> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.scrapebadger.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Browse a Category

> Every app across a Google Play category page's editorial rails, deduped and in Play's own order.

Browse a Play category. Returns every app across all of the category page's
editorial rails ("Popular", "Be the first to play", genre spotlights), deduped
and in the order Play ranked them — around 100 apps for a broad category like
`GAME`.

**Credits:** 5

<Note>
  This is the **working alternative to top charts**. Play renders the ranked
  top-chart list client-side, so
  [`/collections/{collection}`](/api-reference/endpoint/google-play/get-collection)
  answers `422`. A category browse is server-rendered and returns real data.
</Note>

## Authorization

<ParamField header="X-API-Key" type="string" required>
  Your ScrapeBadger API key.
</ParamField>

## Path Parameters

<ParamField path="category_id" type="string" required>
  Play category id, e.g. `SOCIAL`, `GAME_PUZZLE`, `APPLICATION`. The full list
  is at
  [`/categories`](/api-reference/endpoint/google-play/list-categories) (free);
  it also matches `genre_id` on an app detail record.
</ParamField>

## Query Parameters

<ParamField query="country" type="string" default="US">
  Play storefront (`gl`).
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="lang" type="string" default="en">
  Play content language (`hl`).
</ParamField>

## Response

<ResponseField name="query" type="string">The category id requested.</ResponseField>
<ResponseField name="url" type="string">The Play URL the apps were read from.</ResponseField>
<ResponseField name="result_count" type="integer">Apps returned.</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="apps" type="AppCard[]">
  Apps in the category — same shape as
  [search results](/api-reference/endpoint/google-play/search).
</ResponseField>

## Example

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl "https://scrapebadger.com/v1/google-play/categories/GAME_PUZZLE?country=US&lang=en" \
    -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"
  ```

  ```javascript Node.js theme={null}
  const res = await fetch(
    "https://scrapebadger.com/v1/google-play/categories/GAME_PUZZLE?" +
      new URLSearchParams({ country: "US", lang: "en" }),
    { headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.SCRAPEBADGER_API_KEY } },
  );
  const { apps } = await res.json();
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import requests

  res = requests.get(
      "https://scrapebadger.com/v1/google-play/categories/GAME_PUZZLE",
      headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
      params={"country": "US", "lang": "en"},
  )
  apps = res.json()["apps"]
  ```
</CodeGroup>

```json Response theme={null}
{
  "query": "GAME_PUZZLE",
  "url": "https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/GAME_PUZZLE?hl=en&gl=US",
  "result_count": 96,
  "apps": [
    {
      "app_id": "com.king.candycrushsaga",
      "title": "Candy Crush Saga",
      "developer": "King",
      "summary": "Switch and match Candies in this tasty puzzle adventure",
      "icon": "https://play-lh.googleusercontent.com/example=w240-h480-rw",
      "score": 4.6,
      "score_text": "4.6",
      "installs": "1,000,000,000+",
      "genre": "Puzzle",
      "content_rating": "Everyone",
      "price": { "price": 0.0, "currency": "USD", "price_text": "Free", "is_free": true },
      "url": "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.candycrushsaga"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Errors

| Status | Meaning                                                                       |
| ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `404`  | No apps in that category for the storefront — usually an unknown category id. |
| `422`  | Play returned no usable data — **not billed**. Retry.                         |