***

title: Customers
subtitle: Create and manage customer records
slug: endpoints/customers
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Customers are the billable entities in Prolifi. Every subscription, invoice, and entitlement is tied to a customer.

## Endpoints

| Method   | Path              | Description                            |
| -------- | ----------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| `POST`   | `/customers`      | Create a new customer                  |
| `GET`    | `/customers`      | List customers (paginated)             |
| `GET`    | `/customers/{id}` | Get a customer by UUID or external\_id |
| `PATCH`  | `/customers/{id}` | Update a customer                      |
| `DELETE` | `/customers/{id}` | Archive a customer                     |

## Key concepts

* **External IDs**: Use the `external_id` field to link Prolifi customers to your application's user records. You can then retrieve customers by external\_id instead of UUID.
* **Name handling**: Provide a full `name` (which is split into `first_name` and `last_name`), or provide them separately.
* **Customer types**: If `company_name` is provided, the customer type is automatically set to `business`. Otherwise, it defaults to `individual`.
* **Archiving**: The `DELETE` endpoint archives the customer rather than permanently deleting it.