Move Manifold's own lock back

POST /books/unlock

Move Manifold's own lock back — to an earlier lockedThrough, or (absent) to none — saying why in reason: the audited exception to a lock moving forward only.

An owner alone (403 OwnerRequired); a later day than the lock stands at is 409 UnlockNotEarlier. A ledger's own lock is its app's to report and stays in force. Appends accounting.books-unlocked. Idempotent by state: an unlock to where the lock already stands appends nothing.

Access

Requires books:write.

How scopes come from roles: Scopes and roles. Getting a token: Authentication and app tokens.

Retries

Idempotent by state: an unlock to where the lock already stands appends nothing.

Why every write carries a key: Idempotency and retries.

Facts appended

accounting.books-unlocked

What a fact is: Facts and the journal.

AI agent tool

No agent tool. Moving the period lock back is an owner's audited exception, made by the owner themselves with a reason (POST /books/unlock) — never by an agent acting for them.

Connecting an agent: AI agents.

Example

curl

curl -X POST 'https://accounting.getmanifold.io/books/unlock' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MANIFOLD_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "lockedThrough": "2026-08-31",
  "reason": "Reopening September to post the supplier credit the auditors found."
}'

JavaScript (fetch)

const response = await fetch("https://accounting.getmanifold.io/books/unlock", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.MANIFOLD_TOKEN}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "lockedThrough": "2026-08-31",
    "reason": "Reopening September to post the supplier credit the auditors found."
  }),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);
const answer = await response.json();

Request body · application/json

{
  "lockedThrough": "2026-08-31",
  "reason": "Reopening September to post the supplier credit the auditors found."
}

Response · 200 · application/json

{
  "lockedThrough": "2026-09-30",
  "firstOpenDay": "2026-10-01",
  "own": "2026-08-31",
  "ownChangedAt": "2026-10-21T04:20:00.000Z",
  "ownChangedBy": {
    "_tag": "user",
    "id": "usr_01a1588c-0e00-7a81-9b92-000000000901"
  },
  "ledgers": [
    {
      "ledgerId": "lgr_01a0f6b2-1c00-7f71-8a82-465768798a9b",
      "name": "Saltbush Homewares Pty Ltd",
      "lockedThrough": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "timeZone": "Australia/Sydney"
}

The panel writes this call in other languages. It does not send it: Manifold's APIs do not take calls from a web page on another site, so run the call from your own code or terminal. The whole API as OpenAPI: accounting-manager.openapi.json. Base URL https://accounting.getmanifold.io.

Errors

Every refusal is a status and a JSON body whose _tag names it. A refused call changes nothing.

`401`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`Unauthorized` reason	The token is missing, expired or not one Manifold issued.	Get a fresh token and send the call again.
`TokenAlreadyUsed` tokenId	A single-use app token was already spent.	Mint a new token for this call.

`402`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`SubscriptionRequired` status	The organization's subscription has lapsed, so writes are refused.	An owner settles billing. Reads still work meanwhile.

`403`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`OwnerRequired`	Only an owner may do this to an owner.	Ask an owner.
`TenantRequired` userId	The token names no organization.	Choose the organization, then get a new token.
`ScopeRequired` required	The token's roles do not grant the scope this call needs.	Ask an owner or admin for a role that grants it.

`409`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`UnlockNotEarlier` lockedThrough, requested	The request was refused, and nothing changed.	Nothing changed. Read the record, then decide.
`MirroredFromSource` source	This area is fed by your source system until the organization goes live.	Make the change in the source system, or go live first.

`503`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`RequestLogUnavailable` tokenId, reason	The service could not record the request, so it did nothing.	Send the same request again shortly.

How refusals work everywhere: Errors.

Used in

Close the books on a year, step 5: An owner reopens part of the year