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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cartble.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Cartble gives you two complementary tools for organizing your catalog: collections and categories. They serve different purposes and work best together. Collections are curated or automatically populated groups — think “Summer Sale” or “Best Sellers.” Categories are a hierarchical taxonomy that classifies every product in your store, drives navigation filters, and powers on-site search. Understanding the difference helps you build a storefront that’s both easy to browse and easy to manage.

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Collections

A collection is a named group of resources. You can build it manually by hand-picking items, or automatically by defining rules that Cartble evaluates to populate the group for you.

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Manual collections

A manual collection gives you direct control over which resources appear in the group. You add and remove items one at a time, making manual collections ideal for editorial curation — seasonal picks, staff favorites, promotional bundles, or any group where the selection logic is too nuanced for rules. To create a manual collection:
  1. Go to Catalog → Collections and click New Collection.
  2. Set the type to Manual.
  3. Enter a name, optional description, and cover image.
  4. Use the resource picker to add specific items to the collection.
  5. Toggle Show in menu if you want the collection to appear as a navigation link.
  6. Save the collection.

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Automated collections

An automated collection uses rules to determine which resources belong to it. Whenever you add or update a resource, Cartble re-evaluates the rules and updates the collection membership automatically — no manual curation needed. Each rule has three parts:
FieldDescription
ColumnThe resource attribute to evaluate (e.g., tags, vendor, price)
RelationThe comparison operator (e.g., equals, contains, greater_than)
ConditionThe value to compare against
You can combine multiple rules — for example, all resources tagged "organic" with a price less than 50 — to build precise dynamic groups.
Automated collections stay up to date without any manual work. When you publish a new resource that matches the rules, it appears in the collection immediately.

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Collection settings

Both collection types share these additional settings:
SettingDescription
FeaturedMarks the collection as a featured group, eligible for homepage placement
Show in menuMakes the collection available as a navigation link in the Navigation editor
SEO titleCustom meta title for the collection page
SEO descriptionCustom meta description for the collection page
Template suffixOverride which storefront template renders this collection’s page
Forced resource template suffixOverride the product template for all resources viewed within this collection

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Categories

Categories provide a hierarchical taxonomy for your entire catalog. Unlike collections, categories are not curated — they classify every resource into a logical tree that reflects how you think about your inventory.

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Hierarchy and parent/child relationships

Categories support unlimited nesting through parent/child relationships. A level field tracks depth, and each category stores its full ancestry in a path array — enabling breadcrumb navigation and nested filtering on the storefront. Example hierarchy: 
Clothing            (level 0, parent)
├── Men's           (level 1)
│   ├── Shirts      (level 2)
│   └── Trousers    (level 2)
└── Women's         (level 1)
    └── Dresses     (level 2)
To create a category:
  1. Go to Catalog → Categories and click New Category.
  2. Enter a name and optional description and image.
  3. Set a parent category if this is a sub-category.
  4. Choose a status: active (visible) or hidden (invisible in navigation and search).
  5. Save the category, then assign resources to it from each resource’s edit form.

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Category SEO fields

Each category has its own meta title and meta description fields. These appear in search engine results when a category page is indexed, so writing them clearly improves click-through rates from organic search.

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Showing collections and categories in your storefront

Navigation menu

In the Navigation editor, add a collection or category as a menu item by setting the item type to collection or category. Nested items create dropdown and mega-menu structures.

Featured Collection section

The Spark theme’s Featured Collection section displays a collection’s resources on your homepage. Set a collection as Featured and select it in the section settings.
Use categories for your primary site navigation and filtering sidebar. Use collections for promotional groupings and homepage feature sections — they’re easier to curate without disturbing your taxonomy.