# Create a context

`POST /contexts`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://{host}/api/contexts \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "slug": "<string>",
  "name": "<string>",
  "description": "<string>",
  "guide": "<string>",
  "manifest": {
    "curate": {
      "chunks": null,
      "artifacts": null
    },
    "optimize": {
      "schedule": "<string>",
      "latency_threshold_ms": 123,
      "min_group_size": 123,
      "eval_pass_rate_threshold": 123,
      "max_iterations": 123
    },
    "search": {
      "instructions": "<string>"
    }
  },
  "kind": "<string>",
  "pinecone_api_key": "<string>"
}'
```

```json title="200"
{
  "id": "<string>",
  "slug": "<string>",
  "name": "<string>",
  "kind": "<string>",
  "workspace": "<string>",
  "created_by": "<string>",
  "description": "<string>",
  "guide": "<string>",
  "manifest": {
    "curate": {
      "chunks": null,
      "artifacts": null
    },
    "optimize": {
      "schedule": "<string>",
      "latency_threshold_ms": 123,
      "min_group_size": 123,
      "eval_pass_rate_threshold": 123,
      "max_iterations": 123
    },
    "search": {
      "instructions": "<string>"
    }
  },
  "semantic_index": "<string>",
  "keyword_index": "<string>",
  "is_optimizing": true,
  "optimize_task_id": "<string>",
  "optimize_score": 123,
  "optimize_iterations": 123,
  "last_optimized_at": "<string>",
  "last_curated_at": "<string>",
  "has_sources": true,
  "last_source_import_at": "<string>",
  "is_curating": true,
  "curate_task_id": "<string>",
  "is_importing": true,
  "import_task_id": "<string>",
  "is_exploring": true
}
```
:::

## Authorizations

- `Authorization` (header, string, required) — Bearer authentication header of the form `Bearer <token>`.

## Headers

- `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` (header, string) — Date-based contract version, echoed back on the same header. Omit for the default (`2026-07`); send `unstable` for the in-development surface. An unrecognized value is rejected with `400 unsupported_api_version`.

## Body

- `slug` (body, string, required) — 3–64 chars, lowercase alnum + hyphens, starts with a letter
- `name` (body, string, required) — 1–128 chars
- `description` (body, string) — Free-text summary of what the context will hold.
- `guide` (body, string) — High-level standing instructions for the query runtime.
- `manifest` (body, object) — Seed manifest (validated against the manifest schema)
- `kind` (body, string) — How the context is built. `search` — built from source documents, and must be curated before it can be queried. `work` — built from traces of work done, queryable immediately, consolidated by `groom` rather than `curate`.
- `pinecone_api_key` (body, string) — Pinecone API key used to provision the context's managed index. Omit it under BYOC, where the deployment holds its own credential.

## Response

- `200` — The created context
- `400` — Invalid request
- `403` — Project not enabled for the Nexus preview (`preview_not_enabled`), or a per-plan context cap blocks creation.
- `409` — Slug already exists

## Related pages

- [List contexts (newest first, with stats)](./data-plane-contexts-list-contexts-newest-first-with-stats.md)
- [Get a context](./data-plane-contexts-get-a-context.md)
- [Update a context](./data-plane-contexts-update-a-context.md)
- [Delete a context (and its Pinecone indexes)](./data-plane-contexts-delete-a-context-and-its-pinecone-indexes.md)
- [Per-context task statistics](./data-plane-contexts-per-context-task-statistics.md)
- [Trigger an on-demand self-tuning optimize](./data-plane-contexts-trigger-an-on-demand-self-tuning-optimize.md)
- [Run the Design-flow explore agent (propose a manifest)](./data-plane-contexts-run-the-design-flow-explore-agent-propose-a-manifest.md)
- [Estimate the token + time cost of curating the in-progress manifest](./data-plane-contexts-estimate-the-token-time-cost-of-curating-the-in-progress-manifest.md)

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