Create and Manage Customer Custom Attribute Definitions

Applies to: Customer Custom Attributes API | Customer Groups API

Learn how to create and manage customer-related custom attribute definitions for Square sellers using the Customer Custom Attributes API.

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Overview

A custom attribute definition specifies the key identifier, visibility setting, schema data type, and other properties for a custom attribute. After the definition is created, the custom attribute can be set for customer profiles in the seller's Customer Directory. For more information about how customer-related custom attributes work, see Custom Attributes for Customers.

Custom attribute definitions are stored as a collection for a Square seller. Customer-related custom attribute definitions are accessed using the customers segment in the endpoint URL.

.../v2/customers/custom-attribute-definitions

Note

The Customer Groups API also enables personalized customer experiences. For example, the API can be used to set the same label for a group of customer profiles.

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CustomAttributeDefinition object

A custom attribute definition is represented by a CustomAttributeDefinition object. The following is an example custom attribute definition that defines a "Favorite Drink" custom attribute of the String data type:

{ "custom_attribute_definition": { "key": "favorite-drink", "name": "Favorite Drink", "description": "The favorite drink of the customer", "version": 1, "updated_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "schema": { "$ref": "https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String" }, "created_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "visibility": "VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES" } }

The following fields represent core properties of a custom attribute definition:

FieldDescription
keyThe identifier for the definition and its corresponding custom attributes. This key is unique for the application and cannot be changed after the definition is created.

If the requesting application isn't the definition owner, the value is a qualified key. A qualified key is the application ID of the definition owner followed by the key that was provided when the definition was created, in the following format: {application ID}:{key}.

For custom fields created by sellers in the Customer Directory, the qualified key is square:{key}.
nameThe name for the custom attribute. This name must be unique (case-sensitive) across all visible customer-related custom attribute definitions for the seller. This field is required if visibility is VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES.
descriptionThe description for the custom attribute. This field is required if visibility is VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES.
visibilityThe access control setting that determines whether other applications (including Square products such as the Square Dashboard) can view the definition and view or edit corresponding custom attributes. Valid values are VISIBILITY_HIDDEN, VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY, VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES. For more information, see Access control.

Regardless of the visibility setting, all custom attribute data is visible to sellers when exporting customer data.
schemaThe data type of the custom attribute value. For more information, see Specifying the schema. The total schema size cannot exceed 12 KB.
versionThe version number of the custom attribute definition. The version number is initially set to 1 and incremented each time the definition is updated. Include this field in update operations to enable optimistic concurrency control and in read operations for strong consistency.
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Create a customer custom attribute definition

Use the CreateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition endpoint to create a custom attribute definition for a seller account. This operation makes the custom attribute available to customer profiles in the seller's Customer Directory. Note the following:

  • key is the identifier for the definition and its corresponding custom attributes. The value must be unique for the application. It can contain up to 60 alphanumeric characters, periods (.), underscores (_), and hyphens (-) and must match the following regular expression:

    ^[a-zA-Z0-9\._-]{1,60}$

  • visibility is the access control setting that determines whether other applications can view the definition and view or edit corresponding custom attributes. The following are valid values:

    • VISIBILITY_HIDDEN (default)
    • VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY
    • VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES

    Sellers can view all custom attributes in exported customer data, including those set to VISIBILITY_HIDDEN.

  • schema is the data type of the custom attribute. For more information, see Specifying the schema.

  • name and description are the name and description of the custom attribute. Each field can contain up to 255 characters.

    Both fields are required when visibility is set to VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES. If provided, name must be unique (case-sensitive) across all visible customer-related custom attribute definitions for the seller. Seller-facing custom attributes should be given a friendly name and description.

  • idempotency_key is a unique ID for the request that can be optionally included to ensure idempotency.

The following example request defines a "Favorite Drink" custom attribute whose value can be a String:

Create customer custom attribute definition

The following is an example response:

{ "custom_attribute_definition": { "key": "favorite-drink", "name": "Favorite Drink", "description": "The favorite drink of the customer", "version": 1, "updated_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "schema": { "$ref": "https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String" }, "created_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "visibility": "VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES" } }

Now that the custom attribute definition is created, you can set the custom attribute for the seller's customers. For more information, see Create or update a customer custom attribute or Bulk create or update customer custom attributes.

After a custom attribute definition is created, Square invokes the customer.custom_attribute_definition.owned.created and customer.custom_attribute_definition.visible.created webhook events.

A seller account can have a maximum of 100 customer-related custom attribute definitions per application.

Note

To view your custom attributes in the Customer Directory, the visibility setting for the definition must be VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES and the seller must make the field visible from the Configure Profiles page. The custom attribute name appears in the directory, but the description doesn't.

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Specifying the schema

The data type of a custom attribute is specified by the schema field of the definition. Square uses the schema to validate the custom attribute value when it's assigned to a customer profile. The total schema size cannot exceed 12 KB. When setting the value of the custom attribute for a customer profile, the total value size cannot exceed 5 KB.

