---
title: "Clone a Group"
method: POST
path: "/v1/issuer/groups/{group_id}/clone"
tags: ["Groups"]
---

# Clone a Group

`POST /v1/issuer/groups/{group_id}/clone`

You can clone a group using this action. Add attributes to override cloned values. Cloning a group only works when certificate or badge designs are within the same department as the original group.

A clone always mirrors the original Group's skills framework. Every framework skill on the original is copied to the clone at the same position in the framework, and `skill_framework_version_id` and `framework_skills` sent in the request body are **ignored** — you cannot clone a Group onto a different framework. To change the clone's skills, clone it first and then update it.

If the original Group's framework version has been retired — or its framework is mid-retirement for the original Group's Department, in which case the version itself still reads as `active` — the clone is created without a framework and a `207` is returned. Re-version the framework first if you need the skills copied.

## Request body

- object
  - `name` string — Name of the group (for your reference and never shown to the recipient). `Copy` will be added to the beginning of name of the new cloned group when a new name is not provided.
  - `course_name` string — Name of the course or achievement. This is visible to the recipient.
  - `course_description` string — Description of the course or achievement. This is visible to the recipient.
  - `course_link` string — Link to the web page with information related to this Credential. Typically this is a course information or event information page.
  - `language` string — Language for the group. Currently we support "en", "es", "vi", "pt", "ja", "fr", "da", "nl", "fi", "no", "nb", "ro", "sv", "th", "tw", "zh", "tr", "ar", "he", "ms" and "de". Default language is en.
  - `attach_pdf` boolean — PDF of the Credential should be attached to email when recipient is informed. Default is false.
  - `blockchain` boolean — Enable or disable recording of these Credentials on a Blockchain.
  - `certificate_design_id` number — Certificate Design which the Group will use to display Credentials. Certificate design needs to exist in the newly cloned space.
  - `badge_design_id` number — Badge Design which the Group will use to display Credentials. Badge design needs to exist in the newly cloned space.
  - `primary_design_id` number — Primary Design which the Group will use to display Credentials.
  - `meta_data` object — You can use this parameter to attach key-value strings to the object. Meta data is useful for storing additional, structured information on an object.
  - `learning_outcomes` unknown
  - `generate_private_credential` boolean — The default value of `Credential.private` for the Group. The supported values are `true`, `false`, and `null`. When this is set to `true` or `false`, it will override `Department.generate_private_credential` and be used as the default of `Credential.private` when creating a new `Credential`. When this is set to `null`, it won't override `Department.generate_private_credential` which will be used for the default of `Credential.private` instead.
  - `auto_expiry` number — Specifies the number of years from the issue date after which the credential will automatically expire. If the specified value is less than or equal to 0, it will be ignored.
  - `signup_url` string — This provides a direct path for credential viewers to enroll in your course.
  - `signup_url_show` boolean — Show or hide the sign up url. The supported values are `true`, `false` and `null`.
  - `course_link_show` boolean — This links the credential data record to your information about the credential on your website. The supported values are `true`, `false` and `null`.
  - `organization_link_show` boolean — Show or hide the link to your website homepage. The supported values are `true`, `false` and `null`.
  - `allow_duplicate_credentials` boolean — An email address can receive more than one credential. The supported values are `true` & `false`. Defaults to `false`.
  - `skill_category_id` number — ID of the skill category to associate with the cloned group.
  - `achievement_type` string — The type of achievement, for example 'Award' or 'Certification'. The supported values are listed here https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/ob/v3p0#achievementtype-enumeration
  - `earning_criteria` object[] — Earning criteria for the cloned group. **Omit the key** to copy the original group's criteria as-is. **Provide an array** to replace them: each item creates a new criterion on the clone (`id` is ignored, since clone never updates an existing criterion).
    - `kind` 'achievement' | 'certificate' | 'competency' | 'completion' | 'course' | 'degree' | 'exam' | 'experience' | 'knowledge' | 'license' | 'participation' | 'reading' | 'skill' | 'specialization' | 'other', required
    - `text` string, required — Human-readable description of the criterion. Supports a limited set of HTML tags: `<a>` (with `href`, `title`, `target`, `rel`), `<p>`, `<br>`, `<hr>`, `<ul>`, `<ol>`, `<li>`, `<strong>`/`<b>`, `<em>`/`<i>`, `<u>`, `<sub>`, `<sup>`. Other tags and attributes are stripped on save.
    - `required` boolean
    - `position` number

