# Delete a customer (deprecated) API Reference

Deletes a customer that has no invoices.

- **Deprecated:** use `DELETE /v1/companies/{company_id}/customers/{customer_id}`, which
  deletes the same way but answers `204` with no body instead of `200`. This route keeps
  working until the date announced in its `Sunset` response header.

## What deleting means

- **No longer exposed:** the customer is retained internally for tax record-keeping
  purposes, but is no longer exposed by the API: subsequent requests to it return `404`, and
  it is never included in the customer list, under any value of the `active` filter.
- **Identifier released:** its NIF or alternative identifier is freed, so a new customer may
  be created with the same identifier.

## Customers you cannot delete

- **Customers with invoices:** they cannot be deleted and the request answers `409`
  `CLIENT_HAS_INVOICES`, leaving the customer untouched — neither deleted nor deactivated.
- **Customers used by a recurring invoice:** while an active or paused recurring invoice
  has the customer as its recipient, the request answers `400`
  `REFERENCED_BY_RECURRING_INVOICE`.
- **Deactivating instead:** to stop using a customer, whether or not it has invoices, update
  it with `active` set to `false`: that releases no identifier and keeps the customer
  retrievable through `GET /v1/customers?active=false`.

**Retires on 9 December 2026.** See the [migration guide](https://docs.beel.es/changelog/resources-under-the-nif) for what moved where and what changes when you switch.


## DELETE /v1/customers/{customer_id}

**Delete a customer**

Deletes a customer that has no invoices.

- **Deprecated:** use `DELETE /v1/companies/{company_id}/customers/{customer_id}`, which
  deletes the same way but answers `204` with no body instead of `200`. This route keeps
  working until the date announced in its `Sunset` response header.

## What deleting means

- **No longer exposed:** the customer is retained internally for tax record-keeping
  purposes, but is no longer exposed by the API: subsequent requests to it return `404`, and
  it is never included in the customer list, under any value of the `active` filter.
- **Identifier released:** its NIF or alternative identifier is freed, so a new customer may
  be created with the same identifier.

## Customers you cannot delete

- **Customers with invoices:** they cannot be deleted and the request answers `409`
  `CLIENT_HAS_INVOICES`, leaving the customer untouched — neither deleted nor deactivated.
- **Customers used by a recurring invoice:** while an active or paused recurring invoice
  has the customer as its recipient, the request answers `400`
  `REFERENCED_BY_RECURRING_INVOICE`.
- **Deactivating instead:** to stop using a customer, whether or not it has invoices, update
  it with `active` set to `false`: that releases no identifier and keeps the customer
  retrievable through `GET /v1/customers?active=false`.

**Retires on 9 December 2026.** See the [migration guide](https://docs.beel.es/changelog/resources-under-the-nif) for what moved where and what changes when you switch.

**Deprecated.**

### Authentication

Accepts any of:

- `ApiKeyAuth` (HTTP bearer, token format `beel_sk_*`)

### Parameters

- **customer_id** (required) in path: Customer ID

### Responses

#### 200: Customer deleted successfully

**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: true)
- **data** (required): The payload. An object for a single resource; an object holding the named collection (and its `pagination`) for a listing. Never a bare array at this level in v1.
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **data** `object`: No description
  - **message** (required) `string`: No description (example: "Customer deleted successfully")

#### 400: An active or paused recurring invoice uses this customer as its recipient
(`REFERENCED_BY_RECURRING_INVOICE`). The customer is left untouched. End that recurring
invoice or change its customer first.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

#### 401: Missing or invalid authentication. Like every other error, `message`/`detail` is
localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English when the
header is missing or asks for none of those.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "UNAUTHORIZED",
    "message": "Authentication is required to access this resource"
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

#### 403: Authenticated but not allowed. Fourteen causes shared by every operation, told apart by
`error.code`; an operation that adds a cause of its own names it in its `403`. You can
branch on them exhaustively.