The following data types are supported for customer-related custom attributes:

  • String
  • Email
  • PhoneNumber
  • Address
  • Date
  • Boolean
  • Number
  • Selection

Note

Customer-related custom attributes don't support DateTime or Duration data types.

In a CreateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition request, the schema field specifies a data type by referencing a JSON schema or meta-schema object hosted on the Square CDN.

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JSON schema objects

For the data types in the following table, specify a $ref value that references the corresponding schema object, as shown in the following snippet that references the String data type:

{ "custom_attribute_definition": { ... "schema": { "$ref": "https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String" }, ... } }
Data typeDescription

String

A string with up to 1000 UTF-8 characters. Empty strings are allowed.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String

Email

An email address consisting of ASCII characters that matches the regular expression for the HTML5 email type.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.Email

PhoneNumber

A string representation of a phone number in E.164 format. For example, +17895551234.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.PhoneNumber

Address

An Address object. For information about Address fields, see Working with Addresses.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.Address

Date

A date in ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD. Customer-related custom attributes don't support DateTime or Duration data types.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.Date

Boolean

A true or false value.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.Boolean

Number

A string representation of an integer or decimal with up to 5 digits of precision. Negative numbers are denoted using a - prefix. The absolute value cannot exceed (2^63-1)/10^5 or 92233720368547.

For numeric values that act as identifiers rather than representing a quantity (such as account numbers), you might consider using the String data type because it supports an exact match search and isn't subject to this limit. In contrast, a number-range search is used for Number data types.

$ref value:
https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.Number

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JSON meta-schema object

For a Selection data type, the schema contains a $schema field that references a JSON meta-schema object, as well as additional fields. Note the following:

  • $schema references the https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/meta-schemas/v1/selection.json meta-schema hosted on the Square CDN.
  • type must be array.
  • items must include a names array that contains strings representing the display names of the predefined options that can be selected. Note that the order of the options might not be respected by all UIs.
  • maxItems is an integer that represents the maximum number of allowed selections. Corresponding custom attributes can have zero or more selected values, up to the specified maximum. The minimum value is 1 and cannot exceed the number of options in the names field.
  • uniqueItems must be true.

The following example request creates a Selection-type custom attribute definition that contains three named options and allows one selection:

Create customer custom attribute definition

The following is an example response. For each named option, Square generates a UUID and adds it to the enum field. The options in the names field map by index to the UUIDs in the enum field. The first option maps to the first UUID, the second option maps to the second UUID, and so on.

These UUIDs are used to set the value of the custom attribute or update the option names.

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Update a customer custom attribute definition

Use the UpdateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition endpoint to update a custom attribute definition for a seller account. Only the following fields can be updated:

  • name
  • description
  • visibility
  • schema for a Selection data type

Only new or changed fields need to be included in the request. For more information, see Updatable definition fields.

Note the following about an UpdateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition request:

  • A custom attribute definition can be updated only by the definition owner.

  • The key path parameter is the key of the custom attribute definition.

  • The version field can be optionally included to enable optimistic concurrency control. If included, version must match the current version of the custom attribute definition; otherwise, the request fails with a CONFLICT error. Square increments the version number each time the definition is updated.

  • The idempotency_key is a unique ID for the request that can be optionally included to ensure idempotency.

The following example request updates the visibility setting of a definition:

Update customer custom attribute definition

The following is an example response:

{ "custom_attribute_definition": { "key": "favorite-drink", "name": "Favorite Drink", "description": "The favorite drink of the customer", "version": 2, "updated_at": "2022-05-28T04:17:09Z", "schema": { "$ref": "https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String" }, "created_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "visibility": "VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY" } }

After a custom attribute definition is updated, Square invokes the customer.custom_attribute_definition.owned.updated and customer.custom_attribute_definition.visible.updated webhook events.

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Updatable definition fields

The UpdateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition endpoint can be used to update one or more of the following fields. The endpoint supports sparse updates, so only new or changed fields need to be included in the request. Square ignores custom attribute definition fields that are unchanged or read-only.

  • name - The name of the custom attribute of up to 255 characters. Seller-facing custom attributes should be given a friendly name. The name must be unique (case-sensitive) across all visible customer-related custom attribute definitions for the seller.

  • description - The description of the custom attribute of up to 255 characters. Seller-facing custom attributes should be given a friendly description.

  • visibility - The access control setting that determines whether other applications can view the definition and view or edit corresponding custom attributes. The following are valid values:

    • VISIBILITY_HIDDEN (default)
    • VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY
    • VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES

    Changes to the visibility setting are propagated to corresponding custom attributes within a couple seconds. At that time, the updated_at and version fields of the custom attributes are also updated. For VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES settings, both name and description are required.

    All custom attributes are visible in the .csv file when the customer data is exported, including those set to VISIBILITY_HIDDEN. Sellers can generate this file using the Export Customers button in the Customer Directory.

  • schema- For a Selection data type. Only changes to the named options and maximum number of selections are supported, as described in the following section. The total schema size cannot exceed 12 KB.

Did you know?

