Checkers APIcheckers.co.za ↗
Access Checkers grocery product search, category browsing, product details, store finder, and popular searches via a single structured API.
What is the Checkers API?
The Checkers API covers 7 endpoints that expose grocery product data from Checkers South Africa, including full-text product search via search_products, a three-level category hierarchy via list_categories, per-product nutritional attributes, store locations with trading hours, and trending search terms. Prices are returned in ZAR cents, and image IDs can be resolved to CDN URLs using a dedicated get_image_url endpoint.
No input parameters required.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/a7a3a4ba-dfb7-4476-9712-8753b2fb3140/list_categories' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Retrieve the full product department and category hierarchy as a tree structure. Returns all categories up to 3 levels deep (departments → categories → sub-categories). Each node includes its ID, name, level, and nested children. Use category IDs from this tree as input to get_category_products.
No input parameters required.
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"success": "boolean indicating successful response",
"errMessage": "string or null error message",
"displayCategoryTree": "array of category objects, each with id (string), name (string), level (integer 1-3), imageId (string or null), and nested displayCategories array"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"success": true,
"errMessage": null,
"displayCategoryTree": [
{
"id": "67075e5eff987811364007e6",
"name": "Appliances",
"level": 1,
"imageId": "68c10a895946b5fb019520bd",
"displayCategories": [
{
"id": "67075e6cff987811364007f8",
"name": "Beauty Appliances",
"level": 2,
"imageId": "6822ea39fc590a403d0e4177",
"displayCategories": [
{
"id": "67075e6eff987811364007fa",
"name": "Clippers & Shavers",
"level": 3,
"imageId": null,
"displayCategories": null
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Checkers API
Product Search and Category Browsing
The search_products endpoint accepts a required query string and optional page and limit parameters (both 0-indexed) and returns a products array plus a totalCount integer for pagination. Each product object includes id, name, priceWithoutDecimal (ZAR cents), currency, isStockAvailable, isOnPromotion, and an image field. The list_categories endpoint requires no inputs and returns a displayCategoryTree — a nested array of departments, categories, and sub-categories up to three levels deep, each node carrying an id, name, level, and optional imageId.
Category Products and Product Details
get_category_products accepts a category_id from the list_categories tree and returns the same product shape as search_products with its own totalCount for pagination bounds. For richer data, get_product_details takes a product slug formatted as <product-name-hyphenated>-<articleNumber>EA and returns price (float ZAR), imageIds (array), description, articleNumber, isOnPromotion, isStockAvailable, and an attributes array of {name, value} objects covering nutritional info, ingredients, and allergens.
Store Finder and Trending Terms
find_stores accepts lat and lng coordinates and returns stores sorted by proximity. Each store object includes name, brand (one of CHECKERS, CHECKERS_HYPER, CHECKERS_LIQUORSHOP, MEDIRITE), location, tradingTimes, facilities, departments, and a children array for co-located formats like LiquorShop. get_popular_searches requires no inputs and returns a ranked terms array where each entry carries the search term, cumulative count, optional productId, optional imageId, and an updatedOn millisecond timestamp.
Image Resolution
Product and category endpoints return imageId or imageIds string values rather than full URLs. Pass any of these values to get_image_url to receive the resolved CDN url alongside the echoed image_id. This keeps image references consistent without embedding long CDN paths in search or category responses.
The Checkers API is a managed, monitored endpoint for checkers.co.za — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when checkers.co.za changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official checkers.co.za API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Build a South African grocery price comparison tool using priceWithoutDecimal from search_products across multiple queries.
- Track which products are currently on promotion by filtering isOnPromotion across category results from get_category_products.
- Populate a store locator feature with trading hours and facilities using find_stores with user-supplied GPS coordinates.
- Generate auto-complete search suggestions from the ranked terms returned by get_popular_searches.
- Display full allergen and ingredient information for a product by reading the attributes array from get_product_details.
- Map the full category hierarchy for a grocery navigation UI using the three-level displayCategoryTree from list_categories.
- Render product images in a catalogue by resolving imageIds through the get_image_url endpoint for consistent CDN URLs.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.