> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.scrip.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a program

> Create a new program.

Creates a new program in your organization. A program only requires a `name`. By default, `on_unknown_participant` is set to `CREATE`, which means participants are auto-created on their first event. Set it to `REJECT` if you need explicit registration before processing events.

Programs start as `ACTIVE`. You can suspend or archive them later via [Update a program](/api-reference/programs/update-a-program).

<Note>
  For usage patterns and examples, see the [Programs guide](/guides/programs).
</Note>


## OpenAPI

````yaml POST /v1/programs
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  contact:
    email: support@scrip.dev
    name: Scrip Support
    url: https://scrip.dev/support
  description: >-
    Universal Incentive Infrastructure API for managing loyalty programs,
    rewards, and participant balances.


    Scrip provides a complete backend for building incentive and loyalty
    programs. Core concepts:

    - **Programs**: Containers for incentive logic (e.g., "Q1 Sales Bonus",
    "Customer Loyalty")

    - **Assets**: The currency or points being tracked (e.g., "Bonus Points",
    "Cash Rewards")

    - **Participants**: Users who earn and spend assets (identified by
    external_id)

    - **Groups**: Collections of participants for team-based incentives

    - **Rules**: Automated reward logic triggered by events

    - **Events**: Actions that trigger rule evaluation (e.g., "purchase",
    "referral")


    Response formats:

    - **Collection endpoints** return: {"data": [...], "pagination":
    {"has_more": true, "next_cursor": "..."}}

    - **Single-resource endpoints** return the resource directly

    - **Errors** return: {"code": "...", "message": "...", "details": {...}} —
    `details` is an optional object, present on input errors only
  license:
    name: Proprietary
    url: https://scrip.dev/license
  termsOfService: https://scrip.dev/terms
  title: Scrip API
  version: '1.0'
servers:
  - url: https://api.scrip.dev
security: []
tags:
  - description: >-
      Manage incentive programs. Programs are the top-level container for all
      incentive logic.
    name: Programs
  - description: >-
      Manage asset types (currencies, points). Assets define what participants
      can earn and spend.
    name: Assets
  - description: >-
      Manage participants and their balances. Participants are identified by
      external_id from your system.
    name: Participants
  - description: Manage participant groups for team-based incentives.
    name: Groups
  - description: >-
      Manage automated reward rules. Rules define conditions and actions
      triggered by events.
    name: Rules
  - description: Ingest events that trigger rule evaluation and reward distribution.
    name: Events
  - description: Transfer assets between participants.
    name: Transfers
  - description: Access ledger summaries and program activity reports.
    name: Reporting
  - description: >-
      Redeem participant balances for rewards. Supports raw amount redemptions
      and catalog item redemptions.
    name: Redemptions
  - description: >-
      Manage the reward catalog. Create and manage redeemable items with
      inventory tracking.
    name: Rewards
  - description: >-
      Schedule and manage automated event dispatching. Automations generate
      events on cron schedules, at specific times, or by evaluating participant
      state.
    name: Automations
  - description: >-
      Manage tier types and levels within programs. Tiers define status
      hierarchies that participants progress through based on qualification
      rules.
    name: Tiers
  - description: Inspect double-entry ledger records for auditing and reconciliation.
    name: Journal Entries
  - description: >-
      Manage webhook endpoints and delivery logs. Webhooks notify your
      application of real-time events via HTTP POST with HMAC-SHA256 signatures.
    name: Webhooks
paths:
  /v1/programs:
    post:
      tags:
        - Programs
      summary: Create a program
      description: Create a new program.
      operationId: createProgram
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.CreateProgramRequest'
        description: Program details
        required: true
        x-originalParamName: request
      responses:
        '201':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ProgramResponse'
          description: Program created
        '400':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrBadRequestResponse'
          description: 'Validation failed (code: validation_error | bad_request)'
        '401':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrUnauthorizedResponse'
          description: 'Missing or invalid credentials (code: unauthorized)'
        '403':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrForbiddenResponse'
          description: 'Insufficient permissions (code: forbidden)'
        '409':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrConflictResponse'
          description: 'Program name conflict (code: program_name_already_exists)'
        '415':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrUnsupportedMediaTypeResponse'
          description: 'Content-Type must be application/json (code: unsupported_media_type)'
        '500':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrInternalResponse'
          description: 'Internal server error (code: internal_error)'
      security:
        - ApiKeyAuth: []
        - BearerAuth: []
components:
  schemas:
    handlers.CreateProgramRequest:
      additionalProperties: false
      properties:
        description:
          description: Optional program description
          example: Quarterly sales incentive program for the sales team
          maxLength: 1000
          type: string
        name:
          description: Program name
          example: Q1 Sales Bonus
          maxLength: 255
          minLength: 1
          type: string
        on_unknown_participant:
          description: >-
            How to handle events for unregistered participants. Defaults to
            CREATE

            when absent or null; an explicit "" or any non-enum value is
            rejected.
          enum:
            - CREATE
            - REJECT
          example: CREATE
          type: string
      required:
        - name
      type: object
    handlers.ProgramResponse:
      properties:
        created_at:
          description: When the program was created
          example: '2024-01-15T10:30:00Z'
          format: date-time
          type: string
        deleted_at:
          description: Set when the program is archived
          example: '2024-06-01T00:00:00Z'
          format: date-time
          type: string
        description:
          description: Optional program description
          example: Quarterly sales incentive program
          type: string
        id:
          description: Program ID
          example: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000
          format: uuid
          type: string
        name:
          description: Program name
          example: Q1 Sales Bonus
          type: string
        on_unknown_participant:
          description: How events for unregistered participants are handled
          example: CREATE
          type: string
        redemption_target_entity_id:
          description: >-
            Target ledger entity ID. Present only when redemption_target_type is
            LEDGER_ENTITY.
          example: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440002
          format: uuid
          type: string
        redemption_target_type:
          description: >-
            Where redeemed value is posted: SYSTEM_REDEMPTION, SYSTEM_BREAKAGE,
            or LEDGER_ENTITY
          example: SYSTEM_REDEMPTION
          type: string
        status:
          description: Lifecycle state
          example: ACTIVE
          type: string
        updated_at:
          description: When the program was last modified
          example: '2024-01-15T10:30:00Z'
          format: date-time
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrBadRequestResponse:
      additionalProperties: false
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: bad_request
          type: string
        details:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorDetails'
          description: >-
            Details provides optional structured error context (field errors,
            etc.)
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: Invalid request parameters
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrUnauthorizedResponse:
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: unauthorized
          type: string
        details:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorDetails'
          description: Details provides optional structured error context
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: Missing or invalid credentials
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrForbiddenResponse:
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: forbidden
          type: string
        details:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorDetails'
          description: Details provides optional structured error context
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: Insufficient permissions for this action
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrConflictResponse:
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: conflict
          type: string
        details:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorDetails'
          description: Details provides optional structured error context
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: Resource already exists or state conflict
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrUnsupportedMediaTypeResponse:
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: unsupported_media_type
          type: string
        details:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorDetails'
          description: Details provides optional structured error context
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: Content-Type must be application/json
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrInternalResponse:
      properties:
        code:
          description: Code is the machine-readable error code
          example: internal_error
          type: string
        message:
          description: Message is the human-readable error description
          example: An internal error occurred
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrorDetails:
      description: >-
        Optional structured details about the error. Always a JSON object: a
        `fields` array for validation errors, or flat
        field/reason/expected/received properties for other input errors.
      properties:
        expected:
          description: Expected value or format (non-validation input errors)
          example: uuid
          type: string
        field:
          description: Field name that caused the error (non-validation input errors)
          example: asset_id
          type: string
        fields:
          description: >-
            Fields lists each offending input field on validation_error
            responses.
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/handlers.ErrorFieldDetail'
          type: array
        reason:
          description: Machine-readable reason code (non-validation input errors)
          example: invalid
          type: string
        received:
          description: Value that was received (non-validation input errors)
          example: not-a-uuid
          type: string
      type: object
    handlers.ErrorFieldDetail:
      description: >-
        A single field-level error: which input field failed, why, and (where
        known) the expected and received values.
      properties:
        expected:
          description: >-
            Expected value or format. Usually a string; for "one of" constraints
            it

            is an array of the allowed values.
        field:
          description: Field name that caused the error
          example: amount
          type: string
        message:
          description: Human-readable explanation (validation errors only)
          example: This field is required
          type: string
        reason:
          description: Machine-readable reason code
          example: required
          type: string
        received:
          description: Value that was received
          example: '-10.00'
          type: string
      type: object
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      description: API key passed in the X-API-Key header.
      in: header
      name: X-API-Key
      type: apiKey
    BearerAuth:
      description: Bearer token passed in the Authorization header (e.g. "Bearer sk_...").
      in: header
      name: Authorization
      type: apiKey

````