Create a collection

Creating collections

Before adding objects to Tallyfy Answers, you must first create a collection. Each collection requires a unique name, and the system will automatically detect the data types of your objects as you index them.

API endpoint

POST /v1/collections

Request body

The request body should contain a JSON object with the following properties:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	string	Yes	Unique name for the collection (can include letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores)
description	string	No	Optional description explaining the collection’s purpose

Example request body:

{
  "name": "products",
  "description": "Collection of product information including names, descriptions, and pricing"
}

Response

A successful request returns a 201 Created status code and a JSON response containing:

{
  "name": "products",
  "description": "Collection of product information including names, descriptions, and pricing",
  "created_at": "2023-08-15T14:32:21Z"
}

Error scenarios

Status	Description
400	Invalid request format or collection name
409	Collection name already exists

Example request

curl -X POST https://api.tallyfy.com/v1/collections \
  -H "X-Answers-API-Key: your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "products",
    "description": "Collection of product information"
  }'

Supported data types

Tallyfy Answers automatically detects the following data types when you index objects:

Data Type	Example	Description
string	”Wireless Headphones”	Text values that can be searched and filtered
list of strings	[“electronics”, “audio”]	Arrays of text values for multi-value fields

Collection naming best practices

• Use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores
• Choose descriptive names that reflect the content (e.g., “products”, “users”, “articles”)
• Avoid spaces and special characters
• Keep names concise but meaningful
• Use consistent naming conventions across collections

Related articles

Collections > Get all collections

A comprehensive API endpoint that retrieves paginated collections sorted by creation date while providing metadata and support for limit and offset parameters through GET requests to /v1/collections.

Collections > Get a collection

The GET endpoint retrieves detailed collection information including metadata schema and object counts through a unique collection name while providing appropriate error handling for invalid requests or missing collections.

Objects > Index a single object

The API endpoint enables individual object indexing into collections by accepting JSON data through POST requests while providing status responses and error handling for real-time data management.

Objects > Get an object

The API endpoint enables retrieval of specific objects from collections through unique identifiers returning complete object data in JSON format with automatic system fields inclusion and error handling mechanisms.