Find an employee by external ID

Look up an employee by their external_id (sent in the JSON body), the integration key that maps them to a record in a third-party system (ERP/CRM/HR).

Distinct from the fiscal tax_id.
Returns the matching employee or 404 if no employee uses that external_id within your company.

Authorization

AuthorizationBearer <token>

Your API key as a bearer token: fact_live_… in production, fact_test_… in sandbox. See the authentication guide.

In: header

Path Parameters

company*string

Public identifier (UUID v7) of the company. Get it from GET /v1/me (data.scope[].id).

Formatuuid

Pin the API version (YYYY-MM-DD, Stripe-style date versioning) for this request; omit to use the key's pinned version, or the latest if none. Unsupported version → 400 unsupported_api_version; malformed → 400 parameter_invalid_format. The effective version is echoed in the Factuarea-Version response header. See the Versioning guide.

Formatdate

Request Body

application/json

TypeScript Definitions

Use the request body type in TypeScript.

external_id*string

Lengthlength <= 100

Response Body

`application/json`

Request example

const apiKey = process.env.FACTUAREA_API_KEY;if (!apiKey) throw new Error("Set FACTUAREA_API_KEY");const response = await fetch("https://api.factuarea.com/v1/companies/01931b3e-7c4a-7f2e-9a8b-3c5d6e7f8a01/employees/find-by-external-id", {  method: "POST",  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`, ...{"Accept":"application/json","Content-Type":"application/json"} },  body: JSON.stringify({  "external_id": "EMP-1042"}),});if (!response.ok) throw new Error(await response.text());if (response.status !== 204) console.log(await response.json());

Response example

{
  "data": {
    "id": "01933a1f-8c21-7b3d-9e4f-1a2b3c4d5e01",
    "object": "employee",
    "first_name": "Lucía",
    "last_name": "Fernández Ruiz",
    "email": "lucia.fernandez@empresa.com",
    "tax_id": "12345678Z",
    "job_title": "Desarrolladora backend",
    "employment_type": "full_time",
    "contract_hours": 40,
    "hire_date": "2024-09-02",
    "termination_date": null,
    "ccaa": "MD",
    "status": "active",
    "external_id": "EMP-1042",
    "metadata": {
      "erp_code": "IVA-GEN",
      "ledger_account": "477000"
    },
    "user_id": "01933a1f-8c21-7b3d-9e4f-1a2b3c4d5e02",
    "created_at": "2024-09-02T08:00:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-05-04T09:03:01Z"
  }
}

Retired X-Active-Profile header sent

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "code": "parameter_unknown",
    "subcode": "retired_active_profile_header",
    "message": "La cabecera 'X-Active-Profile' fue retirada de la API v1: la empresa efectiva se indica en el segmento de empresa de la ruta.",
    "param": "X-Active-Profile",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#parameter_unknown",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000001"
  }
}

Malformed Factuarea-Version header

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "code": "parameter_invalid_format",
    "message": "El header 'Factuarea-Version' debe tener formato YYYY-MM-DD.",
    "param": "Factuarea-Version",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#parameter_invalid_format",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000002"
  }
}

Unsupported Factuarea-Version

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "code": "unsupported_api_version",
    "message": "La versión de API '2020-01-01' no está soportada.",
    "param": "Factuarea-Version",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#unsupported_api_version",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000003"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "authentication_error",
    "code": "missing_api_key",
    "message": "Falta header Authorization o X-API-Key.",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#missing_api_key",
    "request_id": "req_3f6d27c4c52654bb9d868d2cdc"
  }
}

POST /v1/companies/{company}/employees/find-by-external-id · 403 insufficient_scope

{
  "error": {
    "type": "authorization_error",
    "code": "insufficient_scope",
    "message": "Esta operación requiere el scope 'employees:read'. Tu API key solo tiene los scopes: ninguno.",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#insufficient_scope",
    "request_id": "req_e417581be49f6969b7e6abab7c"
  }
}

Company deactivated

{
  "error": {
    "type": "authorization_error",
    "code": "company_inactive",
    "message": "Esta empresa está desactivada. Actívala para operar.",
    "param": "company",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#company_inactive",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000005"
  }
}

Resource not found

{
  "error": {
    "type": "not_found_error",
    "code": "resource_not_found",
    "message": "El recurso solicitado no existe o pertenece a otra empresa.",
    "param": null,
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#resource_not_found",
    "request_id": "req_01HKQS5NEQ6X1R4N9B0C5DWTPG"
  }
}

Company not found or outside the API key scope

{
  "error": {
    "type": "not_found_error",
    "code": "profile_not_found",
    "message": "La empresa indicada no existe o no está en el ámbito de tu credencial.",
    "param": "company",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#profile_not_found",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000004"
  }
}

POST /v1/companies/{company}/employees/find-by-external-id · 422 invalid_param_value

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "code": "invalid_param_value",
    "message": "El campo external_id es obligatorio.",
    "param": "external_id",
    "errors": [
      {
        "param": "external_id",
        "code": "parameter_missing",
        "message": "El campo external_id es obligatorio."
      }
    ],
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#invalid_param_value",
    "request_id": "req_d2e590ed3d5cf629fc22b88fd5"
  }
}

Idempotency key reused with a different payload

{
  "error": {
    "type": "idempotency_error",
    "code": "idempotency_key_reused",
    "message": "La Idempotency-Key 'order-2026-0001' ya se usó con un payload distinto.",
    "param": "Idempotency-Key",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#idempotency_key_reused",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000007"
  }
}

Invalid Idempotency-Key format

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "code": "invalid_param_format",
    "message": "La Idempotency-Key debe tener entre 1 y 255 caracteres ASCII printable.",
    "param": "Idempotency-Key",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#invalid_param_format",
    "request_id": "req_01J8Y3M2Q40000000000000008"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "rate_limit_error",
    "code": "rate_limit_exceeded",
    "message": "Has excedido el límite de requests permitido. Reintenta más tarde.",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#rate_limit_exceeded",
    "request_id": "req_0aa68a5ab86dcca11097ae52e1"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "api_error",
    "code": "internal_error",
    "message": "Algo se rompió en nuestro lado al procesar la petición. La condición no la provoca tu payload.",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.factuarea.com/guides/errors#internal_error",
    "request_id": "req_227934c25a7d84d6cd11eb157e"
  }
}

Find an employee by external ID

Authorization

Path Parameters

Headers

Request Body

Response Body

200application/json

400application/json

401application/json

403application/json

404application/json

422application/json

429application/json

500application/json

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`

`application/json`