches contain up to 20 categories. Categories that already have a nonempty description are skipped by default. Select Rewrite existing descriptions to include them; changing this option clears earlier previews. Generation runs one category at a time. Stop after current category keeps completed drafts, and Generate unfinished drafts resumes the remaining items without regenerating completed ones.
Review and edit each draft, choose which drafts to save, then click Save selected drafts. Cancel leaves category text unchanged. A save failure retains the previews and edits for retry. If a category changed after its preview, reopen the preview before saving; the batch does not overwrite that newer content. Saving an already-generated preview uses no additional AI allowance.
Each generated category uses one website AI text allowance, displayed next to the generation controls. Generation uses the category name, parent and a bounded sample of active products in the category and its descendants. The preview reports the sample and total product counts. Names and content are scoped to your store. AI is instructed to use the category name's language, preserve brand/model spelling and avoid unsupported specifications, stock, price, warranty or authorized-dealer claims. For a brand/model name whose language is ambiguous, the saved category language provides the fallback. With no product evidence, the introduction stays short and neutral. Review the text before saving. Saved descriptions and SEO text use normal website synchronization; category URLs are preserved.
AI-Discovered Categories
When you import products (from files or store APIs), the system may automatically discover and create categories based on the imported product data. These categories are marked with a sparkle icon in the tree view.
AI-discovered categories work the same as manually created categories -- you can edit, rename, reorganize, or delete them as needed.