# Creates many item categories in one call.

`POST /inventory/item-categories/bulk`

Group: Inventory › Item Categories · Operation ID: `bulkCreateItemCategories`

Creates many item categories in one call, all or nothing: if any row is rejected, nothing is created and there is no partial state to reconcile.

Each row has the same shape as the single create body. A row's only precondition is its parentId: that category must already exist, either in your tenant or earlier in this same batch. Rows are processed in order, so a parent listed before its children seeds a whole tree in one call, and a row naming a parent that appears later rejects the batch. Names are not unique, so nothing else about a row's content is rejected.

The response echoes the created categories in input order, each with only its id. Read a record back with GET inventory/item-categories/:id if you need its stored state.

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/?op=bulkCreateItemCategories)

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | `"v1"` | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |
| `Idempotency-Key` | header | string | no | An opaque caller-chosen string (1-255 characters) that makes this request safe to retry. Repeating the same key with an identical request body replays the original response instead of re-executing - but only once that original request succeeded; a failed attempt re-executes on retry. Repeating the key with a different body is answered with 422. A key still in flight is answered with 409 - as is a key whose original request was interrupted before it finished, for a few minutes afterwards, until that attempt is presumed dead. A completed response stays replayable for 24 hours. The key is scoped to the caller, not to the action: reusing it for a different action is answered with 409 or 422 rather than treated independently. On read actions this header is ignored. On write actions that cannot offer the guarantee it is answered with `400 IDEMPOTENCY_NOT_SUPPORTED` rather than silently ignored. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: bulkCreateItemCategoriesInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `itemCategories` | array of object | yes | The item categories to create. All or nothing: if any row fails, nothing is created. |
| `itemCategories[].name` | string | yes | The display name of the category, for example 'Hardware'. Not checked for uniqueness, within this batch or against existing records. |
| `itemCategories[].description` | string | no | A free-form description of what the category covers. |
| `itemCategories[].active` | boolean | no | Whether the category can be chosen on new items. Defaults to true. |
| `itemCategories[].idealTurnoverRatio` | string (decimal) | no | The target inventory turnover for items in this category, in times per year. For analytics only. A ratio rather than an amount, so it has no currency. |
| `itemCategories[].parentId` | string | no | The identifier of the category this one sits under. Omit for a top-level category. A row can name a parent created earlier in the same batch, which is how a whole tree is seeded in one call, but only in that order: a row naming a parent that appears later is rejected, and with it the whole batch. See id on GET inventory/item-categories/:id. |

Example:

```json
{
  "itemCategories": [
    {
      "name": "Hardware",
      "description": "Fasteners, fittings and tooling",
      "idealTurnoverRatio": "6.50"
    },
    {
      "name": "Consumables",
      "idealTurnoverRatio": "12.00"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (bulkCreateItemCategoriesOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `created` | array of object | yes | The created item categories, in input order. Match rows to inputs by index. |
| `created[].id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created item category. |

## Response headers

- `Idempotency-Replayed` — Present and `true` only when this response replays a previously stored one for the same Idempotency-Key, rather than reflecting a live execution. Absent on a live response - never sent as `false`.

## Errors

| Code | Status |
| --- | --- |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure
- `401` — Missing or invalid access token
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `409` — The Idempotency-Key is still being processed by another request.
- `422` — The Idempotency-Key was already used with a different request payload.
- `429` — Too many requests
- `500` — Internal server error