--- title: "Add a section to a report" method: POST path: "/sections/create" tags: ["Sections"] --- # Add a section to a report `POST /sections/create` ## Request - Base URL: `https://api.reportingninja.com/v1` - URL: `https://api.reportingninja.com/v1/sections/create` - Auth: HTTP bearer Adds one empty section at the END of a report and raises the version of its sections structure. The section is born with the defaults of the product -- the date range a new section gets, the flags of its header, its page orientation and every global filter set to none -- which are the same ones every section of a new report is created with. Only `name` and `page_break` are asked for; everything else is changed afterwards with /v1/sections/update. IT GOES AT THE END and there is no way to ask for another position, which is what the application offers too: move it with /v1/sections/reorder. It starts EMPTY -- widgets go in with /v1/widgets/create, or a whole section with its widgets is written in one call with /v1/reports/append. There is no ceiling on the sections of a report. It accepts if_version and answers the new one. A report built on a template is refused with 400 APPEND_NOT_ALLOWED, reason template_based: its sections belong to its template. Refusals: 400 for the framework and the body, 400 VALIDATION_FAILED, 400 APPEND_NOT_ALLOWED, 403 WRITE_ACCESS_DISABLED, 404 NOT_FOUND, 409 VERSION_MISMATCH and 409 REPORT_IN_TRASH. Every write endpoint reads dry_run and idempotency_key; see the Write guarantees section of the introduction. ## Request body - SectionsCreateRequest: The report the section is added to, and the two things a new section is asked for. - `report_key` string, required: The report the section goes into. - `name` string, required: The title of the section, 1 to 80 characters, with no character above the Basic Multilingual Plane (an emoji, most often). - `page_break` boolean: Whether the PDF starts a new page at this section. Default true, which is what the application proposes for a new section. - `if_version` integer: The sections version of the report, as /v1/reports/get publishes it. A stale one is HTTP 409 VERSION_MISMATCH. - `dry_run` boolean: Validate and answer what WOULD happen, without writing anything. Default false. - `idempotency_key` string: Makes a retry safe: the answer of the first call is replayed for 24 hours to any later call with the same key and the same body. ## Response `200` The call succeeded. This endpoint reports its errors with a real HTTP status, so a 200 always carries status=ok. - SectionsCreateResponse: The 200 of this write, in whichever of its shapes the call asked for. - `status` 'ok', required - `data` union, required: The answer of the write. A call sent with dry_run: true answers WriteDryRunData instead. - SectionsCreateData: The section that was created and the version the report reached. - `report_key` string, required - `section` SectionState, required: One section as a read publishes it, without its widgets: the same keys /v1/reports/get answers inside sections[]. - `section_key` string, nullable, required - `name` string, nullable, required - `show_previous_period` boolean, required: True when the header of the section names the period it is compared against, under its date range. The same key a section of /v1/reports/create takes. - `add_summary` union, required: The AI summary OF THIS SECTION, said the way `add_summary` asks for one: `null` when the section carries none, `{"position":"first"}` or `{"position":"last"}` when it is in the first or the last row of the section, and `true` when it carries one placed by hand somewhere in between, which no position of the composition describes (writing that report back with `true` puts it in the first row). A summary of the WHOLE report hosted by this section is NOT answered here: it shows up as one more widget of type `ai_summary`, and the `add_summary` at the root of a composition is what asks for it. - boolean - object - `position` 'first' | 'last', required - `show_date_range` boolean, required: Whether the header of the section shows the period it covers. - `page_orientation` 'portrait' | 'landscape', nullable, required: How the pages of this section are laid out in the PDF, or null when the section holds no value for it. - `page_break` boolean, required: Whether the PDF starts a new page at this section. - `version` integer, required: The sections version after the write. - `created_keys` string[]: The key of the section that was created. Absent from a dry run. - `unfulfilled` string[], required: What was asked for and could not be expressed; the API returns an empty list. - `warnings` Problem[], required: Things worth knowing about a write that DID happen. They are never errors. - `path` string, required: Dotted path of the offending field inside the request body, empty for a problem about the body as a whole. - `code` 'MISSING_REQUIRED_FIELD' | 'INVALID_VALUE' | 'UNKNOWN_PARAM' | 'INVALID_DATE_RANGE' | 'INTEGRATION_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'CONNECTION_NOT_FOUND' | 'ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND' | 'ONE_CONNECTION_PER_INTEGRATION' | 'DATE_PRESET_NOT_IN_REPORTS' | 'TEMPLATE_NOT_FOUND' | 'TEMPLATE_PARAMETERIZED' | 'ROW_RULE' | 'POSITION_CHANGED' | 'SECTION_CHANGED' | 'TOO_MANY_PROBLEMS' | 'DATA_SOURCES_PARTIALLY_BOUND' | 'WELCOME_EMAIL_FAILED' | 'REPORT_WILL_BE_SHARED_PUBLICLY' | 'MAY_BE_DELIVERED_AGAIN_TODAY' | 'SUMMARY_SECTION_SKIPPED' | 'COVER_FILE_REMOVED' | 'COVER_TYPE_SET' | 'LOGO_REMOVED' | 'READ_ONLY_FIELD_IGNORED' | 'AI_BRIEF_NOT_SAVED' | 'SPENDS_AI_CREDITS' | 'DROPS_ACCOUNT_CACHE' | 'CHART_TYPE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'CHART_TYPE_NOT_FOR_TREND' | 'CONTENT_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'FULL_WIDTH_NOT_FOR_KPI' | 'DATA_VIEW_FIELDS_PER_ACCOUNT' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_EMPTY' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_OF_THE_SECTION' | 'DATA_VIEW_REQUIRED' | 'DATA_VIEW_UNKNOWN' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INCOMPLETE' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INVALID' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INVERTED' | 'DATE_RANGE_PRESET_UNKNOWN' | 'DATE_RANGE_X_REQUIRED' | 'DIMENSION_DUPLICATED' | 'DIMENSION_IS_A_METRIC' | 'DIMENSION_REQUIRED' | 'DIMENSION_UNKNOWN' | 'DSL_INVALID' | 'FIELD_NOT_IN_AD_TYPES' | 'FILTERS_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'FILTER_COMBINATION_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'FILTER_CONDITIONS_MIXED_KINDS' | 'FILTER_FIELD_NOT_A_COLUMN' | 'FILTER_FIELD_NOT_IN_DATA_VIEW' | 'FILTER_FIELD_UNKNOWN' | 'FILTER_LIKE_NEEDS_WILDCARD' | 'FILTER_OPERATOR_INVALID' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_MISMATCH' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_NOT_USED' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_REQUIRED' | 'FILTER_VALUE_EMPTY' | 'FILTER_VALUE_NOT_ALLOWED' | 'FILTER_VALUE_NOT_NUMERIC' | 'GRAPH_EXTRA_DIMENSIONS' | 'GRAPH_TIME_DIMENSION_MIXED' | 'INTEGRATION_UNKNOWN' | 'INTENT_MISSING' | 'KPI_NEEDS_ONE_METRIC' | 'KPI_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'LIMIT_IGNORED_IN_TREND' | 'LIMIT_OUT_OF_RANGE' | 'METRICS_SUMMARY_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'METRIC_DUPLICATED' | 'METRIC_IS_A_DIMENSION' | 'METRIC_UNKNOWN' | 'METRICS_REQUIRED' | 'NAME_EMPTY' | 'NAME_NOT_PLAIN_TEXT' | 'NAME_TOO_LONG' | 'PIE_TAKES_ONE_DIMENSION' | 