# Create an item category

Operation ID: `createItemCategory`

Group: Inventory › Item Categories

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/lensing/v1/endpoints/createItemCategory)

`POST /inventory/item-categories`

Retry-safe: A write that accepts Idempotency-Key: repeating a request with the same key replays the stored answer instead of executing twice.

Creates an item category. The category goes at the top level or under an existing parent. The response is only its id. Names don't have to be unique, so keep the id to find the category again.

To read the created category, use GET inventory/item-categories/:id.

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | string · 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`: createItemCategoryInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `name` | string | yes | The display name of the category, for example 'Hardware'. Not checked for uniqueness: creating a second category with an existing name succeeds. Example: `"Hardware"`. |
| `description` | string | no | A free-form description of what the category covers. Example: `"Fasteners, fittings and tooling"`. |
| `active` | boolean | no | Whether the category can be chosen on new items. Defaults to true. |
| `idealTurnoverRatio` | 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. Example: `"6.50"`. |
| `parentId` | string | no | The identifier of the category this one sits under. Omit for a top-level category. See id on GET inventory/item-categories/:id. |

```json
{
  "name": "Hardware",
  "description": "Fasteners, fittings and tooling",
  "active": true,
  "idealTurnoverRatio": "6.50",
  "parentId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (createItemCategoryOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created item category. Example: `"a2f47b91-0c6d-4e38-95b1-7d3e6a428c50"`. |

```json
{
  "data": {
    "id": "a2f47b91-0c6d-4e38-95b1-7d3e6a428c50"
  },
  "diagnostics": [
    {
      "code": "ITEM_CATEGORY_CREATED",
      "message": "<message>",
      "severity": "error",
      "path": [
        "<path>"
      ],
      "details": {
        "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

## 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 |
| --- | --- |
| `PARENT_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Advisories

Warnings and information a successful response can carry under `diagnostics`:

- `ITEM_CATEGORY_CREATED`

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: PARENT_NOT_FOUND
- `401` — The request carries no valid 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 from this client address. The response has no body and no `Retry-After` header.
- `500` — Internal server error