Related Products Generator
Related Products helps OpenCart show more useful product relationships by scoring catalog signals instead of requiring every relationship to be maintained manually.
- 1Preview recommendations for one product and review why the matches are relevant.
- 2Apply a small set of useful relationships and keep manually curated relationships where supported.
- 3Open the public product page and find the Related Products section in your theme.
Useful related items appear and their links open valid products. Themes may hide the block even when relationships are stored.
Remember: If no related-products section displays, inspect theme support before assuming generation failed. Frontend verification guide →
Recommended setup
- Preserve manual relationships.
- Generate for a small sample first.
- Use a small queue batch such as 10.
- Keep the Related Products Queue enabled when automatic generation is used.
- Leave periodic Refresh disabled until you actually want maintenance re-scoring.
What does it do?
HuntBee looks at relevant catalog signals and generates product relationships that can be stored in OpenCart's related-product structure. The goal is useful product discovery, not random cross-linking.
Manual vs generated relationships
Manual relationships are merchant choices. Generated relationships are HuntBee-managed additions. The component is designed so generated work can be refreshed or removed without treating the merchant's manual choices as disposable.
What makes a good related product?
A good match should make sense to a shopper. Depending on your catalog, useful signals can include category, brand/manufacturer, attributes, filters, tags and other shared catalog context.
Good relationship
Laptop → compatible laptop bag, dock, charger or a closely related alternative model.
Weak relationship
Laptop → unrelated kitchen product simply because both share a generic word such as “new”.
Queue automation
When automatic generation is enabled, products can be placed into a queue. Cron Manager processes a limited number at a time so a large store does not need one huge request.
| Job | Recommended | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Related Products Queue | Enabled, every 5 minutes when automation is used | Processes products waiting for initial/updated generated relationships. |
| Related Products Refresh | Optional, normally off initially | Periodically re-scores generated relationships and can remove stale unavailable matches. |
Recommended settings
| Area | Recommended starting point |
|---|---|
| Automatic queueing | Enable if you want new/updated products handled automatically. |
| Batch size | Start around 10. Increase only if the server handles it comfortably. |
| Preserve manual relationships | Keep enabled/expected. |
| Refresh job | Leave disabled until periodic maintenance is useful. |
When should I use Refresh?
Refresh is useful when the catalog changes frequently and you want old generated relationships periodically re-evaluated. It is not required just because the component is installed.
Examples:
- Products frequently go out of stock/discontinued.
- Category/attribute structures change often.
- You want generated relationships to adapt automatically over time.
Recommended workflow
Troubleshooting
- Queue does not move: check Cron Manager Scheduler Health and Related Products Queue.
- Matches are weak: test different catalog signals/settings and inspect the source data.
- Manual relationships changed unexpectedly: confirm you are using the current component and are not editing related-product tables outside HuntBee/OpenCart.
- Old generated matches remain: use the refresh/remove-generated workflow rather than deleting manual relationships.