Managing Categories

Categories organize your products into a hierarchy. Entaprenua uses PostgreSQL's LTree extension for efficient tree queries — categories can nest to any depth.

---

Category Structure

Each category has:

Field	Description
Name	Display name
Slug	URL-friendly identifier
Image	Optional category image
Parent	Parent category (null for root categories)
Path	LTree path (e.g., 1.2.3 — read-only, managed automatically)
Level	Depth in the tree (1 = root, computed from path)
Visibility	public, private, or draft

---

Creating Categories

1. Go to Admin → Categories
2. Click New Category
3. Fill in the name and optional slug
4. Choose a parent category (or leave empty for root)
5. Set visibility
6. Save

Categories use the same upsert pattern as products — include an id to update an existing category.

---

Viewing Categories

The category list supports multiple views:

Query	What it returns
Default (no params)	All categories for the store
?tree=true	Full nested category tree in a single request
?root=true	Root categories only (parentId is null)
?parentId={id}	Categories below a specific parent, with isMappedToParent flag

Tree View

?tree=true returns the entire hierarchy in one API call. The storefront CategoryTree component uses this for fast rendering:

<CategoryTree>
  <CategoryTreeView>
    <Category>
      <CategoryName />
      <CategoryTreeSubcategories>
        {/* Automatically recursive */}
      </CategoryTreeSubcategories>
    </Category>
  </CategoryTreeView>
</CategoryTree>

Checkbox UI (Product Mapping)

?parentId={id} returns all categories at levels below the parent. Each category includes an isMappedToParent flag — true if it's a direct child of the specified parent. This enables checkbox-based UI for assigning parent categories.

---

Category Depth Control

The storefront CategoryList component supports depth-controlled recursion:

<CategoryList maxDepth={3}>
  <CategoryListView>
    <Category>
      <CategoryName />
      <SubcategoryList>
        {/* Auto-fetches children, stops at maxDepth */}
      </SubcategoryList>
    </Category>
  </CategoryListView>
</CategoryList>

At maxDepth (default: 3), SubcategoryList stops rendering — no infinite recursion.

---

Deleting Categories

1. Go to Admin → Categories
2. Open the category's menu
3. Click Delete

Deleting a category does not delete its products — they become uncategorized. Child categories are not deleted automatically; reassign them first.

---

Category Storefront Components

Component	Use Case
CategoryList	Display root categories with depth control
CategoryTree	Full tree in single API call (faster for static trees)
SubcategoryList	Auto-fetch children within a Category
Category (root)	Single category by slug from URL
CategoryName, CategoryImage, etc.	Atomic display sections