---
"@context": https://schema.org
"@type": TechArticle
"@id": https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/errors/19013#article
headline: "19013: Contact requires at least one name, unique_customer_provided_id, or channel"
url: https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/errors/19013
inLanguage: en
dateModified: 2026-04-10T12:20:38.000Z
author:
  "@type": Organization
  name: Twilio Developer Education Team
publisher:
  "@type": Organization
  name: Twilio
---

# 19013: Contact requires at least one name, unique\_customer\_provided\_id, or channel

Log Type: APPLICATION

Log Level: ERROR

## Description

This error occurs when you submit a contact without any field that Twilio accepts to identify or describe that contact. Include at least one of `first_name`, `middle_name`, `last_name`, `legal_name`, `preferred_name`, `unique_customer_provided_id`, or `channel`.

### Possible causes

* The contact payload did not include any of the required fields.
* The request only included other contact data, so Twilio could not find a supported name field, `unique_customer_provided_id`, or `channel` value in the payload. This is an inference based on the required-field validation for this error and the supported contact field validation used by related contact errors.

### Possible solutions

* Update the contact payload to include at least one supported field before you retry the request. You can use `first_name`, `middle_name`, `last_name`, `legal_name`, `preferred_name`, `unique_customer_provided_id`, or `channel`.
* If you identify contacts from your own system, send `unique_customer_provided_id` so you can create and retrieve the contact consistently.
* If you identify contacts by channel, include `channel` data in the contact object instead of sending an empty contact record. When you later fetch the contact, use either `unique_customer_provided_id` or `channel`, not both.

#### Additional resources

* [Contact API](/docs/messaging/features/contact-api)
* [Compliance Toolkit for Programmable Messaging](/docs/messaging/features/compliance-toolkit)
* [Consent Management API](/docs/messaging/features/consent-api)