Managing your menu

The typical setup flow is:

Create your categories
Add items under each category
Update availability and pricing as needed

Managing categories

Create a category

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menucategory \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "reference": "cat-drinks-001",
    "name": "Drinks"
  }'

Request body:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`reference`	string	Yes	A unique identifier you define
`name`	string	Yes	The display name of the category
`rank`	integer	No	Display order -- lower numbers appear first

This endpoint is an upsert. If a category with the same reference already exists, it will be updated instead of creating a duplicate.

Update a category

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menucategory/{menuCategoryReference} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "name": "Cold Drinks",
    "is_published": true,
    "rank": 1
  }'

Request body:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	No	Updated category name
`is_published`	boolean	No	Whether the category is visible to customers
`rank`	integer	No	Display order -- lower numbers appear first

List categories

curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menucategory \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

Managing items

Create an item

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "reference": "item-chilled-coke-001",
    "name": "Chilled Coke",
    "description": "Ice cold Coca-Cola 50cl",
    "menu_category_id": 12,
    "price": 120000,
    "in_stock": true,
    "images": [{ "path": "https://your-cdn.com/coke.jpg" }]
  }'

Request body:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`reference`	string	Yes	A unique identifier you define
`name`	string	Yes	Display name of the item
`description`	string	No	Short description shown to customers
`menu_category_id`	integer	Yes	ID of the category this item belongs to
`price`	integer	Yes	Price in the smallest currency unit (e.g. kobo)
`in_stock`	boolean	No	Whether the item is available for purchase. Defaults to `true`
`rank`	integer	No	Display order within the category
`images`	array	No	List of image objects. Each object must have a `path` key

price is in the smallest currency unit. For example, ₦1,200 should be sent as 120000.

This endpoint is an upsert. If an item with the same reference already exists, it will be updated instead of creating a duplicate.

Update an item

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu/{menuReference} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "name": "Chilled Coke",
    "description": "Ice cold Coca-Cola 50cl",
    "menu_category_id": 12,
    "in_stock": false,
    "price": 150000
  }'

Get a single item

curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu/{menuReference} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

List all items

curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

Bulk operations

Bulk create

Use this endpoint to sync your entire menu in a single request. Each item includes its category inline -- the API creates or updates the category automatically.

This endpoint performs a full sync. Any item or category that exists on your menu but is not included in this request will be deactivated. Only use this when you intend to replace your entire menu. For partial updates, use the bulk update endpoint instead.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu/bulk-upload \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "items": [
      {
        "reference": "item-001",
        "name": "Chilled Coke",
        "description": "Ice cold Coca-Cola 50cl",
        "category": {
          "reference": "cat-drinks-001",
          "name": "Drinks"
        },
        "price": 120000,
        "in_stock": true,
        "images": [{ "path": "https://your-cdn.com/coke.jpg" }]
      },
      {
        "reference": "item-002",
        "name": "Bottled Water",
        "description": "500ml still water",
        "category": {
          "reference": "cat-drinks-001",
          "name": "Drinks"
        },
        "price": 50000,
        "in_stock": true,
        "images": []
      }
    ]
  }'

Multiple items can share the same category reference. The category is created once and reused.

Bulk update

Use this to update specific fields on existing items without affecting the rest of your menu.

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://api.chowdeck.com/merchant/{merchantReference}/menu/bulk-update \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "items": [
      {
        "reference": "item-001",
        "price": 130000,
        "in_stock": true
      },
      {
        "reference": "item-002",
        "in_stock": false
      }
    ]
  }'

Each item in the items array must include its reference so we know which item to update.

Error responses

All failed requests return this shape:

{
  "status": "failed",
  "message": "..."
}