Set up your catalog

This is the setup you do before items reach customers - in your back office or fulfillment pipeline, once per product line and once per item. By the end, each physical item has a unit and a paired chip, and is ready to verify at a tap. The Quickstart runs this same flow with a simulated test chip. This guide is the production version: real encoded chips, real items, at scale.

Order matters, and the API enforces it: a collection must finish provisioning (active) before you can add units, and pairing a chip is what issues the unit - it assigns the serial and flips the unit from pending to active.

Create a collection

A collection is a product line or drop. Create it once; every unit inside it shares its serial-number namespace. POST /v1/collections returns immediately with contract.status: "deploying" - provisioning is asynchronous.

await endstate.collections.create({
  name: "Heritage Jacket - Fall 2026",
  external_id: "heritage-jacket-fall-2026",
});

curl -X POST https://api2.endstate.io/v1/collections \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer end_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Heritage Jacket - Fall 2026",
    "external_id": "heritage-jacket-fall-2026"
  }'

Response

{
  "id": "8e1a7f50-90ab-4cde-b012-3456789abcde",
  "name": "Heritage Jacket - Fall 2026",
  "external_id": "heritage-jacket-fall-2026",
  "redirect_url": null,
  "contract": {
    "status": "deploying",
    "address": "0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111",
    "chain_id": 84532
  }
}

The collection is returned at the top level (as are all single-resource responses - see Response shape). Poll GET /v1/collections/{collection_id} until contract.status is "active" before adding units (a short interval; give up after a reasonable timeout). Creating a unit too early returns collection.not_active.Only name is required - the collection is created on your organization’s default network, configured by Endstate at onboarding. The optional fields:

string

Your own identifier for the collection, unique within your organization. The example above sets it so a re-run can look the collection up instead of creating a duplicate (see Re-runs and conflicts).

string

Where a tap on any of this collection’s items sends the user. See Tap redirects.

string

A short display symbol, 1-4 characters. Derived from name when omitted.

integer

Override the default network. The value must be one of the networks enabled for your organization (allowed_chain_ids from Organization settings); otherwise the API returns validation.failed.

Create a unit for each item

A unit is the digital record of one physical item. Create one per item with POST /v1/units, using the active collection’s id.

await endstate.units.create({
  collection_id: "8e1a7f50-90ab-4cde-b012-3456789abcde",
  external_id: "jacket-fall26-unit-001",
  name: "Heritage Jacket #001",
  attributes: {
    color: "olive",
    size: "M",
  },
});

curl -X POST https://api2.endstate.io/v1/units \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer end_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "collection_id": "8e1a7f50-90ab-4cde-b012-3456789abcde",
    "external_id": "jacket-fall26-unit-001",
    "name": "Heritage Jacket #001",
    "attributes": { "color": "olive", "size": "M" }
  }'

The unit starts with token.status: "pending" and no serial - both are set when you pair a chip in the next step.Set external_id to your own SKU or serial so you can look the unit up later (GET /v1/units?external_id=...) without storing Endstate IDs. There’s no bulk endpoint - loop the call to register every item ahead of time, before they ship.

Pair a chip (this issues the unit)

Pairing links a specific NFC chip to a specific unit and triggers issuance. A chip is permanently bound to one unit - it cannot be re-paired (chip.already_paired). If a paired chip is damaged before the item ships, don’t re-pair it - replace the unit’s chip with a fresh one.Encoded chip (production). Do this during fulfillment, after the chip is encoded and before the item ships. Supply the chip_id (10 hex characters) and e (32 uppercase hex characters) from your encoding step.

await endstate.chips.pair({
  unit_id: "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  chip_id: "ABCDEF0123",
  e: "C78566198547116F3A715DC1C62AF96F",
});

curl -X POST https://api2.endstate.io/v1/chips \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer end_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "unit_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
    "chip_id": "ABCDEF0123",
    "e": "C78566198547116F3A715DC1C62AF96F"
  }'

Response

{
  "chip_id": "ABCDEF0123",
  "is_test": false,
  "scan_count": 0,
  "created_at": "2026-06-15T09:00:00.000Z",
  "unit": {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
    "external_id": "jacket-fall26-unit-001",
    "name": "Heritage Jacket #001",
    "attributes": { "color": "olive", "size": "M" },
    "redirect_url": null,
    "created_at": "2026-06-15T08:59:00.000Z",
    "collection": {
      "id": "8e1a7f50-90ab-4cde-b012-3456789abcde",
      "name": "Heritage Jacket - Fall 2026",
      "external_id": "heritage-jacket-fall-2026",
      "contract": {
        "address": "0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111",
        "chain_id": 84532,
        "status": "active"
      },
      "token": { "status": "pending", "serial": null }
    }
  }
}

The chip_id and e come from your chip encoding process - do not derive them from a tap URL. The encoding e is consumed on pairing, and a fresh one-time e is produced at each user tap.

Test chip (development). Pass is_test: true and Endstate assigns the chip_id - no hardware needed. Generate tap values for it later with POST /v1/test-helpers/taps. See Test without hardware.

await endstate.chips.pair({
  unit_id: "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  is_test: true,
});

curl -X POST https://api2.endstate.io/v1/chips \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer end_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "unit_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890", "is_test": true }'

Pairing returns the assigned chip_id at the top level (the value to use for a test chip’s taps). Issuance is asynchronous and has no failure status - poll GET /v1/units/{unit_id} until collection.token.status is "active"; the unit’s collection.token.serial is set at that point. If it stays pending well beyond a few minutes, stop polling and contact support.

Re-runs and conflicts

external_id makes setup safe to re-run. If a step reports a conflict, look the existing resource up by its external_id and reuse it instead of creating a duplicate. Branch on error.code (never the message or HTTP status):

`error.code`	When	What to do
`collection.not_active`	Creating a unit too early.	Poll the collection until `contract.status: "active"`, then retry.
`collection.already_exists`	Re-creating a collection.	Look it up with `GET /v1/collections?external_id=...` and reuse its `id`.
`unit.already_exists`	Re-creating a unit.	Look it up with `GET /v1/units?external_id=...` and reuse it.
`chip.already_paired`	Pairing a chip that’s already used.	Pairing is permanent - a chip cannot move to another unit. To swap a unit’s damaged chip, use a chip replacement.
`validation.failed`	Bad `chip_id` / `e` format, etc.	Fix the field; see `error.details`. `chip_id` is 10 hex, `e` is 32 hex.

See Errors for the full envelope.

Next steps

Verify a unit

Now that items are registered, handle the user tap and verify authenticity end to end.

Tap redirects

Send users to your own page after a tap - per unit, per collection, or org-wide.

Get started

Pairing

Verification

Ownership

Re-runs and conflicts

Next steps

Verify a unit

Tap redirects

​Re-runs and conflicts

​Next steps

Verify a unit

Tap redirects

Re-runs and conflicts

Next steps