'PREVIOUS_PERIOD_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_THIS_TABLE' | 'COMPARISON_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_THIS_WIDGET' | 'PREVIOUS_PERIOD_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'SHOW_CHANGE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'SHOW_CHANGE_NEEDS_PREVIOUS_PERIOD' | 'SETTING_DUPLICATED' | 'SETTING_NOT_FOR_DATA_VIEW' | 'SETTING_NOT_IN_WIDGET' | 'SETTING_UNKNOWN' | 'SETTING_VALUE_INVALID' | 'SORT_FIELD_NOT_SELECTED' | 'TABLE_TIME_DIMENSION_NOT_DRAWABLE' | 'TEXT_CONTENT_REQUIRED' | 'TEXT_CONTENT_TOO_LONG' | 'TEXT_NOT_A_WIDGET_TYPE' | 'TEXT_TAKES_NO_DATA' | 'TOO_MANY_DIMENSIONS' | 'TOO_MANY_METRICS' | 'TRANSLATION_FAILED' | 'TREND_ORDER_IS_THE_TIME_AXIS' | 'TREND_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'VISUALIZATION_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'VISUALIZATION_NOT_OF_REQUESTED_TYPE' | 'FIELD_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'FILTER_CONDITIONS_MIXED_LEVELS' | 'FILTER_LEVEL_MISMATCH' | 'FORMULA_TOKEN_UNKNOWN' | 'FORMULA_INVALID' | 'LANGUAGE_FILE_KEYS_IGNORED' | 'SELECTION_EMPTY' | 'FILTER_KEY_AND_FILTERS' | 'FILTER_KEY_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'KEY_NOT_FOR_GENERATION' | 'COMPARE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'COMPARE_NOT_FOR_INTEGRATION' | 'COMPARE_ITEMS_CARDINALITY' | 'COMPARE_METRICS_CARDINALITY' | 'COMPARE_OVER_TIME_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'COMPARE_METRIC_HAS_NO_BREAKDOWN' | 'COMPARE_KEY_NOT_FOR_THIS_COMPARATOR' | 'COMPARATOR_CLASS_FIXED', required: What is wrong with that field, or what is worth knowing about it. The first group is the vocabulary of the body itself; the eleven that follow it appear only in `warnings[]`, bar TOO_MANY_PROBLEMS, which closes a `problems` list that was truncated; and the rest are the codes of the widget DSL, which travel here when a composition or a widget carries a dsl that does not validate. - `message` string, required: Human-readable explanation. Not stable across versions. - `suggestions` string[]: The accepted values, when the field takes a closed list. - WriteDryRunData: The answer of a call sent with dry_run: true. Nothing was written, no idempotency key was consumed and no confirmation token was burnt. When valid is true, the fields of the endpoint's own preview travel alongside these two; when it is false, `message` and `problems` do instead. The HTTP status is 200 in both cases: a rehearsal that says the body is wrong is a successful rehearsal. Two refusals are NOT translated and arrive with their real status: a 429 (the budgets are spent either way) and any 5xx. - `dry_run` true, required: Always true in this shape. - `valid` boolean, required: Whether the body would be accepted. - `message` string: Why the body would be refused. Present only when valid is false. - `problems` Problem[]: Everything that is wrong with the body. Present only when valid is false. - `path` string, required: Dotted path of the offending field inside the request body, empty for a problem about the body as a whole. - `code` 'MISSING_REQUIRED_FIELD' | 'INVALID_VALUE' | 'UNKNOWN_PARAM' | 'INVALID_DATE_RANGE' | 'INTEGRATION_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'CONNECTION_NOT_FOUND' | 'ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND' | 'ONE_CONNECTION_PER_INTEGRATION' | 'DATE_PRESET_NOT_IN_REPORTS' | 'TEMPLATE_NOT_FOUND' | 'TEMPLATE_PARAMETERIZED' | 'ROW_RULE' | 'POSITION_CHANGED' | 'SECTION_CHANGED' | 'TOO_MANY_PROBLEMS' | 'DATA_SOURCES_PARTIALLY_BOUND' | 'WELCOME_EMAIL_FAILED' | 'REPORT_WILL_BE_SHARED_PUBLICLY' | 'MAY_BE_DELIVERED_AGAIN_TODAY' | 'SUMMARY_SECTION_SKIPPED' | 'COVER_FILE_REMOVED' | 'COVER_TYPE_SET' | 