magento-catalog

Magento 2 Catalog & Product Types

Before writing code

Fetch live docs:

1. Web-search site:developer.adobe.com commerce php development components catalog for catalog development
2. Web-search site:developer.adobe.com commerce php development components indexing for indexer guide
3. Fetch https://developer.adobe.com/commerce/php/development/components/indexing/ for indexing architecture

Product Types

Six Built-in Types

Type	Description	Key Characteristics
Simple	Single physical item	Unique SKU, own stock, no variations
Configurable	Parent with variant children	Children are simple products, vary by attributes (size, color)
Grouped	Collection of products	Simple/virtual children, purchased independently
Bundle	Customer-assembled set	Options with selectable items, dynamic/fixed pricing
Virtual	Non-physical (services)	No shipping, no weight
Downloadable	Digital products	Files/links, optional samples

Configurable Products

The most complex type — a parent product with simple product children:

• Super attributes determine variations (e.g., color, size)
• Each combination maps to a child simple product with its own SKU and stock
• Frontend: dropdown selectors, price updates, image swapping
• Key tables: catalog_product_super_attribute, catalog_product_super_link

Custom Product Types

Possible to create custom types by:

• Extending Magento\Catalog\Model\Product\Type\AbstractType
• Registering in etc/product_types.xml
• Defining custom price model, stock handling, and checkout behavior

Categories

Category Tree

• Hierarchical structure with root categories and subcategories
• Each store view has one root category
• Categories use EAV for attributes
• URL rewrites generate SEO-friendly paths
• Display modes: products only, CMS block only, both

Category Attributes

• name, description, image, meta_title, meta_description
• is_active, include_in_menu, display_mode
• url_key, url_path
• Custom attributes addable via data patches

Indexing

Why Indexing Exists

EAV queries are expensive. Indexers pre-compute denormalized data for fast reads.

Standard Indexers

• catalog_product_price — pre-computed product prices
• catalogsearch_fulltext — search engine index (OpenSearch/Elasticsearch)
• catalog_product_attribute — filterable attributes for layered navigation
• cataloginventory_stock — stock status
• catalogrule_product — catalog price rules
• catalog_category_product — category-product associations

Index Modes

Mode	Behavior	Use Case
Update on Save	Reindexes immediately on data change	Small catalogs, development
Update by Schedule	Cron-based, uses changelog tables	Production (recommended)

Mview (Materialized Views)

Changelog tables (*_cl) track changes via database triggers. Cron compares versions in mview_state to determine what needs reindexing. Efficient — only processes changed entities.

CLI Commands

bin/magento indexer:reindex                    # Reindex all
bin/magento indexer:reindex catalogsearch_fulltext  # Reindex specific
bin/magento indexer:status                     # Show status
bin/magento indexer:set-mode schedule           # Set all to schedule mode

Search Integration

• A search engine has been required since 2.4.0 (originally Elasticsearch; OpenSearch supported from 2.4.6; only OpenSearch from 2.4.8)
• Products, categories indexed for search and layered navigation
• Elasticsearch removed in 2.4.8
• Custom search attributes configurable per attribute

Best Practices

• Use "Update by Schedule" indexing in production
• Design catalog structure before adding products — attribute sets are hard to change later
• Use configurable products for variant-heavy catalogs
• Keep EAV attribute count reasonable — more attributes = slower indexing
• Test catalog operations at scale (1000+ products) to catch performance issues
• Use the repository pattern (ProductRepositoryInterface) for programmatic product access

Fetch the catalog and indexing docs for exact indexer configuration, product type XML schema, and search integration patterns before implementing.