# Create time entries

Operation ID: `createTimeEntries`

Group: PSA › Time Entries

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

`POST /psa/time-entries`

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

Creates time entries. New time entries start in the 'draft' status. If any time entry can't be created, none are. The request never changes or deletes existing time entries, so you can send it for a date that already has time entries for other activities.

Each position assignment can have only one time entry per activity and date. If a time entry already exists for that memberId, activity, and date, the request fails with DUPLICATE_TIME_ENTRY. If you send the same time entry twice in one request, it is created once when the hours match, and the request fails with the same error when they differ.

Each time entry's project comes from its projectActivityId unless you send psaProjectId. If the activity belongs to no project, the request fails with ACTIVITY_NOT_FOUND.

The request also fails when the project's team is not active, or when the time entries break the project's time-tracking settings: required notes, no time on weekends or holidays, and limits on hours per day, week, and month for each team member. These failures return a generic error, not a named error code.

To correct an existing time entry, use PATCH psa/time-entries.

## 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`: createTimeEntriesInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `timeEntries` | array<object> | yes | The time entries to create. Example: `[{"date":"2026-08-04","hours":"7.5","projectActivityId":7001,"memberId":5001,"notes":"Sprint 14 backend work"}]`. |
| `timeEntries[].date` | date | yes | The date the time is logged for. Use format YYYY-MM-DD. |
| `timeEntries[].hours` | decimal | yes | The total hours for the entry. |
| `timeEntries[].projectActivityId` | number | yes | The numeric key of the project activity to log time against. |
| `timeEntries[].memberId` | number | yes | The numeric key of the PSA member assignment to log time for. |
| `timeEntries[].psaProjectId` | number | no | The numeric key of the PSA project the entry belongs to. If omitted, it is derived from projectActivityId. |
| `timeEntries[].notes` | string | no | Free-form notes for the entry. Required when the project's settings require notes. |

```json
{
  "timeEntries": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-04",
      "hours": "7.5",
      "projectActivityId": 7001,
      "memberId": 5001,
      "notes": "Sprint 14 backend work"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (createTimeEntriesOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `created` | array<object> | yes | The created entries, in input order. Each is an id only. Read an entry back with GET psa/time-entries/:id. Example: `[{"id":"4f0ad2e6-8c13-4b7a-9e52-6d81b30f7ac9"}]`. |
| `created[].id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created time entry. |

```json
{
  "data": {
    "created": [
      {
        "id": "4f0ad2e6-8c13-4b7a-9e52-6d81b30f7ac9"
      }
    ]
  },
  "diagnostics": [
    {
      "code": "<code>",
      "message": "<message>",
      "severity": "error",
      "path": [
        "<path>"
      ],
      "details": "<details>"
    }
  ]
}
```

## 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 |
| --- | --- |
| `ACTIVITY_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_TIME_ENTRY` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: ACTIVITY_NOT_FOUND, DUPLICATE_TIME_ENTRY
- `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