What causes "Product category with id: ${req.params.id} was not found" in medusajs/medusa?

Verify the id exists via GET /store/product-categories and use the returned id

medusajs/medusa · error · MedusaError

NOT_FOUND

NOT_FOUND

Error message

Product category with id: ${req.params.id} was not found

What it means

Thrown by GET /store/product-categories/:id when the remote query for the category returns no result for the given id. The id may be invalid, the category may not exist, or it may be filtered out (e.g. not visible in the store scope). Returns a 404 NOT_FOUND.

Source

Thrown at packages/medusa/src/api/store/product-categories/[id]/route.ts:30

export const GET = async (
  req: AuthenticatedMedusaRequest<StoreProductCategoryParamsType>,
  res: MedusaResponse<StoreProductCategoryResponse>
) => {
  const query = req.scope.resolve(ContainerRegistrationKeys.QUERY)

  const { data: category } = await query.graph(
    {
      entity: "product_category",
      filters: { id: req.params.id, ...req.filterableFields },
      fields: req.queryConfig.fields,
    },
    {
      locale: req.locale,
    }
  )

  if (!category) {
    throw new MedusaError(
      MedusaError.Types.NOT_FOUND,
      `Product category with id: ${req.params.id} was not found`
    )
  }

  res.json({ product_category: category[0] })
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5e06e544a2)

Solutions

Verify the id exists via GET /store/product-categories and use the returned id
If the category was deleted, remove or update the storefront link that references it
Check the category is not internal/hidden if it should be visible

Example fix

// before
const { product_category } = await sdk.store.productCategory.retrieve('my-category-handle') // 404

// after
const { product_category } = await sdk.store.productCategory.retrieve('pcat_123')

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const { product_categories } = await sdk.store.productCategory.list({ q: slugOrId })
if (!product_categories.length) notFound()

Try / catch

try {
  const { product_category } = await sdk.store.productCategory.retrieve(id)
} catch (e: any) {
  if (e.type === 'not_found') notFound()
  throw e
}

Prevention

Use ids returned by the list endpoint, not guesses
Purge cached category links on deletion
Render 404 pages for category routes

When it happens

Trigger: Requesting /store/product-categories/pcat_... with a wrong/deleted id, a handle used instead of id, or a category that is internal/not available to the store.

Common situations: Stale URLs/bookmarks after category deletion; using the category handle instead of its id; category marked as internal; frontend caching old category links.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of medusajs/medusa@5e06e544a2 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3d2e9e1d6609cc41. Report an issue: GitHub.