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POST
/
customers
Create customer
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.lava.so/v1/customers \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "reference_id": "usr_abc123",
  "name": "Jane Smith",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "phone": "+14155552671",
  "metadata": {
    "tier": "premium",
    "source": "api"
  }
}
'
import requests

url = "https://api.lava.so/v1/customers"

payload = {
    "reference_id": "usr_abc123",
    "name": "Jane Smith",
    "email": "jane@example.com",
    "phone": "+14155552671",
    "metadata": {
        "tier": "premium",
        "source": "api"
    }
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)
const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    reference_id: 'usr_abc123',
    name: 'Jane Smith',
    email: 'jane@example.com',
    phone: '+14155552671',
    metadata: {tier: 'premium', source: 'api'}
  })
};

fetch('https://api.lava.so/v1/customers', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));
<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.lava.so/v1/customers",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'reference_id' => 'usr_abc123',
    'name' => 'Jane Smith',
    'email' => 'jane@example.com',
    'phone' => '+14155552671',
    'metadata' => [
        'tier' => 'premium',
        'source' => 'api'
    ]
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.lava.so/v1/customers"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"reference_id\": \"usr_abc123\",\n  \"name\": \"Jane Smith\",\n  \"email\": \"jane@example.com\",\n  \"phone\": \"+14155552671\",\n  \"metadata\": {\n    \"tier\": \"premium\",\n    \"source\": \"api\"\n  }\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.lava.so/v1/customers")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"reference_id\": \"usr_abc123\",\n  \"name\": \"Jane Smith\",\n  \"email\": \"jane@example.com\",\n  \"phone\": \"+14155552671\",\n  \"metadata\": {\n    \"tier\": \"premium\",\n    \"source\": \"api\"\n  }\n}")
  .asString();
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.lava.so/v1/customers")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"reference_id\": \"usr_abc123\",\n  \"name\": \"Jane Smith\",\n  \"email\": \"jane@example.com\",\n  \"phone\": \"+14155552671\",\n  \"metadata\": {\n    \"tier\": \"premium\",\n    \"source\": \"api\"\n  }\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
{
  "customer_id": "con_test_01EXAMPLE00000000000000001",
  "reference_id": "usr_abc123",
  "contact": {
    "phone": "+14155552671",
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "last_name": "Smith"
  },
  "subscription": {
    "subscription_id": "<string>",
    "plan_id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "metadata": {
    "plan_tier": "enterprise",
    "internal_id": "12345"
  },
  "created_at": "2023-05-15T08:35:42Z"
}
{
  "error": {
    "message": "Invalid authentication credentials",
    "code": "forward_token_json_invalid",
    "status": 400,
    "issues": [
      {
        "path": [
          "model"
        ],
        "message": "Missing required field: model"
      },
      {
        "path": [
          "messages",
          "0",
          "content"
        ],
        "message": "Invalid message content format"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Authorizations

Authorization
string
header
required

Bearer token authentication used for standard API calls. Format: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

Body

application/json
reference_id
string

Your external identifier for this customer (strongly recommended). When provided, acts as an idempotency key — creating a customer with the same reference_id returns the existing one. Cannot start with "con_" (reserved prefix). Can be used interchangeably with customer_id in all API endpoints.

Maximum string length: 255
Example:

"usr_abc123"

name
string

Display name. Used as contact hint until the customer authenticates.

Maximum string length: 255
Example:

"Jane Smith"

email
string<email>

Email address. Used as contact hint and for checkout pre-population.

Example:

"jane@example.com"

phone
string

Phone number in E.164 format. Used as contact hint and for checkout pre-population.

Example:

"+14155552671"

metadata
object

Arbitrary key-value metadata (max 16KB serialized).

Example:
{ "tier": "premium", "source": "api" }

Response

Customer created

customer_id
string
required

Unique identifier for the customer

Example:

"con_test_01EXAMPLE00000000000000001"

reference_id
string | null
required

Merchant's external identifier for this customer. Used for idempotent creation — POST with the same reference_id returns the existing customer.

Example:

"usr_abc123"

contact
object
required
subscription
object | null
required

Active subscription summary, or null if none

metadata
object | null
required

Arbitrary key-value metadata stored on the customer. Set via PATCH.

Example:
{
  "plan_tier": "enterprise",
  "internal_id": "12345"
}
created_at
string<date-time>
required

ISO 8601 timestamp when the customer was created

Example:

"2023-05-15T08:35:42Z"