Safely remove categories, assets, or relationships

The right way to unassign a category, asset, or relationship without affecting the rest of the product.

Remove a single category or asset from a product without touching anything else on that product. This guide exists because of one specific, confirmed hazard: the API path that looks like the obvious way to do this deletes the entire product instead.

DELETE on a product subpath deletes the entire product

DELETE on a product subpath, for example DELETE /products/{id}/categories, does not remove only that category. It deletes the entire product, with no warning and no way to undo it. This was confirmed twice in testing, including against a subpath name that wasn't even real, so the deletion isn't scoped to categories specifically. This also holds for the more specific-looking path DELETE /products/{id}/categories/{category_id} (with the exact category ID appended), confirmed the same destructive way against a real test product. Never send a DELETE request to a product subpath, with or without a trailing ID, expecting a partial removal.

Prerequisites

A bearer token. See the Quickstart guide for the authentication flow.
The product's current category_ids (or thumbnail_id), read from a GET request, before you attempt to change either.

Steps

Read the product's current state first.
```
curl "https://pim.plytix.com/api/v3/products/<product_id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>"
```
Note the current category_ids array (or check the expanded list at _fields=categories). You'll need the full current list to build the reduced one in the next step.
Remove a category by sending the array without it.
```
curl -X PATCH "https://pim.plytix.com/api/v3/products/<product_id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"category_ids": ["<category_id_to_keep>"]}'
```
PATCH sets the field to whatever array you send. Sending the current list minus the one category is how you remove only that one. The response returns the full updated product, so you can check the result directly instead of making a separate GET call.

FLAG
This project confirmed that PATCH reliably applies a category_ids array you send. The removal direction specifically (sending a shorter array to drop one entry) follows directly from that same behavior but wasn't re-verified as its own dedicated test. Confirm the result with a follow-up GET after your first attempt, as shown in step 4.

FLAG
Some Plytix API documentation describes PATCH as returning no content (status 204, no entity in the response body). This project consistently found the opposite in live testing: PATCH returns 200 with the full updated entity. Rely on the response body if you're testing against a live account, but don't be surprised if you see documentation describing it differently.
Change or clear a product's thumbnail the same way.
```
curl -X PATCH "https://pim.plytix.com/api/v3/products/<product_id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"thumbnail_id": "<new_asset_id>"}'
```
FLAG
Setting thumbnail_id to a new asset is a straightforward application of the same PATCH behavior confirmed elsewhere in this API. Clearing it entirely (setting it to no value) wasn't independently tested in this project. Confirm the result before relying on it in production.
Confirm the removal took effect.
```
curl "https://pim.plytix.com/api/v3/products/<product_id>/categories" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>"
```
The response should list only the categories you kept. If you see the category you tried to remove, or if the product itself returns 404, stop and check what you sent before retrying.

What you can't do

Removing a linked, non-thumbnail asset from a product has no confirmed mechanism. Unlike categories, there's no equivalent array field for assets on a product. Treat asset removal as untested until you've confirmed a working approach for your account.
Relationships can't be removed, or created, through the API at all. Relationship data on a product is read-only. Removing a relationship link is a dashboard-only action today, regardless of whether it was originally set up through the dashboard or a CSV import.

Syncing Your ERP with Plytix

The broader pattern for reading and writing product data safely.

Reconstructing Parent/Variant Hierarchies

Read family and relationship data the API does expose.