How to Retrieve the Actual Creation Time of a Square Catalog Item?

Questions
1

Hi Square Team:

I’m trying to retrieve the creation timestamp of a Square catalog item, but I couldn’t find the created_at field in the Catalog API documentation.

We need the product creation time for analytics reporting. Could you advise whether there is a way to obtain the actual creation time of a catalog item?

If the Catalog API does not expose this field, is there an alternative method to retrieve or approximate the original creation timestamp?

Thanks,

Murphy

2

I’m fairly new to Square API so for these types of questions I use Microsoft Copilot. It helped me build a SquareAPI Explorer, that lists out the structure of things like Catalog Items, payments, inventory, Orders. When I ran it for Catalog Items, it listed the below data out with created_at being the 4th on the list. Ask Copilot to write you a routine.

JSON Path
objects.[x].type
objects.[x].id
objects.[x].updated_at
objects.[x].created_at
objects.[x].version
objects.[x].is_deleted
objects.[x].present_at_all_locations
objects.[x].item_data.name
objects.[x].item_data.is_taxable
objects.[x].item_data.tax_ids.[x]
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].type
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].id
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].updated_at
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].created_at
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].version
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].is_deleted
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].present_at_all_locations
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.item_id
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.name
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.sku
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.pricing_type
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.price_money.amount
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.price_money.currency
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.track_inventory
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.sellable
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.stockable
objects.[x].item_data.variations.[x].item_variation_data.channels.[x]
objects.[x].item_data.product_type
objects.[x].item_data.ecom_visibility
objects.[x].item_data.channels.[x]
objects.[x].item_data.is_archived
3

Thank you very much for your guidance. However, it is a pity that the Square API does not actually return the “created_at” field.

4

Also, I just worked with AI Copilot for the last two days trying to get the variation quantity, with no luck. Seemed like such a simple thing to retrieve. Copilot finally advised me that Square API won’t provide this without purchasing “Inventory Plus”. You might look into that if you need it.