Report what a sales order still cannot be given

POST /items/{sku}/shortfall

Report what a sales order still cannot be given (issued by the fulfillment system after allocation).

This is the demand-side twin of /items/:sku/incoming: purchasing says what is coming in, fulfillment says what is owed out, and inventory is the one place that can answer whether the two balance. quantity is the order's current residual shortfall and replaces any previous report for that order — 0 clears it. Replacing rather than accumulating is what makes re-allocation safe to run as often as you like. Appends inventory.shortfall-recorded. Idempotent by content: a retry reporting the same residual appends nothing.

Access

Requires allocations:write.

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

Retries

Idempotent by content: a retry reporting the same residual appends nothing.

Why every write carries a key: Idempotency and retries.

Facts appended

inventory.shortfall-recorded

What a fact is: Facts and the journal.

AI agent tool

Agents call this as inventory_record_shortfall (Inventory: Record shortfall), in the stock toolset.

Connecting an agent: AI agents.

Example

Allocation could not cover four units of an order: the SKU is now backordered by four.

curl

curl -X POST 'https://inventory.getmanifold.io/items/WIDGET-RED/shortfall' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MANIFOLD_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "orderId": "ord_01a1524c-9100-7dd7-8de1-e83eca5bf599",
  "quantity": 4
}'

JavaScript (fetch)

const response = await fetch("https://inventory.getmanifold.io/items/WIDGET-RED/shortfall", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.MANIFOLD_TOKEN}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "orderId": "ord_01a1524c-9100-7dd7-8de1-e83eca5bf599",
    "quantity": 4
  }),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);
const answer = await response.json();

Request body · application/json

{
  "orderId": "ord_01a1524c-9100-7dd7-8de1-e83eca5bf599",
  "quantity": 4
}

Response · 200 · application/json

{
  "id": "itm_019cd545-fa38-7989-b4f0-ed0cdbf68cff",
  "sku": "WIDGET-RED",
  "name": "Widget, red",
  "tracking": "none",
  "costingMethod": "fifo",
  "kind": "stock",
  "counted": true,
  "sellable": true,
  "barcodes": [
    {
      "value": "9300000000026",
      "type": "gtin"
    }
  ],
  "hsCodes": [
    {
      "country": "AU",
      "code": "39269000"
    }
  ],
  "countryOfOrigin": "AU",
  "weightGrams": 240,
  "packedSize": {
    "lengthMm": 120,
    "widthMm": 80,
    "heightMm": 60
  },
  "ownPackaging": false,
  "accounts": {
    "inventory": "1400",
    "revenue": "4000",
    "expense": "5000"
  },
  "taxClass": "standard",
  "stock": [
    {
      "locationId": "loc_019cadd3-8330-7e12-aa44-2cd5f05da74a",
      "onHand": 0,
      "reserved": 0,
      "damaged": 0,
      "awaitingIdentification": 0,
      "inTransit": 0,
      "incoming": 0
    }
  ],
  "backordered": 4,
  "cost": {
    "costCents": 1250,
    "source": "set",
    "at": "2026-03-14T06:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "createdAt": "2026-03-10T01:04:19.000Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-10-19T03:55:12.000Z"
}

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: inventory-manager.openapi.json. Base URL https://inventory.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
`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.

`404`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`ItemNotFound` sku	No such record in this organization.	Check the id in the path or the body.
`LocationNotFound` locationId	No such record in this organization.	Check the id in the path or the body.

`409`

Refusal	What it means	What to do
`LocationArchived` locationId	The location is archived, and an archived location takes no changes or stock.	Use an active location.
`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.