- `INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE` — the credential lacks a scope the operation requires;
  `error.details.missing_scopes` names them as a single comma-separated string (for
  example `"invoices:write,customers:read"`), not as an array; `required_scopes` has the
  same shape and lists every scope the operation needs. Retrying will not help: mint a key
  that holds them.
- `COMPANY_READ_ONLY` — the scope is there, but your access level over that NIF only
  lets you read it.
- `ACCOUNT_MANAGEMENT_FORBIDDEN` — the scope is there, but your role over the account,
  or the management relationship you hold over it, does not cover this operation.
- `ACCOUNT_NOT_ACCESSIBLE` — the account is not yours to reach, which is also the answer
  when it does not exist, so existence is never disclosed.
- `ACTIVE_COMPANY_NOT_ACCESSIBLE` — the same, for a NIF: the company in the path, or the
  one named by `BeeL-Active-Company`, is not one this credential may reach — and again,
  this is also the answer when it does not exist.
- `COMPANY_ACCESS_REVOKED` — your access to the NIF was withdrawn while the request was
  already in flight, so the write was rejected and nothing was recorded. Retrying will
  not help until the access is granted again.
- `LIVE_CREDENTIAL_REQUIRED` — the operation changes the real account and the call came
  from a test API key (`beel_sk_test_…`). Use your live key or the dashboard.
- `FEATURE_NOT_AVAILABLE` — your subscription does not include the entitlement the
  operation needs; `error.details.feature_code` names it. This gate runs **before** the
  scope gate, so for such an operation you never see `INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE` first.
- `NO_ACTIVE_ACCOUNT` — the credential does not resolve to an account, so no scope can be
  evaluated against one. Fail-closed, not a permission that can be granted to you.
- `OPERATION_REQUIRES_SESSION` — the operation is available only from the web session; no
  API key and no OAuth2 token can perform it, whatever scopes it holds.
- `OPERATION_REQUIRES_API_KEY` — the reverse: the operation needs a scope that only an API
  key can hold (such as `accounts:write`), so a dashboard session never satisfies it.
- `API_KEY_LIVE_NOT_AVAILABLE` — the call came with a live API key (`beel_sk_live_…`) and
  the account has no Live mode yet. It is never degraded to Test: use your test key, or
  activate Live first.
- `ACCOUNT_REQUIRES_FOCUS_SWITCH` — dashboard session only: you are a member of the account
  in the path, but it is not the account in focus. Switch focus to it and retry.
- `REQUEST_BLOCKED` — the edge security filter stopped the request before the API saw its
  body, usually because a text field carries something that looks like markup or a
  script (HTML tags, `<script>`). Review the body and retry.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "FORBIDDEN",
    "message": "You do not have permission to access this resource"
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

#### 404: The resource addressed by the path does not exist, or is not one this credential can see —
the two are answered identically, so existence is never disclosed. `error.code` names the
kind of resource that was missing, so a client can tell which of several ids in a path
failed to resolve:

- `INVOICE_NOT_FOUND` — the `{invoice_id}` (invoices, proformas and their sub-resources).
- `RECURRING_NOT_FOUND` — the `{recurring_invoice_id}`.
- `CLIENT_NOT_FOUND` — the `{customer_id}`.
- `INVOICE_CLIENT_NOT_FOUND` — the `customer_id` referenced by an invoice body does not
  resolve to a customer of the issuing company.
- `PRODUCT_NOT_FOUND` — the `{product_id}`.
- `SERIES_NOT_FOUND` — the `{series_id}`.
- `WEBHOOK_SUBSCRIPTION_NOT_FOUND`, `DELIVERY_LOG_NOT_FOUND` — the `{webhook_id}` and the
  `{delivery_id}`.
- `PROFILE_NOT_FOUND` — the credential's account has no company profile yet: its holder
  has not completed onboarding, so there is no issuer to act as.
- `NOT_FOUND` — the generic fallback, for the few resources that carry no code of their own.

Some resources declare a more specific `404` response of their own (`CONNECTION_NOT_FOUND`,
`MEMBER_NOT_FOUND`, `GRANT_NOT_FOUND`, `INVITATION_NOT_FOUND`, `REQUEST_LOG_NOT_FOUND`); it
is documented on the operation.

A `404` with `ENDPOINT_NOT_FOUND` is a different answer: the **path itself** does not exist
in this API (a typo in the route, or a resource that was never here). It says nothing about
any resource. When the path exists but not with that method, the answer is `405`, not `404`.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "INVOICE_NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "Invoice not found"
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

#### 409: The customer has invoices (`CLIENT_HAS_INVOICES`). The customer is left untouched — it is
neither deleted nor deactivated. Update it with `active` set to `false` to stop using it.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

#### 429: Rate limit exceeded. `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` when the request rate of your credential is
over its limit; `TOO_MANY_REQUESTS` when an email the operation sends is held back because
too many went out to that recipient in a short time. Either way, retry after the
`Retry-After` seconds.

`QUOTA_EXCEEDED` is the other `429`: the operation would go over a quota of your plan
for the current period (issued invoices, for instance). Retrying does not help until the
quota resets or the plan changes. `error.details` carries `feature_code`,
`current_usage`, `quota_limit` and `reset_date`, and `RateLimit-Reset` the seconds until
the reset when it is known.


