# Update a payroll template

Operation ID: `updatePayrollTemplate`

Group: Accounting › Payroll Templates

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

`PATCH /accounting/payroll-templates/{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 a payroll template with the fields you send. A field you leave out keeps its current value. categories and entityIds are lists.

A list you send replaces the whole list, so include every item you want to keep. Leave a list out to keep it as it is.

Send categories or entityIds to change the template's categories or legal entities.

To keep an existing category, include it with its id. To add one, include it without an id. An existing category you leave out is deleted, and the request is refused while any payroll item still uses that category.

status isn't an input. On every update, the template is 'active' when it has an active netPay category and an active grossPay category, and 'inactive' otherwise.

The response is empty. To see the updated template, use GET accounting/payroll-templates/: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 payroll template you want to update. Example: `"d4a1c7e0-2b93-4f56-8071-9e3a5c8b1d42"`. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: updatePayrollTemplateInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `name` | string | no | The new name. Omit to leave it unchanged. It must stay unique across payroll templates. |
| `groupBy` | string | no | The new grouping. Accepted values: 'Employee', 'Department', 'Multi-level'. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `journalEntryDate` | string | no | The new journal entry date rule. Accepted values: 'payrollDate', 'endDate'. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `journalEntryGroupBy` | string | no | The new default journal aggregation. Accepted values: 'account', 'accountAndPayrollCategory', 'payrollCategory', 'payrollCategoryByEmployee'. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `description` | string | no | The new description. Omit to leave it unchanged. Example: `"Revised for 2027"`. |
| `clearingAccountId` | string | no | The new clearing account. Omit to leave it unchanged. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |
| `source` | string | no | The new source. Accepted values: 'datev', 'datevEmployeePayroll', 'datevEmployeePayrollPersonLevel', 'rippling', 'lexware', 'briars', 'gusto', 'adpGLReport', 'adpPayrollHistory', 'sage', 'none'. Omit to leave it unchanged. |
| `entityIds` | array<string> | no | The complete set of legal entities this template serves. Sending it replaces the assignment. Omit it to leave the current set unchanged. At least one entity if sent. See id on GET base/entities. |
| `categories` | array<object> | no | The complete set of categories. Sending it replaces them. Include an existing category with its id to keep it, and leave one out to delete it. Omit the field to leave the stored categories unchanged. Example: `[{"id":"6c9e2b41-8a35-4f70-b183-2d5a7c04e916","name":"Gross Pay","subType":"grossPay","isManagedFromPayroll":false,"debitAccountId":"7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24"},{"name":"Pension","subType":"deduction","payee":"benefitsProvider","isManagedFromPayroll":true,"creditAccountId":"7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24"}]`. |
| `categories[].id` | string | no | The identifier of an existing category to keep. Omit for a new category. It must belong to this template. |
| `categories[].name` | string | yes | The name of the category. Unique within the template. |
| `categories[].subType` | string | yes | What the category represents. Accepted values: 'grossPay', 'deduction', 'netPay', 'employer'. At most one netPay category per template. |
| `categories[].status` | string | no | Whether the category is usable. Accepted values: 'active', 'inactive'. Defaults to 'active'. |
| `categories[].payee` | string | no | Who gets paid, as a payee code from your tenant's configured payee list, for example 'employee', 'payrollProvider', 'benefitsProvider' or 'taxOffice'. |
| `categories[].isManagedFromPayroll` | boolean | yes | Whether payment for this category is managed from payroll. Required, the category model has no default. |
| `categories[].debitAccountId` | string | no | The account debited for this category. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |
| `categories[].creditAccountId` | string | no | The account credited for this category. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |
| `categories[].debitJournalAggregation` | string | no | How debit journal lines are aggregated. Accepted values: 'account', 'accountAndPayrollCategory', 'payrollCategory', 'payrollCategoryByEmployee'. Defaults to the template's setting. 'payrollCategoryByEmployee' requires groupBy 'Employee'. |
| `categories[].creditJournalAggregation` | string | no | How credit journal lines are aggregated. The same values and rule as the debit side apply. |
| `categories[].debitTags` | array<object> | no | Tags stamped on every journal line this category debits, at most one per dimension. Supported dimension: 'vendor'. Requires debitJournalAggregation to be above 'account'. |
| `categories[].debitTags[].dimension` | string | yes | The tag dimension. Accepted values: 'vendor'. |
| `categories[].debitTags[].id` | string | yes | The tagged record. For 'vendor', see id on GET accounting/vendors/:id. |
| `categories[].creditTags` | array<object> | no | Tags stamped on every journal line this category credits. The same values and rules as the debit side apply. |
| `categories[].creditTags[].dimension` | string | yes | The tag dimension. Accepted values: 'vendor'. |
| `categories[].creditTags[].id` | string | yes | The tagged record. For 'vendor', see id on GET accounting/vendors/:id. |

```json
{
  "name": "<name>",
  "groupBy": "<groupBy>",
  "journalEntryDate": "<journalEntryDate>",
  "journalEntryGroupBy": "<journalEntryGroupBy>",
  "description": "Revised for 2027",
  "clearingAccountId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "source": "<source>",
  "entityIds": [
    "<entityIds>"
  ],
  "categories": [
    {
      "id": "6c9e2b41-8a35-4f70-b183-2d5a7c04e916",
      "name": "Gross Pay",
      "subType": "grossPay",
      "isManagedFromPayroll": false,
      "debitAccountId": "7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pension",
      "subType": "deduction",
      "payee": "benefitsProvider",
      "isManagedFromPayroll": true,
      "creditAccountId": "7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24"
    }
  ]
}
```

## 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 |
| `CATEGORY_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `REFERENCE_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_NAME` | 400 |
| `NO_CATEGORIES` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_CATEGORY_NAME` | 400 |
| `MULTIPLE_NET_PAY_CATEGORIES` | 400 |
| `AGGREGATION_REQUIRES_EMPLOYEE_GROUPING` | 400 |
| `NO_ENTITIES` | 400 |
| `NO_CATEGORY_ACCOUNTS` | 400 |
| `TAGS_REQUIRE_CATEGORY_AGGREGATION` | 400 |
| `INVALID_CATEGORY_TAG` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: NOT_FOUND, CATEGORY_NOT_FOUND, REFERENCE_NOT_FOUND, DUPLICATE_NAME, NO_CATEGORIES, DUPLICATE_CATEGORY_NAME, MULTIPLE_NET_PAY_CATEGORIES, AGGREGATION_REQUIRES_EMPLOYEE_GROUPING, NO_ENTITIES, NO_CATEGORY_ACCOUNTS, TAGS_REQUIRE_CATEGORY_AGGREGATION, INVALID_CATEGORY_TAG
- `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