# Update an expense category

Operation ID: `updateExpenseCategory`

Group: Accounting › Expense Categories

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

`PATCH /accounting/expense-categories/{id}`

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

Updates an expense category with the fields you send. A field you leave out keeps its current value. entityIds and accountIds are lists.

A list you send replaces the whole list, so include every item you want to keep.

A reimbursable category must keep at least one account, so an empty accountIds fails. Every linked account must have an account subtype that is enabled for expense reports, even when you leave accountIds out. Both failures return an error that has no code in the error list.

Send entityIds or accountIds to change the category's legal entities or general ledger accounts.

The name must stay unique within the tenant. At most one active distance ('Dis') category can exist for each reimbursable value.

When the update leaves the category with no prepaid account, draft amortization schedules on its expense items are deleted.

The response is empty. Read the updated record with GET accounting/expense-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. |
| `id` | path | string | yes | The unique identifier of the expense category you want to update. Example: `"b81f4a22-6d90-4c53-8e17-9f2a4b6c8d05"`. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: updateExpenseCategoryInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `category` | string | no | The new name. Omit to leave it unchanged. It must stay unique across the tenant. The category's own current name is not a collision. |
| `categoryType` | string | no | The new kind of expense. Accepted values: 'Pur', 'Dis', 'PerDiem'. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `status` | string | no | The new lifecycle status. Accepted values: 'active', 'inactive'. Setting 'inactive' retires a category that is in use without deleting it. Example: `"inactive"`. |
| `reimbursable` | boolean | no | Whether expenses in this category are reimbursed to the employee. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `requireAttachment` | boolean | no | Whether an expense in this category must have a receipt attachment. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `requireAttendees` | boolean | no | Whether an expense in this category must list attendees. Omit to leave it unchanged. Example: `true`. |
| `entityIds` | array<string> | no | The legal entities this category is available in. This array replaces the whole set. Omit to leave it unchanged. Send an empty array to clear it. See id on GET base/entities. |
| `accountIds` | array<string> | no | The general ledger accounts that journal entries for this category's expense items use. This array replaces the whole set. Omit to leave it unchanged. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |

```json
{
  "category": "<category>",
  "categoryType": "<categoryType>",
  "status": "inactive",
  "reimbursable": true,
  "requireAttachment": true,
  "requireAttendees": true,
  "entityIds": [
    "<entityIds>"
  ],
  "accountIds": [
    "<accountIds>"
  ]
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

```json
{
  "data": {},
  "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 |
| --- | --- |
| `NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_CATEGORY` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_DISTANCE_CATEGORY` | 400 |
| `REFERENCE_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: NOT_FOUND, DUPLICATE_CATEGORY, DUPLICATE_DISTANCE_CATEGORY, REFERENCE_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