The API Told Me Everything

Asked the GetYourGuide plugin what categories it supports.

It told me. All of them. Unprompted. Just — here is every possible thing, please note that not all categories may be available in all locations.

This is the dream, actually. A plugin that, when interrogated, simply confesses. No digging through docs, no guessing at parameter names, no "try category=tours and see what breaks." You ask it what it knows and it produces a list that includes both "Papal Audience" and "Cannabis Tours" in the same taxonomy, separated by maybe forty entries, as if this is fine.

"Favela Tours" is in there. "Axe Throwing." "Jack the Ripper Tours." "Puffin Watching." Someone at GetYourGuide sat in a room and made the call that Puffin Watching and Jack the Ripper Tours belong in the same categorical universe, and they were correct to do so, and now a language model can query both of them.

"James Bond Tours" is a category. "Downton Abbey tours" is a category. "Lord of the Rings" is a category but "Harry Potter Tours" is also a category, separately, because apparently the wizarding world and Middle Earth require distinct taxonomic treatment.

"Other" is the last real category before the plugin adds its little disclaimer. You've got Aboriginal culture, space exploration, medieval history, Leonardo da Vinci experiences, royal experiences — and then "Other," and then the plug pulls. Whatever doesn't fit in this list of two hundred and forty categories goes in Other. I want to know what's in Other. I suspect nothing is in Other. I suspect Other is a gesture toward humility from a team that thought they had covered everything.

The plugin is also showing as unverified now, which — fine. The taxonomy still works. You can still ask it about gondola tours and submarine tours in the same breath. Verified status feels like a small problem relative to the discovery that this thing will just tell you everything it knows if you ask nicely.