The Certification Type object

Quick Summary: Certification types organise the certification library into families (for example Regulatory and Vendor). Each type carries its display position and how many certifications use it. A type that is still in use cannot be deleted without confirming.

Attributes

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Opaque certification type id
`name`	string	Name
`description`	string \| null	Description
`position`	integer	1-based display position within the company
`certificationCount`	integer	Live certifications grouped under this type
`createdAt` / `updatedAt`	string (ISO 8601 UTC)	Timestamps; `updatedAt` may be `null`

{
  "id": "4",
  "name": "Regulatory",
  "description": "Mandated by law or regulator.",
  "position": 1,
  "certificationCount": 6,
  "createdAt": "2026-01-12T08:30:00.000Z",
  "updatedAt": null
}

Operations

Operation	Method and path	Requires scope
List certification types	`GET /api/v1/certification-types`	`certifications:read`
Get a certification type	`GET /api/v1/certification-types/{id}`	`certifications:read`
Create a certification type	`POST /api/v1/certification-types`	`certifications:write`
Update a certification type	`PATCH /api/v1/certification-types/{id}`	`certifications:write`
Reorder certification types	`POST /api/v1/certification-types/reorder`	`certifications:write`
Delete a certification type	`DELETE /api/v1/certification-types/{id}`	`certifications:write`

The list is always in display order (position ascending) and takes no filters.

Creating and updating

name is required on create (up to 100 characters); description is optional. A new type is placed at the end of the order. On PATCH, an omitted field is left untouched and an explicit null clears the description.

Reordering

POST /api/v1/certification-types/reorder
{ "ids": ["4", "2", "7"] }

The body must list every certification type id of the company exactly once, in the desired order; the response is the full list in its new order. A partial list, a duplicate, or an id from another company is 422 unprocessable.

Deleting

Deletion is guarded. While certifications still use the type, the call answers 409 conflict:

{
  "type": "https://help.skillsdb.com/api-docs/errors/conflict",
  "title": "Conflict",
  "status": 409,
  "detail": "Certifications still use this type. Retry with ?confirm=true to delete it anyway (those certifications are left without a type).",
  "confirmRequired": true,
  "dependencies": { "certifications": 6 }
}

Retry with ?confirm=true to proceed: the type is soft-deleted and each certification that used it is left with type: null. An unused type deletes immediately with 204.

Permissions

Any person who can read certifications in the app can read types. Creating, updating, reordering and deleting types is restricted to global administrators; a key acting as anyone else receives insufficient-permissions on those operations even when it holds certifications:write.

not-found — the id does not exist in your company
validation-error — a missing or over-long name
unprocessable — an incomplete or foreign reorder list
conflict — the guarded delete above

Using the API

System Objects

Team Data

Errors

The Certification Type object

Attributes

Operations

Creating and updating

Reordering

Deleting

Permissions

​Attributes

​Operations

​Creating and updating

​Reordering

​Deleting

​Permissions

​Related errors

Attributes

Operations

Creating and updating

Reordering

Deleting

Permissions

Related errors