---
title: "Create Subgraph"
method: POST
path: "/v1/graphs/{graph_id}/operations/create-subgraph"
tags: ["Graph Operations"]
---

# Create Subgraph

`POST /v1/graphs/{graph_id}/operations/create-subgraph`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.robosystems.ai` (the document declares no server; this is the origin it was published from)
- URL: `https://api.robosystems.ai/v1/graphs/{graph_id}/operations/create-subgraph`
- Auth: one of:
  - API key in header `X-API-Key`
  - HTTP bearer

Set `fork_parent=true` to clone parent graph data into the new subgraph (async, returns a pending `OperationEnvelope`). Without `fork_parent`, creates an empty subgraph synchronously.

**Idempotency**: supply an `Idempotency-Key` header to make safe retries; replays within 24 hours return the same envelope. Reusing the key with a different body returns HTTP 409 Conflict.

## Path parameters

- `graph_id` string, required

## Headers

- `Idempotency-Key` string, nullable

## Request body

- CreateSubgraphRequest: Request model for creating a subgraph.
  - `name` string, required: Alphanumeric name for the subgraph (e.g., dev, staging, prod1)
  - `display_name` string, required: Human-readable display name for the subgraph
  - `description` string, nullable: Optional description of the subgraph's purpose
  - `schema_extensions` string[]: Schema extensions to include (inherits from parent by default)
  - `subgraph_type` 'static' | 'knowledge' | 'empty': Types of subgraphs.
  - `metadata` object, nullable: Additional metadata for the subgraph
  - `fork_parent` boolean: If true, copy all data from parent graph to create a 'fork'

## Response `200`

Successful Response

- OperationEnvelope: Uniform response shape for every operation endpoint. Every dispatch carries an `op_<ULID>` operation_id, which is the bridge to the monitoring surface: pass it to `GET /v1/operations/{operation_id}/stream` (see `routers/operations.py`) to subscribe to SSE progress events. Sync commands complete in the envelope itself (`status: "completed"`, HTTP 200); async commands (`status: "pending"`, HTTP 202) hand off to a background worker and stream their tail through that SSE endpoint. Failed dispatches still mint an `operation_id` so the audit log and any partial SSE events stay correlatable. `TResult` parameterizes `result` so per-op response shapes surface in OpenAPI. Operations that pin `OperationSpec.result_type` get `OperationEnvelope[YourEnvelope]` as their response model; the rest keep the default `Any` shape (`result: any | null` on the wire).
  - `operation` string, required: Kebab-case operation name
  - `operationId` string, required: op_-prefixed ULID for audit and SSE correlation
  - `status` 'completed' | 'pending' | 'failed', required: Operation lifecycle state
  - `result` unknown
  - `at` string, required: ISO-8601 UTC timestamp
  - `createdBy` string, nullable: User ID that initiated the operation
  - `idempotentReplay` boolean: True when this envelope came from the idempotency cache — the underlying command did not execute again. False on fresh executions.

## Other responses

- `400`: Invalid request
- `401`: Authentication required
- `403`: Access denied
- `404`: Resource not found
- `409`: Idempotency-Key conflict — key reused with different body
- `422`: Validation error
- `429`: Rate limit exceeded
- `500`: Internal server error

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/robosystems/apis/robosystems-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/robosystems/apis/robosystems-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/robosystems/apis/robosystems-api/revisions/e661e2d5ca6a?raw)