'LOGO_REMOVED' | 'READ_ONLY_FIELD_IGNORED' | 'AI_BRIEF_NOT_SAVED' | 'SPENDS_AI_CREDITS' | 'DROPS_ACCOUNT_CACHE' | 'CHART_TYPE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'CHART_TYPE_NOT_FOR_TREND' | 'CONTENT_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'FULL_WIDTH_NOT_FOR_KPI' | 'DATA_VIEW_FIELDS_PER_ACCOUNT' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_EMPTY' | 'DATA_VIEW_NOT_OF_THE_SECTION' | 'DATA_VIEW_REQUIRED' | 'DATA_VIEW_UNKNOWN' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INCOMPLETE' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INVALID' | 'DATE_RANGE_CUSTOM_INVERTED' | 'DATE_RANGE_PRESET_UNKNOWN' | 'DATE_RANGE_X_REQUIRED' | 'DIMENSION_DUPLICATED' | 'DIMENSION_IS_A_METRIC' | 'DIMENSION_REQUIRED' | 'DIMENSION_UNKNOWN' | 'DSL_INVALID' | 'FIELD_NOT_IN_AD_TYPES' | 'FILTERS_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'FILTER_COMBINATION_NOT_SUPPORTED' | 'FILTER_CONDITIONS_MIXED_KINDS' | 'FILTER_FIELD_NOT_A_COLUMN' | 'FILTER_FIELD_NOT_IN_DATA_VIEW' | 'FILTER_FIELD_UNKNOWN' | 'FILTER_LIKE_NEEDS_WILDCARD' | 'FILTER_OPERATOR_INVALID' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_MISMATCH' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_NOT_USED' | 'FILTER_TYPE_OF_FIELD_REQUIRED' | 'FILTER_VALUE_EMPTY' | 'FILTER_VALUE_NOT_ALLOWED' | 'FILTER_VALUE_NOT_NUMERIC' | 'GRAPH_EXTRA_DIMENSIONS' | 'GRAPH_TIME_DIMENSION_MIXED' | 'INTEGRATION_UNKNOWN' | 'INTENT_MISSING' | 'KPI_NEEDS_ONE_METRIC' | 'KPI_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'LIMIT_IGNORED_IN_TREND' | 'LIMIT_OUT_OF_RANGE' | 'METRICS_SUMMARY_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'METRIC_DUPLICATED' | 'METRIC_IS_A_DIMENSION' | 'METRIC_UNKNOWN' | 'METRICS_REQUIRED' | 'NAME_EMPTY' | 'NAME_NOT_PLAIN_TEXT' | 'NAME_TOO_LONG' | 'PIE_TAKES_ONE_DIMENSION' | 'PREVIOUS_PERIOD_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_THIS_TABLE' | 'COMPARISON_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_THIS_WIDGET' | 'PREVIOUS_PERIOD_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'SHOW_CHANGE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'SHOW_CHANGE_NEEDS_PREVIOUS_PERIOD' | 'SETTING_DUPLICATED' | 'SETTING_NOT_FOR_DATA_VIEW' | 'SETTING_NOT_IN_WIDGET' | 'SETTING_UNKNOWN' | 'SETTING_VALUE_INVALID' | 'SORT_FIELD_NOT_SELECTED' | 'TABLE_TIME_DIMENSION_NOT_DRAWABLE' | 'TEXT_CONTENT_REQUIRED' | 'TEXT_CONTENT_TOO_LONG' | 'TEXT_NOT_A_WIDGET_TYPE' | 'TEXT_TAKES_NO_DATA' | 'TOO_MANY_DIMENSIONS' | 'TOO_MANY_METRICS' | 'TRANSLATION_FAILED' | 'TREND_ORDER_IS_THE_TIME_AXIS' | 'TREND_TAKES_NO_DIMENSIONS' | 'VISUALIZATION_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'VISUALIZATION_NOT_OF_REQUESTED_TYPE' | 'FIELD_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'FILTER_CONDITIONS_MIXED_LEVELS' | 'FILTER_LEVEL_MISMATCH' | 'FORMULA_TOKEN_UNKNOWN' | 'FORMULA_INVALID' | 'LANGUAGE_FILE_KEYS_IGNORED' | 'SELECTION_EMPTY' | 'FILTER_KEY_AND_FILTERS' | 'FILTER_KEY_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'KEY_NOT_FOR_GENERATION' | 'COMPARE_NOT_FOR_THIS_SHAPE' | 'COMPARE_NOT_FOR_INTEGRATION' | 'COMPARE_ITEMS_CARDINALITY' | 'COMPARE_METRICS_CARDINALITY' | 'COMPARE_OVER_TIME_NOT_AVAILABLE' | 'COMPARE_METRIC_HAS_NO_BREAKDOWN' | 'COMPARE_KEY_NOT_FOR_THIS_COMPARATOR' | 'COMPARATOR_CLASS_FIXED', required: What is wrong with that field, or what is worth knowing about it. The first group is the vocabulary of the body itself; the eleven that follow it appear only in `warnings[]`, bar TOO_MANY_PROBLEMS, which closes a `problems` list that was truncated; and the rest are the codes of the widget DSL, which travel here when a composition or a widget carries a dsl that does not validate. - `message` string, required: Human-readable explanation. Not