diff --git a/api/database.php b/api/database.php
index bd99926..e6a368a 100644
--- a/api/database.php
+++ b/api/database.php
@@ -187,7 +187,10 @@ function migrateDB(PDO $db): void {
         catch (PDOException $e) { if (strpos($e->getMessage(), 'duplicate column') === false) throw $e; }
     }
 
-
+    if (!in_array('subcategory', $colNames)) {
+        try { $db->exec("ALTER TABLE products ADD COLUMN subcategory TEXT DEFAULT NULL"); }
+        catch (PDOException $e) { if (strpos($e->getMessage(), 'duplicate column') === false) throw $e; }
+    }
     
     // Empty barcode strings break UNIQUE (only one '' allowed); normalize to NULL.
     $db->exec("UPDATE products SET barcode = NULL WHERE barcode IS NOT NULL AND TRIM(barcode) = ''");