> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.referly.so/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create an Affiliate > Creates an affiliate in your program and gives them their first referral link. `firstName`, `lastName` and `email` are required; the email must be unique within the program. If you do not send `affiliateLink`, a slug is generated from the email address. If you do send one and it is already taken, the request fails rather than silently picking another slug. When `commissionRate` is omitted the affiliate inherits the program's default rate. When `affiliateStatus` is omitted, the program's auto-approve setting decides whether the affiliate starts active or pending. Creating an affiliate also triggers the admin notification email, the affiliate welcome email (active affiliates only, unless `sendWelcomeEmail` is `false`), any automatic promo codes, and the `affiliate.created` webhook. ## OpenAPI ````yaml POST /affiliates openapi: 3.0.1 info: title: Referly API description: >- REST API for managing affiliates, referrals, sales, affiliate links, coupons and promotional codes in your Referly affiliate program. Every request must send `Authorization: Bearer `. The token is scoped to a single affiliate program, so no program ID is ever required in the request — every read and write is automatically limited to that program. Requests are rate limited per token, per endpoint and per method. version: 1.0.0 servers: - url: https://www.referly.so/api/v1 security: - bearerAuth: [] paths: /affiliates: post: summary: Create an affiliate description: >- Creates an affiliate in your program and gives them their first referral link. `firstName`, `lastName` and `email` are required; the email must be unique within the program. If you do not send `affiliateLink`, a slug is generated from the email address. If you do send one and it is already taken, the request fails rather than silently picking another slug. When `commissionRate` is omitted the affiliate inherits the program's default rate. When `affiliateStatus` is omitted, the program's auto-approve setting decides whether the affiliate starts active or pending. Creating an affiliate also triggers the admin notification email, the affiliate welcome email (active affiliates only, unless `sendWelcomeEmail` is `false`), any automatic promo codes, and the `affiliate.created` webhook. requestBody: description: The affiliate to create content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/NewAffiliate' required: true responses: '200': description: >- The created affiliate, including its generated `affiliateLinks` entry. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Affiliate' '400': description: >- A required field is missing, an affiliate with this email already exists, the requested affiliate link is already in use, `commissionPlanId` or `affiliateGroupId` does not exist in this program, the commission plan does not belong to the given group, or the account has reached its affiliate limit. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/ProgramNotFound' '429': $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited' components: schemas: NewAffiliate: type: object required: - firstName - lastName - email properties: firstName: type: string description: First name of the affiliate lastName: type: string description: Last name of the affiliate email: type: string format: email description: Email of the affiliate commissionRate: type: number format: float description: Commission rate for the affiliate affiliateLink: type: string description: >- Optional slug for the affiliate's first referral link. If omitted, a slug is generated automatically. affiliateStatus: type: string enum: - active - inactive description: >- Status of the new affiliate. If omitted, the program's auto-approve setting decides whether the affiliate is created active or inactive. sendWelcomeEmail: type: boolean default: true description: >- Set to false to skip the affiliate welcome email. The welcome email is only sent when the affiliate is created active. commissionPlanId: type: string format: uuid description: >- Assign the affiliate to a commission plan in this program. Returns 400 if the plan does not exist in this program. affiliateGroupId: type: string format: uuid description: >- Assign the affiliate to an affiliate group in this program. Returns 400 if the group does not exist, or if commissionPlanId belongs to a different group. Affiliate: type: object properties: id: type: string format: uuid description: The affiliate ID firstName: type: string description: First name of the affiliate lastName: type: string description: Last name of the affiliate name: type: string nullable: true description: Full name of the affiliate (optional) email: type: string format: email description: Email of the affiliate password: type: string nullable: true description: Hashed Password of the affiliate (optional) deprecated: true emailVerified: type: boolean nullable: true description: Flag to indicate if the email has been verified image: type: string nullable: true description: Profile image URL of the affiliate detailsComplete: type: boolean description: Flag to indicate if affiliate details are complete programId: type: string format: uuid description: The program ID that the affiliate is associated with payoutEmail: type: string format: email description: Email to be used for payouts paymentMethod: type: string description: Payment method for the affiliate (e.g., WISE) commissionRate: type: number format: float description: Commission rate for the affiliate (0 - 100) link: type: string nullable: true deprecated: true description: >- Deprecated legacy field and almost always `null`. Read `affiliateLinks` instead. affiliateLinks: type: array description: >- All affiliate link records for this affiliate. This is the source of truth for referral link slugs. items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/AffiliateLinkRecord' status: type: string enum: - ACTIVE - INACTIVE - INVITED - DECLINED - DEACTIVATED - BANNED description: >- Affiliate status. `INACTIVE` is shown as **Pending** in the dashboard and is kept for backwards compatibility. createdAt: type: string format: date-time description: Timestamp when the affiliate was created updatedAt: type: string format: date-time description: Timestamp when the affiliate was last updated numberOfReferredUsers: type: integer description: Number of users referred by the affiliate numberOfClicks: type: integer description: Number of clicks generated by the affiliate totalCommissionEarned: type: number format: float description: Total commission earned by the affiliate source: type: string nullable: true description: >- How the affiliate joined. Affiliates created through this API have `API`. commissionPlanId: type: string format: uuid nullable: true description: The commission plan assigned to this affiliate, if any affiliateGroupId: type: string format: uuid nullable: true description: The affiliate group this affiliate belongs to, if any Error: type: object properties: error: type: string description: Human readable description of what went wrong AffiliateLinkRecord: type: object description: A single referral link belonging to an affiliate properties: id: type: string format: uuid description: Affiliate link record ID link: type: string description: Link slug (path segment) for this affiliate userId: type: string format: uuid nullable: true description: Affiliate user ID programId: type: string format: uuid nullable: true description: Affiliate program ID createdAt: type: string format: date-time description: When this link was created updatedAt: type: string format: date-time description: When this link was last updated responses: Unauthorized: description: >- The `Authorization` header is missing, is not a `Bearer` header, or the token is not valid. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' Forbidden: description: API access is not enabled for this account. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' ProgramNotFound: description: The affiliate program this token belongs to no longer exists. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' RateLimited: description: Too many requests for this token on this endpoint. Please slow down. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' securitySchemes: bearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer ````