# Returns the item categories that match the given criteria.

`POST /inventory/item-categories/search`

Group: Inventory › Item Categories · Operation ID: `searchItemCategories`

Searches item categories by exact criteria in a request body, returning the same schema as GET inventory/item-categories/:id and GET inventory/item-categories.

Every field on an item category is a plain scalar, so the collection can already express every filter offered here. This endpoint adds a request body, for a query assembled programmatically or one that would push a URL past a proxy's length limit, and a larger page size. There is no free-text or substring matching, which is why description is not a criterion.

Nothing matching is an empty result, never an error.

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/?op=searchItemCategories)

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | `"v1"` | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: searchItemCategoriesInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `filters` | object | yes | The filters to apply. Omit to return all item categories. |
| `filters.name` | string | no | Limits results to item categories with this exact name, for example 'Hardware'. Names are not unique, so this can match several. |
| `filters.active` | boolean | no | Limits results to categories that can be chosen on new items (true) or to retired ones (false). Omit to match both. |
| `filters.modifiedSince` | string (date-time) | no | Limits results to categories changed at or after this time, in UTC. Format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ. |
| `page` | object | no | Pagination controls. Omit for the first page. |
| `page.cursor` | string | no | The cursor from the previous response's pagination.nextCursor. Omit on the first request. |
| `page.size` | number | no | The number of item categories per page. Defaults to 50, capped at 200. |

Example:

```json
{
  "filters": {
    "active": true,
    "modifiedSince": "2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "page": {
    "size": 50
  }
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (searchItemCategoriesOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `items` | array of object | yes | The item categories on this page, ordered by id. The same schema as GET inventory/item-categories/:id. An empty array when nothing matches. |
| `items[].id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the item category. |
| `items[].name` | string | yes | The display name of the category, for example 'Hardware'. Not unique: two categories can share a name, so use id to address one. |
| `items[].description` | string | no | A free-form description of what the category covers. Absent when none was set. |
| `items[].active` | boolean | no | Whether the category can be chosen on new items. When false the category is retired: existing items keep it and new ones cannot be assigned to it. |
| `items[].idealTurnoverRatio` | string (decimal) | no | The target inventory turnover for items in this category, in times per year. For analytics only. A ratio rather than an amount, so it has no currency. |
| `items[].lastModifiedDate` | string (date-time) | no | The date and time the category last changed, in UTC. Format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ. |
| `items[].parentId` | string | no | The identifier of the category this one sits under. Absent for a top-level category. See id on GET inventory/item-categories/:id. |
| `pagination` | object | yes | The pagination details for this page. |
| `pagination.nextCursor` | string | no | The cursor for the next page. Pass it as page.cursor. Absent on the last page. |
| `pagination.hasMore` | boolean | yes | Whether more results remain beyond this page. |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure
- `401` — Missing or invalid access token
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `429` — Too many requests
- `500` — Internal server error