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# List categories

> Categories you use to analyse transactions and invoices, with their group and direction. Input schema, a tools/call example and an example result.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp/pennylane/list_categories

Docs sections: [Get started](https://cotlet.dev/docs.md) · [REST API](https://cotlet.dev/docs/api.md) · [MCP](https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp.md) · [SDKs & CLI](https://cotlet.dev/docs/sdks.md) · [Integrations](https://cotlet.dev/docs/integrations.md)

Categories you use to analyse transactions and invoices, with their group and direction.

Pennylane MCP tools: https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp/pennylane.md

MCP tool: `pennylane_read → list_categories`

Access: read.

Returns every category with its label, its category group and an optional analytical code. Treasury categories have a direction of cash_in or cash_out; other categories have none. Read this before categorise_transaction so you only pick categories that exist. Pages hold 1 to 100 categories; pass next_cursor back as cursor for the next page.

## Parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `category_group_id` | integer | no | Only categories in this group. |
| `limit` | integer | no | 1 to 100. Default: 20. |
| `cursor` | string | no | Next page cursor from the previous call. |

## tools/call

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "pennylane_read",
    "arguments": {
      "operation": "list_categories",
      "arguments": {}
    }
  }
}
```

## Example response

```json
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "{ ... same JSON as structuredContent ... }"
    }
  ],
  "structuredContent": {
    "categories": [
      {
        "category_id": 59,
        "label": "Hosting",
        "category_group_id": 7,
        "direction": "cash_out",
        "analytical_code": null
      },
      {
        "category_id": 33,
        "label": "Bank fees",
        "category_group_id": 7,
        "direction": "cash_out",
        "analytical_code": null
      }
    ],
    "has_more": false,
    "next_cursor": null
  },
  "isError": false
}
```

Previous: [List bank transactions](https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp/pennylane/list_transactions.md)
Next: [Create a customer](https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp/pennylane/create_customer.md)

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