> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.vitarelay.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create a patient > **Vita Clinic only.** Requires the `patients:write` scope and a key whose organization is an active Vita Clinic. The server assigns the clinical home organization and branding owner — these cannot be set from the request body. Supplying `external_patient_id` makes the call idempotent. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /openapi.yaml post /patients openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: VitaRelay API version: 2.0.0 description: | The VitaRelay REST API. **Base URL:** `https://vitarelay.com/api/public/v1` ## Authentication All requests require a Bearer API key: ```text Authorization: Bearer vr_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ``` Keys are issued per organization. `vr_live_` keys act on production data. `vr_test_` keys operate a fully-isolated **sandbox** (see below). ## Pagination List endpoints are cursor-based. Pass `limit` (default 50, max 100) and `cursor` (the `next_cursor` from the previous page). When `next_cursor` is `null` there are no further pages. All resource ids are UUIDs. ## Idempotency Write endpoints accept your own external identifiers — `external_patient_id`, `external_intake_id`, `external_order_id`. These act as idempotency keys: replaying a request with the same external id returns the original resource (HTTP `200` instead of `201`) rather than creating a duplicate. ## Rate limiting Write endpoints are rate limited per API key — default **60 requests per minute** (fixed window). Exceeding the limit returns `429 rate_limited` with `Retry-After`, `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining` and `X-RateLimit-Reset` headers. Read endpoints are not rate limited in v1. ## Sandbox With a `vr_test_` key, writes never create real patients, intakes or orders and never charge a card. They return synthetic ids (`sandbox_pat_…`, `sandbox_int_…`, `sandbox_ord_…`) and include `"sandbox": true` in the response. Sandbox objects advance through a simulated lifecycle that fires real webhook deliveries to your endpoint (`intake.reviewed`, `order.paid` → `order.shipped` → `order.delivered`) with `"sandbox": true` in the payload. In sandbox, reference a patient by `external_patient_id` or by the returned `sandbox_pat_…` id. ## Webhooks Outbound webhooks are configured in the VitaRelay admin UI (there is no webhook management API). Events: `order.paid`, `order.shipped`, `order.delivered`, `order.exception`, `intake.reviewed`. Each delivery is signed with HMAC-SHA256 over the raw body and carries the headers `X-VitaRelay-Signature: sha256=`, `X-VitaRelay-Event`, `X-VitaRelay-Delivery` (event id) and `X-VitaRelay-Timestamp`. Failed deliveries are retried with exponential backoff and dead-lettered after the maximum attempts. contact: name: VitaRelay Support email: info@vitarelay.com servers: - url: https://vitarelay.com/api/public/v1 description: Production security: - bearerAuth: [] tags: - name: Patients description: Patient records scoped to your organization. - name: Intakes description: Intake form submissions. Write access is Vita Clinic only. - name: Orders description: >- Orders and fulfillment status. Two billing modes: `card_on_file` (default) charges the clinic's stored card synchronously, and `patient_checkout` creates the order unpaid and returns a checkout block so the patient can pay on your own page via Authorize.Net Accept.js (see POST /orders/{id}/pay). - name: Products description: Catalog products available to your organization. - name: Prescriptions description: >- Prescriptions written by your organization (read only). Refer patients into the Internal Doctor Network (IDN). You refer; an IDN doctor evaluates and prescribes. Requires IDN activation and rx scopes. - name: Storefront description: >- Build and manage your clinic's patient storefront — settings, curated product listings and bundles. Requires the `shop:read` / `shop:write` scopes. - name: Subscriptions description: >- Patient-shop subscription lifecycle. Requires `subscriptions:read` or `subscriptions:write`. paths: /patients: post: tags: - Patients summary: Create a patient description: > **Vita Clinic only.** Requires the `patients:write` scope and a key whose organization is an active Vita Clinic. The server assigns the clinical home organization and branding owner — these cannot be set from the request body. Supplying `external_patient_id` makes the call idempotent. operationId: createPatient requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PatientCreate' responses: '200': description: | Idempotent replay — a patient with this `external_patient_id` already exists. The original resource is returned. content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: data: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PatientCreated' '201': description: Patient created. headers: X-RateLimit-Limit: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitLimit' X-RateLimit-Remaining: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitRemaining' X-RateLimit-Reset: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitReset' content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: data: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PatientCreated' sandbox: type: boolean description: Present and `true` when created with a `vr_test_` key. '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/InvalidBody' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '409': $ref: '#/components/responses/DuplicateRequest' '422': $ref: '#/components/responses/ValidationFailed' '429': $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited' '500': $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalError' components: schemas: PatientCreate: type: object required: - first_name - last_name - dob properties: external_patient_id: type: string description: Your identifier for this patient. Acts as an idempotency key. first_name: type: string last_name: type: string dob: type: string format: date description: ISO date, `YYYY-MM-DD`. gender: type: string email: type: string format: email phone: type: string address: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Address' allergies: type: array items: type: string current_medications: type: array items: type: string example: external_patient_id: clinic-patient-001 first_name: Jane last_name: Smith dob: '1985-04-12' gender: female email: jane.smith@example.com phone: '+18135550100' address: line1: 22 Wellness Ave city: Tampa state: FL postal_code: '33602' allergies: - penicillin current_medications: - metformin PatientCreated: type: object properties: id: type: string description: Patient UUID (or a `sandbox_pat_…` id with a test key). external_patient_id: type: - string - 'null' example: id: sandbox_pat_9f2c41d6 external_patient_id: clinic-patient-001 Address: type: object required: - line1 - city - state - postal_code properties: line1: type: string line2: type: string city: type: string state: type: string description: Two-letter US state code. postal_code: type: string Error: type: object required: - error properties: error: type: object required: - code - message properties: code: type: string description: | One of `invalid_body`, `validation_failed`, `unauthorized`, `insufficient_scope`, `not_vita_clinic`, `patient_not_found`, `product_not_found`, `product_not_allowed`, `duplicate_request`, `rate_limited`, `card_required`, `payment_declined`, `internal_error`, `not_found`. message: type: string example: error: code: validation_failed message: One or more fields are invalid headers: XRateLimitLimit: description: Requests permitted in the current window. schema: type: integer XRateLimitRemaining: description: Requests remaining in the current window. schema: type: integer XRateLimitReset: description: Unix timestamp when the current window resets. schema: type: integer RetryAfter: description: Seconds to wait before retrying. schema: type: integer responses: InvalidBody: description: >- Malformed request or invalid path parameter (`invalid_body`, `invalid_id`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' Unauthorized: description: Missing, invalid or revoked API key (`unauthorized`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' Forbidden: description: | The key lacks the required scope (`insufficient_scope`) or its organization is not an active Vita Clinic (`not_vita_clinic`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' DuplicateRequest: description: >- A conflicting request with the same external id is in flight (`duplicate_request`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' ValidationFailed: description: Body parsed but failed validation (`validation_failed`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' RateLimited: description: Per-key rate limit exceeded (`rate_limited`). Default 60 writes/minute. headers: Retry-After: $ref: '#/components/headers/RetryAfter' X-RateLimit-Limit: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitLimit' X-RateLimit-Remaining: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitRemaining' X-RateLimit-Reset: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRateLimitReset' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' InternalError: description: Unexpected server error (`internal_error`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' securitySchemes: bearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer description: | API key issued by VitaRelay. Send as `Authorization: Bearer vr_live_…` (production) or `Authorization: Bearer vr_test_…` (sandbox). ````