Category API Endpoints

The Categories API provides a lightweight public endpoint for checking whether categories exist in the system. Categories are derived from the content layer (Git-based CMS) rather than a database, making this endpoint available even without a database connection.

Source file: template/app/api/categories/exists/route.ts

Endpoint Summary

Method	Path	Auth	Description
GET	/api/categories/exists	None	Check if categories exist

---

GET /api/categories/exists

Checks whether any categories are available in the content repository. Returns a boolean exists flag along with the total count. This endpoint is useful for conditional UI rendering -- for example, hiding a category filter when no categories are defined.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
locale	string	No	"en"	Locale code for fetching localized categories

How It Works

The handler calls fetchItems from the content layer with the requested locale, then inspects the returned categories array:

const locale = request?.nextUrl?.searchParams?.get('locale') || 'en';
const { categories } = await fetchItems({ lang: locale });

const hasCategories = Array.isArray(categories) && categories.length > 0;

return NextResponse.json({
  exists: hasCategories,
  count: categories?.length || 0
});

Response Shape

200 -- Categories Found

{
  "exists": true,
  "count": 12
}

200 -- No Categories

{
  "exists": false,
  "count": 0
}

Error Handling

On any error the endpoint returns a safe fallback rather than a 500. This ensures that consumers can always rely on the response shape:

{
  "exists": false,
  "count": 0
}

Errors are only logged in development mode (NODE_ENV === 'development').

Authentication

This is a public endpoint -- no authentication is required.

Usage Example

// Check if categories exist before rendering filter UI
const res = await fetch('/api/categories/exists?locale=fr');
const { exists, count } = await res.json();

if (exists) {
  console.log(`Found ${count} categories`);
  // Render category filter
}

Notes

• Categories come from the Git-based CMS content layer, not the database.
• The endpoint is locale-aware, so different locales may have different category counts.
• Errors are silently handled to avoid breaking the UI -- the endpoint always returns valid JSON.
• No caching headers are set by the handler; caching is managed at the infrastructure level.

Related Source Files

File	Purpose
template/app/api/categories/exists/route.ts	Route handler
template/lib/content.ts	fetchItems function that resolves categories