# createCollaborator

mutation · in the family [Collaborator](/reference/collaborator/)

## What it does

Add an external collaborator — an outside party (accountant, agency, consultant) with scoped, never-owner access.

Create a Collaborator in the caller's org group; requires the unrestricted capability. ⚠ NO password argument and NO invite in this response — issueCollaboratorInvite mints the show-once bootstrap token separately (the separation; the show-once secret is bespoke-op territory).

## What happens

The record is created with its role assignments, but they cannot sign in until you issue an invite and they accept it — the system never sets or knows their password.

## Who may call it

Capability area: **Identity and access** — Who can sign in and what each role allows — users, roles and their assignments.

- Owner
- System Administrator
- An API key whose scope allows `api:createCollaborator`

## Arguments

| Name | Type | Required | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `input` | [NewCollaboratorInput](/types/NewCollaboratorInput/) `NewCollaboratorInput!` | yes | No further notes. |

## Returns

[Collaborator](/types/Collaborator/) `Collaborator!` — A Collaborator — the strictly-scoped NON-ACCOUNT access identity: the User-adjacent NEVER-OWNER identity for EXTERNALLY-ORIGINATED parties (outside accountant/bookkeeper, agency, consultant, an integration partner's human operator, a scoped helper) granted limited access to ONE org group without being a merchant Account. Group-scoped like the Consumer (parentId === rootId — per-group NOT global; the same firm at two merchant groups = two records; federated identity is the lock's flagged-not-now). THE THREE DISTINCTIONS FROM A USER: (1) no merchant Account (its own identity + credential + session class) · (2) NO OWNERSHIP EVER (owners are Account-only structural links — there is no Collaborator state in which ownership is permitted) · (3) externally-originated (invited, not part of the merchant's principal hierarchy). Access = STRICTLY the Roles-per-org mechanism Users ride. the identity-marker rule (the Consumer burn class): the (group × normalized email) UNIQ marker IS the login index — a live/inactive holder refuses CONFLICT/IDENTITY_TAKEN; on erase (doom) the identifiers BURN within the group. Credentials NEVER ride this record: a created Collaborator is born active but CREDENTIAL-LESS — issueCollaboratorInvite mints the show-once bootstrap token, acceptCollaboratorInvite redeems it into the argon2id credential (the invite handshake is a credential-store bootstrap, NOT an FSM state — the lock's chosen lean; NO staff password-set lane EVER — recovery = re-invite rotation). Self-service rides the COLLABORATOR SESSION channel (collaboratorLogin + descriptor-gated ops); staff manage via THIS face. SEARCHABLE (the book law).

## Example request

```graphql
mutation ExampleCreateCollaborator($input: NewCollaboratorInput!) {
  createCollaborator(input: $input) {
    id
    sysId
    type
    caption
    status
    parentId
    rootId
    createdAt
    updatedAt
    revisionNum
    revision
    email
    displayName
  }
}
```

Variables:

```json
{
  "input": {
    "caption": "Blue jeans",
    "email": "<the person’s email address>",
    "orgRoles": [
      {
        "org": "01900000-0000-7000-8000-9c1df0590000",
        "roles": [
          "01900000-0000-7000-8000-98bc5cde0000"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

Send it with the envelope naming the version: `"extensions": {"at": {"version": {"name":"genesis","number":0}}}`.

## Example response

```json
{
  "data": {
    "createCollaborator": {
      "id": "01900000-0000-7000-8000-37386ae00000",
      "sysId": "CX-EXMP-0000-000F",
      "type": "Collaborator",
      "caption": "Blue jeans",
      "status": "active",
      "parentId": "01900000-0000-7000-8000-065235280000",
      "rootId": "01900000-0000-7000-8000-a093dd800000",
      "createdAt": "2027-01-31T00:00:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2027-01-31T00:00:00.000Z",
      "revisionNum": 1,
      "revision": "01900000-0000-7000-8000-b7960e180000",
      "email": "<the person’s email address>",
      "displayName": "Blue jeans"
    }
  },
  "extensions": {
    "at": {
      "callId": "01EXAMPLE-CALL-ID",
      "version": {
        "requested": {
          "name": "genesis",
          "number": 0
        },
        "serviced": {
          "name": "genesis",
          "number": 0
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Errors this call can answer

- `VALIDATION/INVALID` — Something in the request is not valid. ([VALIDATION](/errors/VALIDATION/))
- `AUTHN/REQUIRED` — Sign in to do this. ([AUTHN](/errors/AUTHN/))
- `AUTHZ/FORBIDDEN` — Your role does not allow this action. ([AUTHZ](/errors/AUTHZ/))
- `RATE_LIMIT/THROTTLED` — Too many requests in a short time. ([RATE_LIMIT](/errors/RATE_LIMIT/))
- `CONFLICT/*` — The record’s state, or a change made in the meantime, does not allow this; the codes are on the CONFLICT page. ([CONFLICT](/errors/CONFLICT/))
- `VALIDATION/VERSION_REQUIRED` — The request did not say which app version it came from. ([VALIDATION](/errors/VALIDATION/))

## Dry run

Add `dryRun: true` to the request envelope (`extensions.at`) to rehearse this call: every check runs, the write is rehearsed against the current records and nothing is stored; the answer is the refusal a real call would give, or the record it would create. Every response to a rehearsal carries `dryRun: true`, so a rehearsed record is never mistaken for a saved one.

## Used in

- [Bring in an outside collaborator](/use-cases/bring-in-an-outside-collaborator/)