Category

Learn how to get Target category page data using the Web Scraper API. Find out about request parameters and how to find category node IDs.

The target_category source is designed to retrieve Target category pages based on Target's taxonomy node ID. The source supports localization features and allows you to browse through Target's product categories.

Request samples

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user 'USERNAME:PASSWORD' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "source": "target_category",
    "category_id": "owq2q",
    "render": "html"
}'

import requests
from pprint import pprint

# Structure payload
payload = {
    'source': 'target_category',
    'category_id': 'owq2q',
    'render': 'html',
}

# Get response
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('USERNAME', 'PASSWORD'),
    json=payload,
)

# Print the response
pprint(response.json())

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
    source: "target_category",
    category_id: "owq2q",
    render: "html",
};

const options = {
    hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
    path: "/v1/queries",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization:
            "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
    },
};

const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
    let data = "";

    response.on("data", (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    response.on("end", () => {
        const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
    });
});

request.on("error", (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
});

request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

<?php

$params = array(
    'source' => 'target_category',
    'category_id' => 'owq2q',
    'render' => 'html'
);

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($params));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "USERNAME" . ":" . "PASSWORD");

$headers = array();
$headers[] = "Content-Type: application/json";
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}
curl_close($ch);

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	const Username = "USERNAME"
	const Password = "PASSWORD"

	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"source":  "target_category",
		"category_id": "owq2q",
		"render":  "html",
	}

	jsonValue, _ := json.Marshal(payload)

	client := &http.Client{}
	request, _ := http.NewRequest("POST",
		"https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries",
		bytes.NewBuffer(jsonValue),
	)

	request.SetBasicAuth(Username, Password)
	response, _ := client.Do(request)

	responseText, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(responseText))
}

package org.example;

import okhttp3.*;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main implements Runnable {
    private static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";
    public static final String USERNAME = "USERNAME";
    public static final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

    public void run() {
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
        jsonObject.put("source", "target_category");
        jsonObject.put("category_id", "owq2q");
        jsonObject.put("render", "html");

        Authenticator authenticator = (route, response) -> {
            String credential = Credentials.basic(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
            return response
                    .request()
                    .newBuilder()
                    .header(AUTHORIZATION_HEADER, credential)
                    .build();
        };

        var client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
                .authenticator(authenticator)
                .readTimeout(180, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                .build();

        var mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
        var body = RequestBody.create(jsonObject.toString(), mediaType);
        var request = new Request.Builder()
                .url("https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries")
                .post(body)
                .build();

        try (var response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.body() != null) {
                try (var responseBody = response.body()) {
                    System.out.println(responseBody.string());
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
            System.out.println("Error: " + exception.getMessage());
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Main()).start();
    }
}

We use synchronous Realtime integration method in our examples. If you would like to use Proxy Endpoint or asynchronous Push-Pull integration, refer to the integration methods section.

Request parameter values

Generic

Parameter

Description

Default Value

source

Sets the scraper.

target_category

category_id

Target's taxonomy node ID for the category (e.g., "owq2q" for PlayStation 5 controllers).

render

Enables JavaScript rendering when set to html. More info.

callback_url

URL to your callback endpoint. More info.

user_agent_type

Device type and browser. The full list can be found here.

desktop

- mandatory parameter

Localization

Adapt results to specific stores, fulfillment types, and delivery locations.

Parameter

Description

Type

fulfillment_type

Set the fulfillment type. Available values are: pickup, shipping, shop_in_store, same_day_delivery.

String

store_id

Set the store location.

Integer

delivery_zip

Set the shipping to location.

String

Understanding Target's node IDs

Target's category system uses node IDs to identify specific categories. These node IDs are unique identifiers in Target's taxonomy system.

Example node IDs

Node IDs can be found in the category page URL. It's the part of the URL that has the format N-<5 symbols> . Here are some example category URLs and their corresponding node IDs:

PlayStation 5 controllers: owq2q
- Full URL: https://www.target.com/c/playstation-5-controllers-video-games/-/N-owq2q
PlayStation 5 accessories: lbxgt
- Full URL: https://www.target.com/c/playstation-5-accessories/-/N-lbxgt
PlayStation 5: hj96d
- Full URL: https://www.target.com/c/playstation-5/-/N-hj96d

Node ID format

When using the target_category source, you only need to provide the node ID without the N- prefix. The API will automatically format the URL correctly.

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