# Create a Product (2026-07-21)

> Interactive walkthrough to create products using the Kintsugi API

Source: https://docs.trykintsugi.com/docs/2026-07-21/recipes/managing-products

## Overview

Products in Kintsugi represent the items you sell. Each product needs a tax classification, a category and subcategory, so tax is calculated accurately. This endpoint creates a new product record that is used for tax calculations in transactions.

Creating a product is idempotent on externalId and source: sending the same values again returns the existing product unchanged with 200 instead of creating a duplicate. To change a product, use Update a product.

## When to Use

Product catalog setup: Create products when setting up your integration

New product launches: Add new products as you expand your catalog

Tax classification: Ensure products have proper tax categories for accurate calculations

Manual product management: Create products outside of automated syncs

## Authentication

This endpoint takes one credential header:

Api-Key: Your API key

Api-Version: 2026-07-21 is optional. A request without it runs against 2026-07-21. When your key can reach more than one organization, add an Organization-Id, Connection-Id or Entity-Id header to choose which one the product is created in.

## Try It Out

API Lab Simulated

Run all Reset Share Copy cURL Postman

Runs in a simulated sandbox. Responses are generated from the API schema so you can explore each call safely; they never reach the live API, so the values are illustrative.

1 Create a product

POST /products

{

"externalId": "sku-1001",

"name": "Blue T-Shirt",

"status": "APPROVED",

"productCategory": "Physical",

"productSubcategory": "General Clothing",

"taxExempt": false,

"source": "API"

}

{
"externalId": "sku-1001",
"name": "Blue T-Shirt",
"status": "APPROVED",
"productCategory": "Physical",
"productSubcategory": "General Clothing",
"taxExempt": false,
"source": "API"
}

Run

2 List the product category catalog

GET /products/categories

Browse the categories you can assign to a product.

Run

3 Get a product by id

GET /products/{product_id}

Run Run the previous step to fill the path.

## Required Fields

externalId: Your stable identifier for the product

name: Human-readable product name

productCategory: Top-level tax category: Digital, Misc, Physical or Services (see List the product category catalog)

productSubcategory: Tax subcategory label within the category (see List the product category catalog). An unrecognized category and subcategory pair returns 400

taxExempt: Whether tax calculation treats the product as tax-exempt

## Common Use Cases

Basic Product Creation

Create a product with only the required fields:

{
"externalId": "sku-1001",
"name": "Blue T-Shirt",
"productCategory": "Physical",
"productSubcategory": "General Clothing",
"taxExempt": false
}

Product with Full Details

Include the classification status and the source system:

{
"externalId": "sku-1001",
"name": "Blue T-Shirt",
"status": "APPROVED",
"productCategory": "Physical",
"productSubcategory": "General Clothing",
"taxExempt": false,
"source": "API"
}

status accepts APPROVED, PARTIALLY_APPROVED or PENDING. It does not accept ARCHIVED; archive an existing product with Archive a product. source defaults to OTHER and must be a supported public value.

## Response Fields

id: Kintsugi's unique identifier for the product

externalId: Your stable identifier for the product, as supplied on create

name: Human-readable product name

productCategory: Derived display category for the product's tax code

productSubcategory: Derived display subcategory for the product's tax code

status: Approval status of the product's tax classification (APPROVED, PARTIALLY_APPROVED, PENDING, ARCHIVED)

taxExempt: Effective tax-exemption flag applied by tax calculation

source: Origin system of the product, such as API or SHOPIFY

## Product Categories

Before creating products, fetch the available categories and subcategories with List the product category catalog. Each entry's category and each subcategory's label are the exact values productCategory and productSubcategory accept.

Together, productCategory and productSubcategory resolve to a product tax code. Choose the most specific category and subcategory that matches your product to ensure accurate tax calculations.

## Next Steps

List the product category catalog - View all available categories and subcategories

List products - List and search your products

Get a product by id - Retrieve a specific product

Update a product - Modify product details

Product & Customer Records Guide - Learn more about product management

## Related Resources

Products API Reference

Getting Started

Support

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Index of every page: https://docs.trykintsugi.com/llms.txt