> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://dev.guardian.hedera.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://dev.guardian.hedera.com/guardian/tokens/retirement-contract/retirement-apis/creating-new-contract.md).

# Creating new Contract

**`POST /api/v1/contracts`**

Creates a new smart contract. Only Standard Registry users are allowed to make this request.

**Authentication:** Bearer token required (`Authorization: Bearer <token>`)

**Permission:** `Permissions.CONTRACTS_CONTRACT_CREATE`

***

## Request

### Request Body

```json
{
  "description": "Example retire contract",
  "type": "RETIRE"
}
```

| Field         | Type   | Required | Description                                |
| ------------- | ------ | -------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `description` | string | No       | Human-readable description of the contract |
| `type`        | string | Yes      | Contract type: `RETIRE` or `WIPE`          |

***

## Response

### Success Response

**Status:** `201 Created`

```json
{
  "id": "63e3e5e8a01b3c001234abcd",
  "contractId": "0.0.4532001",
  "description": "Example retire contract",
  "type": "RETIRE",
  "owner": "example_user"
}
```

### Error Responses

| Status                      | Description               |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| `401 Unauthorized`          | Missing or invalid token  |
| `403 Forbidden`             | Insufficient permissions  |
| `500 Internal Server Error` | Unexpected server failure |