---
title: "Loginorcreate"
method: POST
path: "/v1/otps/email/login_or_create"
tags: ["Otp"]
---

# Loginorcreate

`POST /v1/otps/email/login_or_create`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.stytch.com`
- URL: `https://api.stytch.com/v1/otps/email/login_or_create`
- Auth: HTTP basic

Send a one-time passcode (OTP) to a User using their email. If the email is not associated with a User already, a User will be created.

### Next steps

Collect the OTP which was delivered to the User. Call [Authenticate OTP](https://stytch.com/docs/api/authenticate-otp) using the OTP `code` along with the `phone_id` found in the response as the `method_id`.

## Request body

- ApiOtpV1OtpEmailLoginOrCreateRequest: Request type
  - `email` string, required: The email address of the user to send the one-time passcode to. You may use sandbox@stytch.com to test this endpoint, see [Testing](https://stytch.com/docs/home#resources_testing) for more detail.
  - `expiration_minutes` integer: Set the expiration for the one-time passcode, in minutes. The minimum expiration is 1 minute and the maximum is 10 minutes. The default expiration is 2 minutes.
  - `attributes` ApiAttributeV1Attributes
    - `ip_address` string: The IP address of the user.
    - `user_agent` string: The user agent of the User.
  - `create_user_as_pending` boolean: Flag for whether or not to save a user as pending vs active in Stytch. Defaults to false. If true, users will be saved with status pending in Stytch's backend until authenticated. If false, users will be created as active. An example usage of a true flag would be to require users to verify their phone by entering the OTP code before creating an account for them.
  - `locale` 'en' | 'es' | 'pt-br' | 'fr'
  - `login_template_id` string: Use a custom template for login emails. By default, it will use your default email template. Templates can be added in the [Stytch dashboard](https://stytch.com/dashboard/templates) using our built-in customization options or custom HTML templates with type “Magic links - Login”.
  - `signup_template_id` string: Use a custom template for sign-up emails. By default, it will use your default email template. Templates can be added in the [Stytch dashboard](https://stytch.com/dashboard/templates) using our built-in customization options or custom HTML templates with type “Magic links - Sign-up”.

## Response `200`

Successful response

- ApiOtpV1OtpEmailLoginOrCreateResponse
  - `request_id` string, required: Globally unique UUID that is returned with every API call. This value is important to log for debugging purposes; we may ask for this value to help identify a specific API call when helping you debug an issue.
  - `user_id` string, required: The unique ID of the affected User.
  - `email_id` string, required: The unique ID of a specific email address.
  - `user_created` boolean, required: In `login_or_create` endpoints, this field indicates whether or not a User was just created.
  - `status_code` integer, required: The HTTP status code of the response. Stytch follows standard HTTP response status code patterns, e.g. 2XX values equate to success, 3XX values are redirects, 4XX are client errors, and 5XX are server errors.

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad request
- `401`: Unauthorized
- `429`: Too Many Requests
- `500`: Internal server error

## Changes

- **2026-03-07** `110f26a94e5b`: 1 info
  - endpoint added
- **2026-03-06** `9cab20b8eca7`: 1 breaking
  - api path removed without deprecation
- **2025-09-17** `8270cf3a3d4c`: 3 info
  - added the media type `application/json` for the response with the status `401`
  - added the media type `application/json` for the response with the status `500`
  - added the non-success response with the status `429`
- **2025-09-17** `864b9f438ac0`: 4 breaking
  - the `create_user_as_pending` request property type changed from `string` to `boolean`
  - the `expiration_minutes` request property type changed from `string` to `integer`, and format from no format to `int32`
  - the `status_code` response's property type changed from `string` to `integer`, and format from no format to `int32` for status `200`
  - the `user_created` response's property type changed from `string` to `boolean` for status `200`

[Operation history](https://skmtc.dev/stytch/apis/stytch-api/changes/v1/otps/email/login_or_create/post.md)

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/stytch/apis/stytch-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/stytch/apis/stytch-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/stytch/apis/stytch-api/revisions/6d1ff7474803?raw)