# Create Application

`POST /applications`

Group: People Management › Applications · Operation ID: `createApplication`

Creates an application: one person applied to one recruitment. The application starts in status 'new', and its recruiter is taken from the recruitment's owner. A person cannot have a second application in status 'new' or 'inProcess' for the same recruitment. To apply a person who does not exist yet, use POST applicants instead.

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

## 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`: createApplicationInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `personId` | string | yes | The identifier of the person who applies. |
| `recruitmentId` | string | yes | The identifier of the recruitment being applied to. See id on GET people/recruitments/:id. |
| `source` | string, one of `"appliedDirectly"`, `"sourcedInternally"`, `"sourcedExternally"`, `"employeeReferral"`, `"externalRecruiter"` | no | How the application arrived. When omitted, no source is recorded. |
| `sourceDetails` | string | no | Free-text detail about the source, for example the referring employee or the job board. |
| `expectedSalary` | string | no | The applicant's salary expectation, as free text. |
| `linkedIn` | string | no | The URL of the applicant's LinkedIn profile. |
| `shortIntroduction` | string | no | A short free-text introduction or motivation supplied with the application. |

Example:

```json
{
  "personId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "recruitmentId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "source": "appliedDirectly",
  "sourceDetails": "<sourceDetails>",
  "expectedSalary": "<expectedSalary>",
  "linkedIn": "<linkedIn>",
  "shortIntroduction": "<shortIntroduction>"
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (createApplicationOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created application. |
| `applicantNumber` | string | no | The system-generated applicant number. Absent while none has been assigned. |
| `personId` | string | yes | The identifier of the person the application belongs to. |
| `recruitmentId` | string | yes | The identifier of the recruitment applied to. See id on GET people/recruitments/:id. |
| `status` | string | yes | The status the application is created in, always 'new'. |

## 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 |
| --- | --- |
| `PERSON_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `RECRUITMENT_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_APPLICATION` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: PERSON_NOT_FOUND, RECRUITMENT_NOT_FOUND, DUPLICATE_APPLICATION
- `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