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Create a claim for a connected entity

POST 
/claims

Creates a debt-recovery claim against a defendant on behalf of a connected entity, optionally linking documents previously uploaded via POST /documents/upload-url.

Idempotency. partner_claim_id is required and is the idempotency key, scoped per entity: repeating the call with the same entity_id and partner_claim_id returns the existing claim_id with already_existed: true and HTTP 200, without re-uploading documents or re-triggering processing. The same partner_claim_id sent with a different entity_id creates a separate claim. The claim_id itself is a short, Garfield-assigned reference (it appears on letters and court forms and in correspondence), distinct from your partner_claim_id.

Processing. Your message and any document_refs become the claim's first message, which is what starts Garfield's processing. If you provide neither, no first message is created and processing does not begin until the user sends a message in-app.

Document linking. Each document_refs[].storage_path must sit under the entity+claim prefix produced by /documents/upload-url, and the file must already exist in storage, or the request is rejected (document_path_invalid / document_not_uploaded).

Request​

Responses​

Idempotent replay. A claim already existed for this (partner_id, partner_claim_id). document_ids is always empty on a replay (documents are linked only on first creation).