--- title: "Create a customer" method: POST path: "/v1/customers" tags: ["Customers"] deprecated: true --- # Create a customer `POST /v1/customers` ## Request - Base URL: `https://app.beel.es/api` - URL: `https://app.beel.es/api/v1/customers` - Auth: HTTP bearer > **Deprecated.** Creates a new customer. - **Deprecated:** use `POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/customers`, which behaves identically. **Retires on 9 December 2026.** See the [migration guide](https://docs.beel.es/changelog/resources-under-the-nif) for what moved where and what changes when you switch. ## Headers - `Idempotency-Key` string ## Request body - CreateCustomerRequest - `legal_name` string, required: Customer legal name (required). When you also send a Spanish `nif`, how it is used depends on the customer: for an **individual** the AEAT census matches NIF and name together, so a name it does not recognise makes the customer invalid; for a **company** the name is **not verified** and only the CIF decides. - `trade_name` string, nullable: Customer trade name. Optional, but **not empty by default**: leave it out on creation and it is filled with `legal_name`, which is what then shows as the recipient's trade name on the invoice PDF. Send it explicitly if the two differ. The default applies **on creation only**. A `PUT` replaces the customer whole, so omitting `trade_name` there **clears** it instead of refilling it from `legal_name`. - `nif` string: Spanish Tax ID (9 characters, uppercase only). Structural validation: - DNI: 8 digits + 1 letter (e.g., 12345678A) - NIE: X/Y/Z + 7 digits + 1 letter (e.g., X1234567A) - CIF: Organization letter + 7 digits + 1 control digit/letter (e.g., B12345674) - `alternative_id` AlternativeIdentifier, nullable: Alternative identifier for customers without Spanish Tax ID. ### VeriFactu rules (checked when you send it, `422` on violation) - `country_code` is required, except for `PASSPORT` (03) and `NOT_REGISTERED` (07), the two types AEAT accepts with `ES`: omitted, `ES` applies. Missing for any other type, the identifier is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_COUNTRY_REQUIRED`, and `error.details` names the field where it was sent: `alternative_id.country_code` on a customer, `recipient.alternative_id.country_code` on an invoice recipient. Same code in both. - If `country_code = ES`, then `type` **must** be `PASSPORT` (03) or `NOT_REGISTERED` (07) (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_SPAIN_INVALID_TYPE`). - If `type = NOT_REGISTERED` (07), then `country_code` **must** be `ES` (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_REQUIRES_SPAIN`), and `number` **must** be a Spanish DNI or NIE: a Spanish company is always registered (`RECIPIENT_UNREGISTERED_ID_MUST_BE_DNI_OR_NIE`). That DNI or NIE must not be one the AEAT census identifies: if it is, the identifier is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_ACTUALLY_IN_CENSUS` and has to be sent as `nif`. A customer is checked when it is saved; an invoice recipient, when the invoice is issued with VeriFactu. If the census does not answer, the identifier is not rejected. - If `type = NIF_IVA` (02), `country_code` **must** be an EU member state other than Spain (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_VAT_REQUIRES_EU_COUNTRY`), and `number` **must** have that country's EU VAT number structure as AEAT defines it: the country prefix (`EL` for Greece) followed by the national number, e.g. `FR40303265045`, `DE123456789`, `EL094014201` (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_VAT_INVALID_FORMAT`). Lowercase letters are accepted and stored in uppercase. A customer from outside the EU is identified with another type, such as `OTHER_DOCUMENT` or `COUNTRY_ID`. A `number` that is blank once trimmed is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_INVALID`. Well-formed is not the same as registered: an EU VAT number that is not in the VIES census is still rejected by VeriFactu after the invoice is issued. An identifier returned in a response is the one stored. A customer saved before a rule existed keeps its identifier and can still be read; issuing an invoice to it with an identifier that breaks these rules is rejected with the same code, before a number is used. ### Matrix of allowed combinations | `type` | `country_code = ES` | `country_code ≠ ES` | |------------------------|:-------------------:|:-------------------:| | `NIF_IVA` (02) | ✗ | EU member states only | | `PASSPORT` (03) | ✓ | ✓ | | `COUNTRY_ID` (04) | ✗ | ✓ | | `RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE` (05) | ✗ | ✓ | | `OTHER_DOCUMENT` (06) | ✗ | ✓ | | `NOT_REGISTERED` (07) | ✓ | ✗ | - `type` 'NIF_IVA' | 'PASSPORT' | 'COUNTRY_ID' | 'RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE' | 'OTHER_DOCUMENT' | 'NOT_REGISTERED' | '02' | '03' | '04' | '05' | '06' | '07', required: Identifier type. Use descriptive names: - **NIF_IVA**: EU VAT number (intra-community) — *only for an EU member state other than Spain, with that country's VAT number structure* - **PASSPORT**: Passport — *allowed for any country* - **COUNTRY_ID**: Country of residence ID — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE**: Residence certificate — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **OTHER_DOCUMENT**: Other supporting document — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **NOT_REGISTERED**: Not registered in AEAT — *requires `country_code = ES`* **⚠️ DEPRECATED numeric codes** (will be removed in v2): 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 — use the descriptive names above instead. - `number` string, required: Identifier number. For `NIF_IVA`, the full EU VAT number with its country prefix (e.g. `FR40303265045`); see the VeriFactu rules on the parent schema. - `country_code` string: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country that issued the document. Required except for `PASSPORT` and `NOT_REGISTERED`, where omitting it means `ES`. Constrains the allowed `type` values; see the VeriFactu rules on the parent schema. - `address` Address, required: Address you send when you create or update a company, a customer or an onboarding. A required field made only of whitespace passes the length checks below but leaves the address without that part, so it is rejected with `422`: `STREET_EMPTY`, `POSTAL_CODE_EMPTY`, `CITY_EMPTY` or `PROVINCE_EMPTY`. Addresses you read back are described by their own schema. - `street` string, required: Full address (street, number, floor, etc.) - Latin characters only - `number` string: Street number. Optional: omit it when the address has none, or when `street` already carries the address in full. - `floor` string: Floor or level - `door` string: Door or apartment - `postal_code` string, required: Postal code (5 digits for Spain, free format for other countries) - `city` string, required: City or town - Latin characters only - `province` string: Province or state - Latin characters only. Required for an address in Spain (`country_code` `ES`, or no country at all); optional elsewhere, where many addresses have none. A Spanish address without it is rejected with a `422`. - `country` string: Country of the address, as its ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (`GB`) or its official name in Spanish, English or Catalan (`Reino Unido`, `United Kingdom`, `Regne Unit`; case and accents are ignored). Anything else, such as `UK`, is rejected with `422 COUNTRY_CODE_REQUIRED`: send `country_code` instead. If it names a different country than `country_code`, `422 COUNTRY_CODE_MISMATCH` (`España` alone yields to a foreign `country_code`: it was the old default). What is stored and returned is always the Spanish name derived from the resulting code, never the text sent. With neither field present, the address is Spanish (`España`). - `country_code` string: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code: the canonical field that decides the country of the address. It must be a real country code (`GB`, not `UK`); otherwise `422 COUNTRY_CODE_REQUIRED`. When it is omitted, the code comes from `country` (see there). With neither field present, the address is stored as `ES`. - `phone` string: A phone number as this API accepts it: 9 to 20 characters, and only digits, spaces, dashes, parentheses and an optional leading `+`. Every request that takes a phone number uses this schema. It is `Phone` plus the rules enforced on input. A value this schema accepts always satisfies `Phone`, so anything you send here is something a response can return. - `email` string, email, nullable: Main contact address (minimum valid email is 5 chars, e.g. a@b.co). Invoice emails go here only when the customer has no `billing_emails`. - `website` string, nullable: Website URL - `billing_emails` Email[], nullable: Addresses that receive the customer's invoice emails. When the send request names no `recipients` and the invoice has no `email_config` recipients, invoices go to these addresses, and not to `email`; `email` is used only when `billing_emails` is empty. - `contact_person` string, nullable: Contact person name (optional) - `notes` string, nullable: Additional notes about the customer (optional) - `preferred_payment_method` PaymentInfo - `method` 'NONE' | 