# /citilink/categories

`POST /api/citilink/categories`

Price: 20 credits

Walk the citilink.ru catalogue tree and return one flat row per category with its id, name, slug, catalogue URL, parent, depth level, number of direct children and curated `compilations`. `seo_title`/`seo_description`/`seo_h1`/`seo_text` marketing copy is included only when `with_seo` is set.

## How to use it

Use this to turn a shopper's phrase into a `category` slug for citilink/categories/products, which will not accept a name. Rows come back depth-first with `level` and `parent_alias` set, so the tree is rebuildable without a second call. Only rows with `is_listing` hold products, so pick a listing row or walk down to its children before calling citilink/categories/products. `compilations` lists a row's curated sub-collections (empty on broad, non-listing sections; populated on listing rows). `seo_title`/`seo_description`/`seo_h1`/`seo_text` are null on every row unless `with_seo` is set — an absent value with `with_seo` unset means it was not requested, not that the category has no copy.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of categories to return (min: 1)
- `depth` (integer) — How many levels of the tree to include, counting the top-level sections as depth 1 (default: 3; min: 1; max: 5)
- `with_seo` (boolean) — Include seo_title/seo_description/seo_h1/seo_text marketing copy on every row (default: false)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "CitilinkCategory")
- `id` (string, required)
- `name` (string, nullable)
- `alias` (string, nullable)
- `url` (string, nullable)
- `parent_id` (string, nullable)
- `parent_alias` (string, nullable)
- `level` (integer, nullable)
- `is_listing` (boolean, nullable)
- `image` (string, nullable)
- `child_count` (integer, nullable)
- `seo_title` (string, nullable)
- `seo_description` (string, nullable)
- `seo_h1` (string, nullable)
- `seo_text` (string, nullable)
- `compilations` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "CitilinkCategoryCompilation")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `alias` (string, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The entity was not found, or a precondition failed

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

citilink.ru did not return the catalogue tree.

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.