---
title: "Create a contact"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/contacts"
tags: ["Contacts"]
---

# Create a contact

`POST /api/v1/contacts`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.sendly.now`
- URL: `https://api.sendly.now/api/v1/contacts`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in cookie `better-auth.session_token`
  - OAuth 2 (authorization code, authorization URL `https://app.sendly.now/api/auth/oauth2/authorize`, token URL `https://app.sendly.now/api/auth/oauth2/token`, scopes: `contacts:write`)

Create a contact. The address is unique per project, so creating one that already exists answers `409 conflict` rather than updating the existing row — there is no upsert on this surface, because a silent update is not what a caller who wrote `create` asked for.

Requires the `contacts:write` scope — Create, update, and delete your contacts.

## Request body

- ContactV1Create: Body for POST /api/v1/contacts.
  - `custom_fields` union: Arbitrary JSON stored on the contact and available to templates as `{{ variables }}`.
    - string
    - number
    - boolean
    - object
  - `email` string, email, required
  - `subscribed` boolean

## Response `201`

The created contact

- ContactV1: A contact as exposed on the v1 API.
  - `created_at` string, date-time, required
  - `custom_fields` union, required: Arbitrary JSON value (string, number, boolean, null, array, or object).
    - string
    - number
    - boolean
    - object
  - `email` string, required
  - `id` string, uuid, required
  - `subscribed` boolean, required
  - `updated_at` string, date-time, required

## Other responses

- `401`: `invalid_api_key` or `invalid_session` — missing or invalid credentials.
- `403`: `scope_missing`, `project_access_denied`, or `project_disabled`.
- `409`: `conflict` — a contact with this email already exists in this project.
- `422`: `validation_error` — query, path, or body parameters did not match the schema.
- `429`: `rate_limited` — see `Retry-After` and the `RateLimit` headers.
- `500`: `internal_error`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/sendly/apis/sendly-api/revisions/ce7cfb7f7c7e?raw)