> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).
> A full single-fetch corpus is available at [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).
---
last_verified: 2026-05-13
title: "Update a contact"
description: "Update an existing contact in your Protocol contact list. You can update any of the contact's attributes."
endpoint: "/v1/contacts/{id}"
method: "PATCH"
---


**Endpoint**: `PATCH /v1/contacts/{id}`
**Auth**: `Authorization: Bearer <api_key>` (required)
**Content-Type**: `application/json`
**Path parameters**: `id` — the contact id to update
**Error envelope**: 4xx/5xx return `{"error": {"code": string, "message": string}}`


<ApiEndpoint
  method="PATCH"
  endpoint="/v1/contacts/{id}"
  description="This endpoint allows you to update an existing contact in your Protocol contact list. You can update any of the contact's attributes."
>
    <section>
      ## Optional attributes

      <ApiAttribute
        name="username"
        type="string"
        description="The new username for the contact."
        required={false}
      />

      <ApiAttribute
        name="phone_number"
        type="string"
        description="The new phone number for the contact."
        required={false}
      />

      <ApiAttribute
        name="avatar_url"
        type="string"
        description="The new avatar image URL for the contact."
        required={false}
      />

      <ApiAttribute
        name="display_name"
        type="string"
        description="The new display name for the contact."
        required={false}
      />
    </section>

    <section>
      ## Request example

      <MultiLanguageCodeBlock
        languages={["javascript", "bash"]}
        value={[
          {
            language: 'javascript',
            code: `fetch('https://api.protocol.chat/v1/contacts/WAz8eIbvDR60rouK', {
  method: 'PATCH',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer {token}',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    display_name: 'John Smith',
    phone_number: '+1 (555) 987-6543'
  })
})`
          },
          {
            language: 'bash',
            code: `curl -X PATCH https://api.protocol.chat/v1/contacts/WAz8eIbvDR60rouK \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \\
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
  -d '{
    "display_name": "John Smith",
    "phone_number": "+1 (555) 987-6543"
  }'`
          }
        ]}
      />

      ```json {{ title: 'Response' }}
      {
        "id": "WAz8eIbvDR60rouK",
        "username": "johndoe",
        "phone_number": "+1 (555) 987-6543",
        "avatar_url": "https://assets.protocol.chat/avatars/johndoe.jpg",
        "display_name": "John Smith",
        "updated_at": 692233200
      }
      ```
    </section>
</ApiEndpoint>