> 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/importing-new-contract.md).

# Importing new Contract

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

Imports an existing smart contract by its Hedera contract ID. 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
{
  "contractId": "0.0.4532001",
  "description": "Imported retire contract"
}
```

| Field         | Type   | Required | Description                                         |
| ------------- | ------ | -------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| `contractId`  | string | Yes      | The Hedera identifier of the contract to import     |
| `description` | string | No       | Human-readable description of the imported contract |

***

## Response

### Success Response

**Status:** `200 OK`

```json
{
  "id": "63e3e5e8a01b3c001234abcd",
  "contractId": "0.0.4532001",
  "description": "Imported 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 |