'BANK_TRANSFER' | 'CARD' | 'CASH' | 'CHECK' | 'DIRECT_DEBIT' | 'BIZUM' | 'OTHER': Payment method shown on invoices and recurring invoices. - `NONE`: no payment information is shown. - `BANK_TRANSFER`: bank transfer to the IBAN of the payment details; the only method that requires an IBAN. - `CARD`: card payment. - `CASH`: cash payment. - `CHECK`: payment by cheque. - `DIRECT_DEBIT`: direct debit from the customer's bank account. - `BIZUM`: payment through Bizum. - `OTHER`: any other method. - `iban` string: IBAN (International Bank Account Number). Required when payment method is BANK_TRANSFER. - `swift` string: SWIFT/BIC code - `payment_term_days` integer, nullable: Payment term in days. When marking an invoice as paid, every field of this object that travels replaces the stored one and every omitted field keeps its current value. - `general_discount` number, nullable: General discount percentage (optional) ## Response `201` Customer created successfully - object: The envelope every successful JSON response of the BeeL. API is wrapped in. There are no bare resources in v1 and none are planned: the payload always hangs off `data`. - A **single resource** is an object in `data`. - A **collection** hangs off a named key inside `data`, together with its `pagination`, also inside `data` — `data: {invoices: [...], pagination: {...}}`. - A collection carries `pagination` unless its operation declares itself a **closed catalogue**: a fixed, bounded list with nothing to page through. The declaration is explicit in the operation; a missing `pagination` is never something to infer. - `GET /v1/accounts` pages by cursor (`data: {accounts: [...], next_cursor}`). It is a documented variant of pagination, not another envelope. Putting the array straight into `data` with `pagination` as its sibling is the shape a v2 would adopt; v1 is not being flipped to it. - `success` boolean, required - `data` object, required: The payload. An object for a single resource; an object holding the named collection (and its `pagination`) for a listing. Never a bare array at this level in v1. - `id` string, uuid, required - `legal_name` string, required - `trade_name` string - `nif` string: Spanish Tax ID (9 characters, uppercase only). Structural validation: - DNI: 8 digits + 1 letter (e.g., 12345678A) - NIE: X/Y/Z + 7 digits + 1 letter (e.g., X1234567A) - CIF: Organization letter + 7 digits + 1 control digit/letter (e.g., B12345674) - `address` AddressResponse, required: An address as stored. Nothing is guaranteed: the address of a company created by signup is empty until onboarding fills it in, so every field may be absent. `Address` (the request shape) does require them — that is a rule of admission, not a fact about what is stored. - `street` string: Full address (street, number, floor, etc.) - `number` string: Street number. Absent when the stored address has none. - `floor` string: Floor or level - `door` string: Door or apartment - `postal_code` string: Postal code (5 digits for Spain, free format for other countries) - `city` string: City or town - `province` string: Province or state. Outside Spain an address may have none. - `country` string: Country name: the Spanish name derived from `country_code`. Addresses stored before the country was validated may hold the name as it was sent. - `country_code` string: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code - `phone` string: A phone number, as the record holds it: digits, spaces, dashes, parentheses and an optional leading `+`, up to 20 characters. This is the schema a **response** carries, and the length above is the only rule it states. It deliberately does not repeat the character rule, because a number can reach a record through a path that predates that rule or never passed through this API at all — a payment provider's customer data, a bulk import. Read the field defensively and do not assume it parses. What a **request** has to satisfy is `PhoneInput`, which adds the rules this API enforces on the way in. - `email` string, email, nullable: Main contact address (minimum valid email is 5 chars, e.g. a@b.co). Invoice emails go here only when the customer has no `billing_emails`. - `website` string, nullable: Website URL - `billing_emails` Email[]: Addresses that receive the customer's invoice emails. When the send request names no `recipients` and the invoice has no `email_config` recipients, invoices go to these addresses, and not to `email`; `email` is used only when `billing_emails` is empty. - `contact_person` string - `notes` string - `preferred_payment_method` PaymentInfo - `method` 'NONE' | 'BANK_TRANSFER' | 'CARD' | 'CASH' | 