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# Recipients

A recipient is someone your account bills. Every [invoice](/platform/payments/invoices) is addressed to one. A recipient has a name and, optionally, an email address and phone number for reaching them.

Recipients are separate from [customers](/platform/customers/customer-api). A customer holds Agent Wallets and connects to AI agents through Mitu. A recipient only receives invoices, and needs no reference, key or wallet.

You do not have to create recipients before invoicing. Pass `recipient` inline when you [create an invoice](/platform/payments/invoices#create-an-invoice) and Mitu saves them for you. Use the Recipients API when you want to manage the list yourself.

## Create a recipient

Only `name` is required.

**`Create a recipient`**

```bash title="Create a recipient"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.mitu.ai/v1/recipients \
  --header "x-api-key: $MITU_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "name": "Ada Lovelace",
    "email": "ada@example.com",
    "phone": "+2348012345678"
  }'
```

### Parameters

| Parameter | Type     | Required | Description                                             |
| --------- | -------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| `name`    | `string` | Yes      | The recipient's name, up to 120 characters.             |
| `email`   | `string` | No       | Where Mitu emails their invoices. Up to 180 characters. |
| `phone`   | `string` | No       | A phone number, up to 32 characters.                    |

**`Response`**

```json title="Response"
{
  "message": "Recipient created successfully",
  "data": {
    "id": "rcp_ds9hazr8jd3l",
    "name": "Ada Lovelace",
    "email": "ada@example.com",
    "phone": "+2348012345678",
    "created_at": "2026-09-11T15:00:34.915Z"
  }
}
```

### Response fields

| Field        | Description                                             |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id`         | The Mitu identifier for the recipient, prefixed `rcp_`. |
| `name`       | The recipient's name.                                   |
| `email`      | The recipient's email address, or `null`.               |
| `phone`      | The recipient's phone number, or `null`.                |
| `created_at` | When the recipient was created.                         |

## One recipient per email and phone

Within your account, an email address or phone number can belong to only one recipient. If you set a `reference` on your recipients, that rule applies within each reference instead, so different references can each have someone with the same email. Creating or updating a recipient with an email or phone another recipient already uses returns `409`.

**`409 response`**

```json title="409 response"
{
  "message": "Ada Lovelace already uses that email address"
}
```

This is also how inline recipients on invoices are matched. When you create an invoice with `recipient`, Mitu looks for a saved recipient with the same email, then the same phone. If it finds one, the invoice goes to them and their saved name is kept. To rename a recipient, update them directly.

## Retrieve recipients

List the recipients saved in your account. `search` matches name, email or phone.

```http
GET /v1/recipients?search=ada&limit=20
```

The response is a page of recipients under `data`, with `meta` describing what comes next. Pass `meta.next_cursor` as `cursor` to fetch the next page. Stop when `has_more` is `false`.

**`Response`**

```json title="Response"
{
  "message": "Recipients retrieved successfully",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "rcp_ds9hazr8jd3l",
      "name": "Ada Lovelace",
      "email": "ada@example.com",
      "phone": "+2348012345678",
      "created_at": "2026-09-11T15:00:34.915Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "total": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "has_more": false,
    "next_cursor": null
  }
}
```

Retrieve a specific recipient using its ID:

```http
GET /v1/recipients/{id}
```

## Update a recipient

Send only the fields you want to change. Send `null` for `email` or `phone` to clear it.

**`Update a recipient`**

```bash title="Update a recipient"
curl --request PATCH \
  --url https://api.mitu.ai/v1/recipients/rcp_ds9hazr8jd3l \
  --header "x-api-key: $MITU_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "email": "ada@lovelace.dev",
    "phone": null
  }'
```

Changes apply to invoices already addressed to the recipient, because an invoice reads the name, email and phone from the recipient rather than keeping its own copy.

## Delete a recipient

Deleting removes the recipient from your list.

```http
DELETE /v1/recipients/{id}
```

**`Response`**

```json title="Response"
{
  "message": "Recipient removed successfully",
  "data": {
    "id": "rcp_ds9hazr8jd3l",
    "deleted": true
  }
}
```

Invoices already addressed to a deleted recipient still show who they went to. You can no longer address new invoices to them by ID. Creating a recipient with their email or phone later brings the same record back.

## Related

#### [Invoices](/platform/payments/invoices)

Create invoices and address them to recipients.

#### [Events](/platform/webhooks/events)

See the recipient details carried on invoice events.