## Response `200`

OK

- object
  - `group` object
    - `id` number
    - `name` string
    - `course_description` string
    - `course_name` string
    - `learning_outcomes` string[]
    - `attach_pdf` boolean
    - `course_link` string
    - `language` string
    - `design_name` string
    - `updated_at` string
    - `created_at` string
    - `design_id` number
    - `blockchain` boolean
    - `certificate_design_id` unknown
    - `badge_design_id` unknown
    - `primary_design_id` unknown
    - `department_id` number
    - `meta_data` object
      - `foo` string
    - `generate_private_credential` boolean
    - `auto_expiry` number
    - `signup_url_show` boolean
    - `signup_url` string
    - `course_link_show` boolean
    - `organization_link_show` boolean
    - `skill_category` object
      - `id` number
      - `name` string
    - `achievement_type` string
    - `collections` object[]
      - `id` number, required
      - `name` string, required
      - `description` string, nullable, required
    - `earning_criteria` object[] — Criteria the recipient must satisfy to earn this credential, ordered by `position`. Inherited from the original group when `earning_criteria` is omitted from the request.
      - `id` string, uuid, required
      - `kind` 'achievement' | 'certificate' | 'competency' | 'completion' | 'course' | 'degree' | 'exam' | 'experience' | 'knowledge' | 'license' | 'participation' | 'reading' | 'skill' | 'specialization' | 'other', required
      - `text` string, required
      - `required` boolean, required
      - `position` number, required
    - `skill_framework` object, nullable — The Skill Framework this Group's skills come from, with the version pinned on the Group nested under it. `null` when the Group uses free-text `learning_outcomes` instead. Present whenever the Group has a framework version pinned — **including a Group that has a framework but no skills attached**, so an object here does not imply that `skills` is non-empty. `skill_framework.version.id` is the only place a response reports the Group's pinned version id, and it is the value to send back as `skill_framework_version_id` when you write. Retiring a version does not move a Group off it; the version changes only when the Group is explicitly migrated to a newly published one, and that applies retroactively to every credential already issued from the Group. See the [Skills Frameworks](#tag/Skills-Frameworks) endpoints.
      - `id` number
      - `name` string
      - `source_type` 'external' | 'custom' — `external` for a framework maintained by Accredible, `custom` for one uploaded by your organization.
      - `taxonomy` string, nullable — The published taxonomy an external framework comes from: `ONET`, `ESCO` or `NACE`. Always `null` for custom frameworks.
      - `provider` string, nullable — The organization that publishes the framework.
      - `description` string, nullable
      - `attribution` object — Attribution that the framework's licence requires you to display wherever you show its skills.
        - `text` string, nullable
        - `url` string, nullable
      - `version` object — The framework version pinned on this Group — what it is actually issuing against, not the framework's latest. `status` is the version's own status. Unlike [View all Skill Frameworks](#operation/View%20all%20Skill%20Frameworks), a version that is mid-retirement for your Department is not re-presented as `retired` here: that endpoint answers whether you can still select the version, whereas a Group records what it already uses.
        - `id` number
        - `version` string
        - `status` string
    - `skills` object[] — Framework skills attached to this Group, ordered by name. Empty when the Group uses free-text `learning_outcomes`, and when it has a framework selected but no skills that can be tagged — unlike `skill_framework`, this is never `null`. Identical to the `skills` array on [Credential](#tag/Credentials) responses: both are built from the same payload, so the two surfaces cannot disagree. There is one entry per placement in the framework, so a skill sitting at two positions in the taxonomy appears as two entries — the same `id` with different `breadcrumbs`. **Do not key this array by `id`.** This is the read shape, and it differs from the write shape. To set a Group's skills you send `framework_skills` as `{ id, breadcrumb_ids }` pairs; see [Update a Group](#operation/Update%20a%20Group).
      - `id` number, required
      - `name` string, required
      - `identifier` string, nullable, required — The framework's own external identifier for the skill — an O*NET element id, an ESCO URI, or whatever a custom framework was uploaded with. This is the field to match against your own systems. `null` when the framework does not provide one.
      - `description` string, nullable, required
      - `url` string, nullable, required — Link to the skill in the publisher's own taxonomy, when the framework provides one.
      - `breadcrumbs` object[], required — Where this skill sits in the framework: its ancestors from the root down to its immediate parent, with the skill itself excluded. Empty for a skill that sits at the root of the framework. Each node carries its own external `identifier` alongside its `id` and `name`. To write this placement back on the Group, send these `id` values in the same order as `framework_skills[].breadcrumb_ids`.
        - `id` number, required
        - `name` string, required
        - `identifier` string, nullable, required — The ancestor's own external identifier in the framework, when it has one.

## Other responses

- `207` — Multi-Status - the Group was cloned, but the original Group's framework skills could not be copied because its framework version has been retired, or its framework is mid-retirement for that Department. The clone is created without a framework.

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/accredible/apis/accredible-credential-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/accredible/apis/accredible-credential-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/accredible/accredible-credential-api/revisions/56b317c13686/schema)