Domain Categories

Domain categories in the Client Area

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.

The categories.json File

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

Do not edit this 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.
You can assign TLDs to multiple categories. For example, a UK-based hosting company might include .uk and .co.uk in the Popular and Local categories.

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.

If you want to add or customize categories and remove TLDs from default categories, you must put both customizations within the same set of curly braces. For more information, see Add and Remove TLDs below.

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";
For more information, see our Language Overrides Developer Documentation.

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.

If you want to add or customize categories and remove TLDs from default categories, you must add both customizations within the same set of curly braces. For more information, see Add and Remove TLDs below.

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: October 7, 2024