'CHECK' | 'DIRECT_DEBIT' | 'BIZUM' | 'OTHER': Payment method shown on invoices and recurring invoices. - `NONE`: no payment information is shown. - `BANK_TRANSFER`: bank transfer to the IBAN of the payment details; the only method that requires an IBAN. - `CARD`: card payment. - `CASH`: cash payment. - `CHECK`: payment by cheque. - `DIRECT_DEBIT`: direct debit from the customer's bank account. - `BIZUM`: payment through Bizum. - `OTHER`: any other method. - `iban` string: IBAN (International Bank Account Number). Required when payment method is BANK_TRANSFER. - `swift` string: SWIFT/BIC code - `payment_term_days` integer, nullable: Payment term in days. When marking an invoice as paid, every field of this object that travels replaces the stored one and every omitted field keeps its current value. - `general_discount` number - `active` boolean - `created_at` string, date-time, required - `updated_at` string, date-time - `alternative_id` AlternativeIdentifier, nullable: Alternative identifier for customers without Spanish Tax ID. ### VeriFactu rules (checked when you send it, `422` on violation) - `country_code` is required, except for `PASSPORT` (03) and `NOT_REGISTERED` (07), the two types AEAT accepts with `ES`: omitted, `ES` applies. Missing for any other type, the identifier is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_COUNTRY_REQUIRED`, and `error.details` names the field where it was sent: `alternative_id.country_code` on a customer, `recipient.alternative_id.country_code` on an invoice recipient. Same code in both. - If `country_code = ES`, then `type` **must** be `PASSPORT` (03) or `NOT_REGISTERED` (07) (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_SPAIN_INVALID_TYPE`). - If `type = NOT_REGISTERED` (07), then `country_code` **must** be `ES` (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_REQUIRES_SPAIN`), and `number` **must** be a Spanish DNI or NIE: a Spanish company is always registered (`RECIPIENT_UNREGISTERED_ID_MUST_BE_DNI_OR_NIE`). That DNI or NIE must not be one the AEAT census identifies: if it is, the identifier is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_ACTUALLY_IN_CENSUS` and has to be sent as `nif`. A customer is checked when it is saved; an invoice recipient, when the invoice is issued with VeriFactu. If the census does not answer, the identifier is not rejected. - If `type = NIF_IVA` (02), `country_code` **must** be an EU member state other than Spain (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_VAT_REQUIRES_EU_COUNTRY`), and `number` **must** have that country's EU VAT number structure as AEAT defines it: the country prefix (`EL` for Greece) followed by the national number, e.g. `FR40303265045`, `DE123456789`, `EL094014201` (`ALTERNATIVE_ID_VAT_INVALID_FORMAT`). Lowercase letters are accepted and stored in uppercase. A customer from outside the EU is identified with another type, such as `OTHER_DOCUMENT` or `COUNTRY_ID`. A `number` that is blank once trimmed is rejected with `ALTERNATIVE_ID_INVALID`. Well-formed is not the same as registered: an EU VAT number that is not in the VIES census is still rejected by VeriFactu after the invoice is issued. An identifier returned in a response is the one stored. A customer saved before a rule existed keeps its identifier and can still be read; issuing an invoice to it with an identifier that breaks these rules is rejected with the same code, before a number is used. ### Matrix of allowed combinations | `type` | `country_code = ES` | `country_code ≠ ES` | |------------------------|:-------------------:|:-------------------:| | `NIF_IVA` (02) | ✗ | EU member states only | | `PASSPORT` (03) | ✓ | ✓ | | `COUNTRY_ID` (04) | ✗ | ✓ | | `RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE` (05) | ✗ | ✓ | | `OTHER_DOCUMENT` (06) | ✗ | ✓ | | `NOT_REGISTERED` (07) | ✓ | ✗ | - `type` 'NIF_IVA' | 'PASSPORT' | 'COUNTRY_ID' | 'RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE' | 'OTHER_DOCUMENT' | 'NOT_REGISTERED' | '02' | '03' | '04' | '05' | '06' | '07', required: Identifier type. Use descriptive names: - **NIF_IVA**: EU VAT number (intra-community) — *only for an EU member state other than Spain, with that country's VAT number structure* - **PASSPORT**: Passport — *allowed for any country* - **COUNTRY_ID**: Country of residence ID — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **RESIDENCE_CERTIFICATE**: Residence certificate — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **OTHER_DOCUMENT**: Other supporting document — *not allowed when `country_code = ES`* - **NOT_REGISTERED**: Not registered in AEAT — *requires `country_code = ES`* **⚠️ DEPRECATED