stable across versions. - `suggestions` string[]: The accepted values, when the field takes a closed list. - `meta` WriteMeta, required: The meta of a write answer. A replay carries two extra fields so it can be told apart from a first call and still traced back to it. - `request_id` string, required: Id of THIS request, including on a replay. - `timestamp` string, date-time, required - `replayed` boolean: True when this answer is the stored answer of an earlier call with the same idempotency_key and the same body. Absent on a first call. - `replayed_from_request_id` string, nullable: The request_id of the call that actually did the work. Present only on a replay, and null when the stored answer carried no id. ## Other responses - `400`: The request was refused before anything was written. INVALID_REQUEST covers the framework refusals of every endpoint (the Content-Type is not application/json, the body could not be read, the body is not valid JSON). The report endpoints add their own: VALIDATION_FAILED with details.problems, UNKNOWN_PARAM with the path of the field the endpoint does not read, and the single-field refusals MISSING_REQUIRED_FIELD, INVALID_VALUE and APPEND_NOT_ALLOWED. The description of each operation lists the ones it emits. Everything else a body can get wrong arrives as an entry of details.problems rather than as the code of the envelope. - `401`: Invalid or missing Bearer token. - `403`: The account may not perform this write. WRITE_ACCESS_DISABLED means write access has not been enabled for the API key in the REST API tab of the app. PLAN_LIMIT_REACHED means the plan has no room left for another report or template, and is emitted only by the endpoints that create one. - `404`: A key of the request does not name anything this account owns. NOT_FOUND covers reports, sections, widgets, schedules, portal views, brand templates, email templates and language files; TEMPLATE_NOT_FOUND covers a catalog slug, version or section position that stopped being published between the validation and the write. An entity of another account is reported the same way as one that does not exist. - `409`: The request is well formed and the current state does not allow it. Every write can answer IDEMPOTENCY_CONFLICT (the same idempotency_key with a different body) and IDEMPOTENCY_IN_PROGRESS (an identical call is running, with a Retry-After). The endpoints that ask for a confirmation add CONFIRMATION_EXPIRED and CONFIRMATION_MISMATCH; the ones that never confirm cannot answer either. Each operation lists the domain conflicts it adds on top of those. - `413`: The request body is over 1 MB. The cap is applied before authentication, so this answer is refused without the key being read, and it carries the usual error envelope. - `429`: A budget was spent. RATE_LIMITED is the per-key read budget (300/minute, 5000/day) or the per-account write budget (60/minute, 1000/day). EMAIL_QUOTA_REACHED is the separate budget of 50 calls per account per day that send email, and its Retry-After points at the next UTC midnight. The Retry-After header gives the seconds until the more restrictive window resets. The X-RateLimit-* headers report the read budget, except on the 429 of a write, where they report the write budget. - `500`: Internal server error. - `503`: Writes are paused, or the store the write guarantees rely on is not answering. Nothing was written and the call is worth retrying later. Reads are unaffected. --- [API](https://skmtc.dev/reportingninja/apis/reporting-ninja-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/reportingninja/apis/reporting-ninja-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/reportingninja/apis/reporting-ninja-api/revisions/13876c71be34?raw)