To simplify management, you might want to keep all definitions that use the same key synchronized across seller accounts. Therefore, if you change the definition for one seller, you should consider making the same change for all other sellers.

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Updating a Selection schema

For a Selection data type, you can update the maximum number of allowed selections and the set of predefined named options.

Note

Square validates custom attribute selections on upsert operations, so these changes apply only for future upsert operations. They don't affect custom attributes that have already been set on customer profiles.

The information you send in the UpdateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition request depends on the change you want to make:

  • To change the maximum number of allowed selections, include the maxItems field with the new integer value. The minimum value is 1 and cannot exceed the number of options in the names field.

  • To change the set of predefined named options, include the items field with the complete names and enum arrays. The options in the names array map by index to the Square-assigned UUIDs in the enum array, which are unique per seller. The first option maps to the first UUID, the second option maps to the second UUID, and so on.

    • To add an option:

      • Add the name of the new option at the end of the names array. New options must always be added to the end of the array.
      • Don't change the enum array. Square generates a UUID for the new option and adds it to the end of the enum array.
    • To reorder the options:

      • Change the order of the names in the names array.

      • Change the order of the UUIDs in the enum array so that the order of the UUIDs matches the order of the corresponding named options.

        Note that the order might not be respected by all UIs.

    • To remove an option:

      • Remove the name of the option from the names array.
      • Remove the corresponding UUID from the enum array.

The following example UpdateCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition request adds two new options by adding the names at the end of the names array.

Update customer custom attribute definition

The following example response includes the UUID that Square generated for the new X-Small and X-Large options:

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List customer custom attribute definitions

Use the ListCustomerCustomAttributeDefinitions endpoint to list the custom attribute definitions from a seller account. Note the following:

  • The limit query parameter optionally specifies a maximum page size of 1 to 100 results. The default limit is 20.

    If the results are paged, the cursor field in the response contains a value that you can send with the cursor query parameter to get the next page of results.

The following example request includes the limit query parameter:

List customer custom attribute definitions

When all pages are retrieved, all custom attribute definitions created by the requesting application are included in the results. The key for these definitions is the key that was provided when the definition was created.

Custom attribute definitions created by other applications are included if their visibility is VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES. The key for these definitions is a qualified key.

Custom attributes created in the Customer Directory are called custom fields in the UI and they're always set to VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES.

The following is an example response:

The example response contains four custom attribute definitions:

  • "Favorite Drink" and "Entity ID" were created by the requesting application. Because "Entity ID" is set to VISIBILITY_HIDDEN, it's returned only when requested by the definition owner.

  • "Work email" was created by another third-party application. Note that the qualified key includes the ID of the application that created the custom attribute definition.

  • "Is Premium Member" was created by the seller in the Customer Directory. For first-party Square products, the application_id is square.

If no custom attribute definitions are found, Square returns an empty response.

{}
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Retrieve a customer custom attribute definition

Use the RetrieveCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition endpoint to retrieve a custom attribute definition using the key. Note the following:

  • The key path parameter is the key of the custom attribute definition.

    • If the requesting application is the definition owner, use the key that was provided when the definition was created.

    • If the requesting application isn't the definition owner, use the qualified key. The visibility of the definition must be VISIBILITY_READ_ONLY or VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES.

      Custom attributes created in the Customer Directory are called custom fields in the UI and they're always set to VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES.

  • The version query parameter is optionally used for strongly consistent reads to guarantee that you receive the most up-to-date data. When included in the request, Square returns the specified version or a higher version if one exists. If the specified version is higher than the current version, Square returns a 400 BAD_REQUEST error.

The following is an example request:

Retrieve customer custom attribute definition

Note

Square also returns custom attribute definitions for RetrieveCustomerCustomAttribute or ListCustomerCustomAttributes requests if you set the with_definition or with_definitions query parameter to true. For more information, see Retrieve a customer custom attribute or List customer custom attributes.

The following is an example response:

{ "custom_attribute_definition": { "key": "favorite-drink", "name": "Favorite Drink", "description": "The favorite drink of the customer", "version": 1, "updated_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "schema": { "$ref": "https://developer-production-s.squarecdn.com/schemas/v1/common.json#squareup.common.String" }, "created_at": "2022-05-20T02:41:37Z", "visibility": "VISIBILITY_READ_WRITE_VALUES" } }

If the custom attribute definition isn't found, Square returns an errors field that contains a 404 NOT_FOUND error.

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Delete a customer custom attribute definition

Use the DeleteCustomerCustomAttributeDefinition endpoint to delete a custom attribute definition from a seller account. Note the following:

  • A custom attribute definition can be deleted only by the definition owner.

  • The key path parameter is the key of the custom attribute definition.

  • Deleting a custom attribute definition also deletes the corresponding custom attribute from all customer profiles in the seller's directory.

The following is an example request:

Delete customer custom attribute definition

If successful, Square returns an empty object.

{}

After a custom attribute definition is deleted, Square invokes the customer.custom_attribute_definition.owned.deleted and customer.custom_attribute_definition.visible.deleted webhook events.

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See also