Product Search API
What does the Product Search API do?
The product search API sends a keyword query to retrieve results about products and other content on your site. You can apply additional filters and facets to return products and content that either include or exclude specified attributes like colors and brands.
A product search retrieves products on your site that fit your specified criteria. Products are items on your site that a customer might purchase. Your product feed contains these items and must be current so that your search queries can retrieve accurate results.
A content search retrieves non-product content, such as knowledge base articles and product reviews. This kind of content is called unstructured content, and it doesn't adhere to a defined data model like your products do. Unlike product searches, content search queries don't rely on a feed.
Example request
Here's an example request that searches for dresses.
Request: keyword search for dresses
GET http://core.dxpapi.com/api/v1/core/? account_id=<Bloomreach provided account ID> &auth_key=jazzhands &domain_key=example_com &request_id=8438674018839 &_br_uid_2=uid=7797686432023:v=11.5:ts=1428617911187:hc=55 &ref_url=http://www.example.com/home &url=http://www.example.com/index.html?q=dresses &request_type=search &search_type=keyword &q=dresses &fl=pid,title,brand,price,sale_price,thumb_image,url,description &rows=10 &start=0
Request parameters
These are the parameters used in the example request. Every product search request needs these parameters.
Some of the parameters in your API requests for native mobile apps or non-JS environment need different values from those for your site:
● _br_uid_2: The value should be the same as described on the Cookie page. Generate a br_uid_2 for your app user and store it in the app permanently if a br_uid_2 does not exist. This br_uid_2 should be used on the corresponding API calls for the app. If the user is on iPhone and resets their IDFA, or if the user is on an Android device and resets their advertising settings: the br_uid_2 should be erased and regenerated the next time the app is set.● ref_url: Leave your ref_url parameters empty.
● url: Use a dummy value for your url parameters, such as exampledomain.app.
| Parameter | Details | ||
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| _br_uid_2 |
A first-party cookie created by the Bloomreach tracking pixel library (BrTrk). This cookie creates a unique, anonymous identifier for every browser or device. The _br_uid_2 cookie is already encoded
Don't encode the cookie parameter value: _br_uid_2. Use this value exactly as it comes. It's already encoded. ✅ &_br_uid_2=uid%3D7797686432023%3Av%3D11.5%3Ats%3D1428617911187%3Ahc%3D55 Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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| account_id |
Your site's numerical Bloomreach account ID. Your Bloomreach representative gives your site's account ID to you before or during your integration kickoff meeting. Notify your Bloomreach representative
If you don't have a Bloomreach account ID, then let your Bloomreach representative know immediately. You can't send any API calls without your account ID. Value typeinteger Required Mandatory Example value
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auth_key |
The Bloomreach-provided authentication key for the Bloomreach account that's sending the request. Leave auth_key parameter values empty for client-side calls
If you use client-side calls for any of your Bloomreach requests, then do not enter an auth_key value in those client-side calls. Pass the auth_key with an empty value in client-side calls. The auth_key value is a private authorization key. If you include your valid auth_key value in client-side calls, then you inadvertently expose that private information to everybody. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
Your own auth_key value looks very different from this example. We're using an odd example value to reinforce the importance of treating this key like you treat other keys like your email login credentials: don't share it. |
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domain_key |
Your site domain's ID, which is provided by Bloomreach. This ID is for the domain that you want to receive your Bloomreach API requests. This parameter identifies the specific site version when the one account ID hosts multiple site versions with unique characteristics, such as language versions. Bloomreach uses your domain_key parameter value to ensure that only the data that pertains to that site version is used for query and analytics features, such as autosuggestions. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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fl
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The attributes that you want returned in your API response, such as product IDs and prices. All fl parameters must include pid as one of their values. You can include other attributes from your product feed. Tip
Include all the attributes from your product feed that you want to include in search results, not just the attributes that you want to be returned as objects in your API response. Your search results pages are built from your API responses. Therefore, search results pages can only include attributes that are returned in API responses. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
Example value for Content
Comma-separated values
Separate multiple attributes with a comma: &fl=pid,title,thumb_image,price |
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q |
Your site visitor's search query. Search queries are composed of one or more terms. Tip
You can percent encode spaces between terms, or you can leave the spaces the way they are. The correct code is %20 if you choose to percent encode spaces in multi-term search queries. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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ref_url |
The URL of the page or HTTP referrer where the request is started. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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request_id |
An ID to track site visitor clicks. We recommend that you generate unique, random values of 13 digits to enable click-tracking. Bloomreach doesn't automatically enforce the requirements for this parameter. For example, you can enter test as your value for each instance of the request_id parameter without triggering an error message. However, using a unique value allows us to help you if you encounter a problem. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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request_type
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The type of API request. Choose the value that fits your use case:
Value typestring (enum) Required Mandatory Use search for search API calls
The only correct &request_type value for a category search API call is search |
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rows
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The number of matching items to return per results page in the API response. The maximum value is 200. Tip
To enhance performance, limit this value to the number of items that you think is reasonable for a single page of search results. Value typeinteger Required Mandatory Example value
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search_type
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The type of search. Choose the value that fits your use case:
Value typestring (enum) Use keyword for this tutorial's use case
The only correct &search_type value for a keyword product search is keyword. Required Mandatory Example value
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start
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The number of the first item on a page of results. For example, the first item on the first page is 0, making the start value also 0. The maximum value is 10000. Value typeinteger Required Mandatory Example value
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url |
The absolute URL of the page where the request is initiated. Use the absolute URL
Don't use a relative URL for your url parameter value. Value typestring Required Mandatory Example value
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You can also send use case dependent parameters in the Product Search API. To view the list of parameters, click here.
When you use the query '*' as 'q=*' in the API request, the latency of the response will vary depending on your catalog size and it may not adhere to the Bloomreach's standard SLA. Further, please note that except for include/exclude operation, other merchandising operations such as boost/bury or slots do not work on * query parameters.