**Headers:**

- `Retry-After` `integer`: Seconds until the rate limit resets
- `RateLimit-Limit` `integer`: Maximum requests allowed in the window
- `RateLimit-Remaining` `integer`: Remaining requests in the current window
- `RateLimit-Reset` `integer`: Seconds until the current window resets

**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
    "message": "Too many requests. Please try again in 60 seconds."
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

#### 500: Internal server error

**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "INTERNAL_ERROR",
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

#### default: Any status code the operation does not list above. Every operation declares it, so a
generated client always has a branch to fall into and never loses the cause of a failure
it did not anticipate.

This is where the transport-level answers land — `405`, `406`, `415` and `429` — together
with any status a future version of the API starts returning. All of them carry the same
error envelope as the codes listed explicitly, so `error.code` is what tells them apart:
switching on the status code alone is not enough. See «Transport-level errors» in the
API description for when each one is produced.

A `402` carrying `SUBSCRIPTION_REQUIRED` lands here when the account has no active
subscription. `error.details` says why and what to do: `current_status` (absent if it
never had one), `required_permission` and `action`.

A `503` carrying `SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE` lands here too, with a `Retry-After` header: a
dependency of BeeL itself (the database, the email provider) was momentarily
unavailable and nothing was done. Retry after those seconds.

A `502` carrying `EXTERNAL_SERVICE_ERROR` also lands here: an outbound integration the
operation depends on failed or did not answer in time. It is a transient condition — retry
with the same `Idempotency-Key` where the operation accepts one.

One exception to the envelope: a failure of the network edge that never reaches the
application (`502`, `503`, `504`, `524`) is generated by Cloudflare and its body is not
BeeL's — it may not even be JSON. Treat those as "no answer", and retry.


**Content `application/json`:**

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

**Example:**

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE",
    "message": "Unsupported media type: text/plain. Supported: application/json"
  },
  "meta": {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request_id": "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736"
  }
}
```

---

# Related Schema Definitions

## SuccessResponse

The envelope every successful JSON response of the BeeL. API is wrapped in. There are no
bare resources in v1 and none are planned: the payload always hangs off `data`.

- A **single resource** is an object in `data`.
- A **collection** hangs off a named key inside `data`, together with its `pagination`,
  also inside `data` — `data: {invoices: [...], pagination: {...}}`.
- A collection carries `pagination` unless its operation declares itself a **closed
  catalogue**: a fixed, bounded list with nothing to page through. The declaration is
  explicit in the operation; a missing `pagination` is never something to infer.
- `GET /v1/accounts` pages by cursor (`data: {accounts: [...], next_cursor}`). It is a
  documented variant of pagination, not another envelope.

Putting the array straight into `data` with `pagination` as its sibling is the shape a v2
would adopt; v1 is not being flipped to it.

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: true)
- **data** (required): The payload. An object for a single resource; an object holding the named collection (and its `pagination`) for a listing. Never a bare array at this level in v1.
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`

## ResponseMeta

- **timestamp** `string` (date-time): No description (example: "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z")
- **request_id** `string`: No description (example: "4bf92f3577b34da6a3ce929d0e0e4736")

## ErrorResponse

Error response shared by all BeeL. APIs.

The payload carries **two contracts at once** (additive, non-breaking):

- **Legacy** (`success`, `error.{code,message,details}`, `meta`) — kept
  intact for existing consumers.
- **RFC 9457** (`type`, `title`, `detail`, `instance`) — new fields
  for integrators following Problem Details for HTTP APIs. The
  `type` URI is the stable, shareable link to the error's
  documentation page (e.g. `https://docs.beel.es/errors/{code}`).

Future migration: the legacy fields will be deprecated via
`Deprecation`/`Sunset` headers after a sufficient adoption window,
and the response Content-Type will move to
`application/problem+json`.

- **success** (required) `boolean`: No description (example: false)
- **error** (required) `ErrorDetail`
- **meta** `ResponseMeta`
- **type** `string` (uri): Stable URI that identifies the problem type and where the integrator will find its documentation. (example: "https://docs.beel.es/errors/INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **title** `string`: Short summary of the problem type. Stable between occurrences of the same `type`. (example: "INVOICE_NO_LINES")
- **detail** `string`: Specific message for this occurrence, localized according to `Accept-Language` (`es`, `en`, `ca`); defaults to English. Matches the legacy `error.message`. (example: "The invoice must have at least one line")
- **instance** `string` (uri-reference): URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem — typically the path of the affected resource. (example: "/v1/invoices/abc-123")

## ErrorDetail

- **code** (required) `string`: No description (example: "VALIDATION_ERROR")
- **message** (required) `string`: No description (example: "The provided data is not valid")
- **details** `object`: No description (example: {"field":"specific error message"})


---

Full OpenAPI spec: https://docs.beel.es/api/openapi