Attio Records CRUD (Core Workflow A)

Overview

Complete record lifecycle on the Attio REST API. Records are instances of objects (people, companies, deals, custom). Values are keyed by attribute slug and are always arrays (Attio supports multiselect natively).

Prerequisites

• attio-install-auth completed
• Scopes: object_configuration:read, record_permission:read, record_permission:read-write
• Understanding of Attio attribute types (see reference table below)

Attio Attribute Type Reference

Type	Slug example	Value format
text	description	"plain string"
number	revenue	123456
email-address	email_addresses	"ada@example.com" (string shortcut)
phone-number	phone_numbers	{ original_phone_number: "+14155551234" }
domain	domains	"acme.com" (string shortcut)
personal-name	name	{ first_name, last_name, full_name }
location	primary_location	"San Francisco, CA" (string shortcut)
record-reference	company	{ target_object: "companies", target_record_id: "..." }
select / status	stage	{ option: "qualified" }
currency	deal_value	{ currency_code: "USD", currency_value: 50000 }
checkbox	is_active	true / false
date	close_date	"2025-06-15"
timestamp	last_contact	"2025-06-15T14:30:00.000Z"
rating	priority	4 (integer 1-5)

Instructions

Step 1: Create Records

// Create a person
const person = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  "/objects/people/records",
  {
    data: {
      values: {
        email_addresses: ["ada@example.com"],
        name: [{ first_name: "Ada", last_name: "Lovelace", full_name: "Ada Lovelace" }],
        phone_numbers: [{ original_phone_number: "+14155551234" }],
        primary_location: ["London, UK"],
        description: ["Mathematician and first programmer"],
      },
    },
  }
);

// Create a company
const company = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  "/objects/companies/records",
  {
    data: {
      values: {
        name: ["Babbage Analytical Engines"],
        domains: ["babbage.io"],
        description: ["Mechanical computing pioneer"],
        primary_location: ["London, UK"],
      },
    },
  }
);

Step 2: Read a Single Record

// GET /v2/objects/{object_slug}/records/{record_id}
const record = await client.get<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  `/objects/people/records/${person.data.id.record_id}`
);

// Access values (always arrays)
const fullName = record.data.values.name?.[0]?.full_name;
const email = record.data.values.email_addresses?.[0]?.email_address;

Step 3: Update Records (PATCH vs PUT)

// PATCH: Append to multiselect values
await client.patch<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  `/objects/people/records/${recordId}`,
  {
    data: {
      values: {
        email_addresses: ["ada.new@example.com"], // Adds to existing emails
      },
    },
  }
);

// PUT: Overwrite (assert) -- replaces all values for specified attributes
await client.put<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  `/objects/people/records/${recordId}`,
  {
    data: {
      values: {
        email_addresses: ["only-this@example.com"], // Replaces all emails
      },
    },
  }
);

Step 4: Query with Filters and Sorts

// POST /v2/objects/{object}/records/query
const results = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
  "/objects/companies/records/query",
  {
    // Shorthand filter (equality check)
    filter: {
      domains: "acme.com",
    },
    limit: 25,
  }
);

// Verbose filter with operators
const filtered = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
  "/objects/people/records/query",
  {
    filter: {
      $and: [
        { email_addresses: { email_address: { $contains: "example.com" } } },
        { name: { last_name: { $eq: "Lovelace" } } },
      ],
    },
    sorts: [
      { attribute: "created_at", field: "created_at", direction: "desc" },
    ],
    limit: 50,
    offset: 0,
  }
);

Available filter operators: $eq, $not_empty, $contains, $gt, $gte, $lt, $lte, $in, $and, $or.

Step 5: Fuzzy Search Across Objects

// POST /v2/records/search -- searches across all objects
const search = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
  "/records/search",
  {
    query: "Ada Lovelace",
    limit: 10,
  }
);

Step 6: Delete a Record

// DELETE /v2/objects/{object}/records/{record_id}
await client.delete(`/objects/people/records/${recordId}`);

Step 7: Link Records via Record-Reference

// Link a person to a company
await client.patch<{ data: AttioRecord }>(
  `/objects/people/records/${personId}`,
  {
    data: {
      values: {
        company: [{
          target_object: "companies",
          target_record_id: companyId,
        }],
      },
    },
  }
);

Error Handling

Error	Status	Cause	Solution
not_found	404	Invalid object slug or record ID	Verify with GET /v2/objects
validation_error	422	Wrong value format for attribute type	Check attribute type table above
rate_limit_exceeded	429	Exceeded 10-second sliding window	Honor Retry-After header
conflict	409	Duplicate on unique attribute	Use PUT (assert/upsert)
insufficient_scopes	403	Missing record_permission:read-write	Update token scopes

Resources

• Attio Create Record
• Attio List Records
• Attio Search Records
• Attio Filtering and Sorting
• Attio Attribute Types

Next Steps

For list/entry operations (pipelines, boards), see attio-core-workflow-b.