numeric codes** (will be removed in v2): 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 — use the descriptive names above instead. - `number` string, required: Identifier number. For `NIF_IVA`, the full EU VAT number with its country prefix (e.g. `FR40303265045`); see the VeriFactu rules on the parent schema. - `country_code` string: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country that issued the document. Required except for `PASSPORT` and `NOT_REGISTERED`, where omitting it means `ES`. Constrains the allowed `type` values; see the VeriFactu rules on the parent schema. - `meta` ResponseMeta - `timestamp` string, date-time - `request_id` string ## Other responses - `400`: `INVALID_JSON_FORMAT` — the body is not valid JSON, or a property has the wrong type or format (a string where a number is expected, a date that does not parse, a malformed UUID, a boolean that is not `true`/`false`). The `details` object follows `FieldDeserializationError`: `field`, `invalid_value` and, where there is one, `expected_format` (or `allowed_values`, for a boolean). A property the operation does not declare is not a format error: it is ignored. A value outside an **enum**'s vocabulary is not answered here. The property is a well-formed string that names nothing the operation knows, so it is judged as content: `422` (`VALIDATION_ERROR`), with the same `FieldDeserializationError` shape in `details` (`field`, `invalid_value`, `allowed_values`). - `401`: Missing or invalid authentication. Like every other error, `message`/`detail` is localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English when the header is missing or asks for none of those. - `403`: Authenticated but not allowed. Fourteen causes shared by every operation, told apart by `error.code`; an operation that adds a cause of its own names it in its `403`. You can branch on them exhaustively. - `INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE` — the credential lacks a scope the operation requires; `error.details.missing_scopes` names them as a single comma-separated string (for example `"invoices:write,customers:read"`), not as an array; `required_scopes` has the same shape and lists every scope the operation needs. Retrying will not help: mint a key that holds them. - `COMPANY_READ_ONLY` — the scope is there, but your access level over that NIF only lets you read it. - `ACCOUNT_MANAGEMENT_FORBIDDEN` — the scope is there, but your role over the account, or the management relationship you hold over it, does not cover this operation. - `ACCOUNT_NOT_ACCESSIBLE` — the account is not yours to reach, which is also the answer when it does not exist, so existence is never disclosed. - `ACTIVE_COMPANY_NOT_ACCESSIBLE` — the same, for a NIF: the company in the path, or the one named by `BeeL-Active-Company`, is not one this credential may reach — and again, this is also the answer when it does not exist. - `COMPANY_ACCESS_REVOKED` — your access to the NIF was withdrawn while the request was already in flight, so the write was rejected and nothing was recorded. Retrying will not help until the access is granted again. - `LIVE_CREDENTIAL_REQUIRED` — the operation changes the real account and the call came from a test API key (`beel_sk_test_…`). Use your live key or the dashboard. - `FEATURE_NOT_AVAILABLE` — your subscription does not include the entitlement the operation needs; `error.details.feature_code` names it. This gate runs **before** the scope gate, so for such an operation you never see `INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE` first. - `NO_ACTIVE_ACCOUNT` — the credential does not resolve to an account, so no scope can be evaluated against one. Fail-closed, not a permission that can be granted to you. - `OPERATION_REQUIRES_SESSION` — the operation is available only from the web session; no API key and no OAuth2 token can perform it, whatever scopes it holds. - `OPERATION_REQUIRES_API_KEY` — the reverse: the operation needs a scope that only an API key can hold (such as `accounts:write`), so a dashboard session never satisfies it. - `API_KEY_LIVE_NOT_AVAILABLE` — the call came with a live API key (`beel_sk_live_…`) and the account has no Live mode yet. It is never degraded to Test: use your test key, or activate Live first. - `ACCOUNT_REQUIRES_FOCUS_SWITCH` — dashboard session only: you are a member of the account in the path, but it is not the account in focus. Switch focus to it and retry. - `REQUEST_BLOCKED` — the edge security filter stopped the request before the API saw its body, usually because a text field carries something that looks like markup or a script (HTML tags, `