get_category_brief

Get a structured market brief for a top-level category: market overview metrics, consideration factors, gotchas, scene needs, keywords, and a candidate pool of ASINs.

When to use: to orient within a category before picking individual products.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`category_id`	string	yes	Slug of a top-level category (from `list_categories`)

Example call

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 5, "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_category_brief",
    "arguments": {"category_id": "all-departments"}
  }
}

Response shape

{
  "category": {"category_id": "...", "name": "..."},
  "market_overview": {
    "subcategories": 9,
    "heat_score": 72.4,
    "brand_count": 148.2,
    "seller_count": 210.9,
    "monopoly_index": 0.31,
    "top100_coverage": 0.87,
    "congestion_score": 55.0
  },
  "considering_factors": ["..."],
  "gotchas": [{"factor": "...", "source": "multi-source cross-verified review corpus"}],
  "common_questions": [],
  "common_questions_available": false,
  "needs": ["..."],
  "keywords": ["..."],
  "candidate_pool": {"sample_asins": ["B01MTB55WH", "..."]},
  "notes": {"sample_size": 1200, "...": "..."}
}

*(abbreviated for readability)*

Field notes

Field	Description
`market_overview`	Averages across the category's subcategories; `subcategories` is the count
`considering_factors`	Inductive purchase-consideration factors from a cross-verified review corpus
`gotchas`	Inductive pitfalls with their verification source
`common_questions_available`	`false` when this dataset is not published for the category
`needs` / `keywords`	Scene needs and search keywords observed in the corpus
`candidate_pool.sample_asins`	ASIN sample to feed into `get_product` / `compare_products`

Tool note

> The category brief is derived from a sample of products. CCF/Gotchas are inductive findings, not exhaustive; mention rates and sentiment distributions are statistical representations, not recommendations. See sample_size; quantitative fields return insufficient_sample when the sample is insufficient.

Related tools

get_top100 — the ranked list behind the category
get_product — verify candidate ASINs individually