In mathematics, the free category or path category generated by a directed graph or quiver is the category that results from freely concatenating arrows together, whenever the target of one arrow is the source of the next.

More precisely, the objects of the category are the vertices of the quiver, and the morphisms are paths between objects. Here, a path is defined as a finite sequence

${\displaystyle V_{0}{\xrightarrow {\;\;E_{0}\;\;}}V_{1}{\xrightarrow {\;\;E_{1}\;\;}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {E_{n-1}}}V_{n}}$

where ${\displaystyle V_{k}}$ is a vertex of the quiver, ${\displaystyle E_{k}}$ is an edge of the quiver, and n ranges over the non-negative integers. For every vertex ${\displaystyle V}$ of the quiver, there is an "empty path" which constitutes the identity morphisms of the category.

The composition operation is concatenation of paths. Given paths

${\displaystyle V_{0}{\xrightarrow {E_{0}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {E_{n-1}}}V_{n},\quad V_{n}{\xrightarrow {F_{0}}}W_{0}{\xrightarrow {F_{1}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {F_{n-1}}}W_{m},}$

their composition is

${\displaystyle \left(V_{n}{\xrightarrow {F_{0}}}W_{0}{\xrightarrow {F_{1}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {F_{n-1}}}W_{m}\right)\circ \left(V_{0}{\xrightarrow {E_{0}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {E_{n-1}}}V_{n}\right):=V_{0}{\xrightarrow {E_{0}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {E_{n-1}}}V_{n}{\xrightarrow {F_{0}}}W_{0}{\xrightarrow {F_{1}}}\cdots {\xrightarrow {F_{n-1}}}W_{m}}$.^[1][2]

Note that the result of the composition starts with the right operand of the composition, and ends with its left operand.