Menu Categories - Plato

Use the menu categories API to render category navigation or category landing pages.

GET /api/public/menu/categories

This endpoint currently expects the API key in the query string.

Example

curl "https://api.plato.ae/api/public/menu/categories?apiKey=$PLATO_API_KEY&includeProducts=true"

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Notes
`apiKey`	string	required	Plato API key.
`search`	string	none	Search category names.
`slug`	string	none	Fetch one category by exact slug.
`ids`	comma list	none	Fetch specific category ids.
`sortBy`	string	`createdAt`	`name`, `createdAt`, `updatedAt`, or `slug`.
`sortOrder`	string	`desc`	`asc` or `desc`.
`page`	number	`1`	Page number.
`limit`	number	`20`	Minimum `1`, maximum `100`.
`includeProducts`	boolean	`false`	Include published products under each category.

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "category_123",
      "slug": "burgers",
      "name": {
        "en": "Burgers"
      },
      "description": null,
      "thumbnail": null,
      "smallThumbnail": null,
      "showcase": null,
      "productsCount": 12,
      "products": [
        {
          "id": "product_123",
          "slug": "classic-burger",
          "name": {
            "en": "Classic Burger"
          },
          "priceOptions": [],
          "published": true,
          "soldout": false
        }
      ],
      "createdAt": "2026-06-17T08:20:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2026-06-17T09:15:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 5,
    "totalPages": 1,
    "hasMore": false
  }
}

products is only included when includeProducts=true.

Notes

Included products are published products.
Use includeProducts=false for navigation menus.
Use includeProducts=true for category pages that need the first product list immediately.