> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.withpersona.com/2020-05-18/accounts-cookbook/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.withpersona.com/_mcp/server.

# Accounts Cookbook

> Follow API recipes for creating accounts and associating them with Persona resources.

## Create an account

Accounts can be created without an inquiry, either manually in your Persona dashboard or via the API.

```curl
curl -X POST https://api.withpersona.com/api/v1/accounts \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-d'{
  "data": {
    "attributes": {
      "reference-id": REFERENCE_ID
    }
  }
}'
```

> **Info**
>
> #### What's a reference ID?
>
> A reference ID is a string that you assign to identify a unique end user in Persona. [Learn more](/reference-ids).

See the full [API reference](/api-reference/accounts/create-an-account).

## Create an account via inquiry creation

You can also associate each newly-created inquiry with an account. Specify either the account ID or the account's reference ID in the inquiry creation request:

```curl
# Using account ID
curl -X POST https://api.withpersona.com/api/v1/inquiries \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d'{
  "data": {
    "attributes": {
      "inquiry-template-id": YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID,
      "account-id": ACCOUNT_ID
    }
  }
}' 

# Using reference ID
curl -X POST https://api.withpersona.com/api/v1/inquiries \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d'{
  "data": {
    "attributes": {
      "inquiry-template-id": YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID
    },
    "meta": {
      "auto-create-account-reference-id": REFERENCE_ID
    }
  }
}'
```

See the full [API reference](/api-reference/inquiries/create-an-inquiry).

## Import accounts

You can import many accounts at once into Persona by uploading a CSV of your account data. Note: this type of upload does not support images at this time.

The fields you can include in a bulk import are:

* reference\_id
* name\_first
* name\_middle
* name\_last
* birthdate
* social\_security\_number
* tags

```curl
curl -X POST https://api.withpersona.com/api/v1/importer/accounts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
-F "data[attributes][file]=@/PATH/TO/YOUR/LOCAL/FILE.csv"
```

See the full [API reference](/api-reference/importers/import-an-account).

> Follow API recipes for creating accounts and associating them with Persona resources.