In the Client Area, domain categories group domain TLDs into categories on the Client Area Register Domain page. For example, they could appear in groups like Popular, Shopping, or Real Estate.

Domain categories make it easier for clients to find their ideal domain extensions. You can customize these categories on self-hosted WHMCS installations.

The categories.json File #

You can find the default domain categories that ship with WHMCS in the /resources/domains/dist.categories.json file.

To add or edit domain category definitions, create your own custom category file.

• This file must use valid JSON.
• The update process will not overwrite changes that you make in your custom file.

Add a TLD or Category #

To add a category or add a TLD to a default category, add a section that resembles this example to your custom /resources/domains/categories.json file:

{
  "Domains A-F": [
    ".biz",
    ".ca",
    ".com",
    ".co.uk",
    ".de",
    ".eu"
  ]
}

This example adds a Domains A-F domain category with several TLDs.

Translate a Category #

You can add category name translations to match your customers’ chosen languages. To do this, add an entry for the desired translation in each language’s override file.

For example, you could add the following override string to the german.php language override file to translate a Money and Finance category name into German:

$_LANG['domainTldCategory']['Money and Finance'] = "Geld und Finanzen";

Remove a TLD from a Default TLD Category #

To remove a TLD from a default category, add a section that resembles this example to your custom /resources/domains/categories.json file:

{
  "REMOVE": {
    "Popular": [
      ".com",
      ".net"
    ]
  }
}

This example removes the .com and .net TLDs from appearing in the default Popular category.

Add and Remove TLDs #

If you want to both create and add to new categories while removing TLDs from default categories, add additions and removals in the same set of curly braces. For example:

{
  "Domains A-F": [
    ".biz",
    ".ca",
    ".com",
    ".co.uk",
    ".de",
    ".eu"
  ],
  "REMOVE": {
    "Popular": [
      ".com",
      ".net"
    ]
  }
}

Last modified: 2026 February 3