Public API · v0BetaDocument version 0.1.0

Scoreboards API reference

Read your leaderboards and push results into them from anything that can make an HTTP request. Nine endpoints, one key, no SDK needed.

Base URL

https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1

OpenAPI 3.1 document Get access in the dashboard Bot & website docs

The API is in beta

Access is approved per server. Open your dashboard, pick the API section for the server you administer, and request access there; once it is granted you can create keys. While v0 is in beta, endpoints and response fields can still change, and every approved integration is told before they do.

Read this first: writes are asynchronous

A write does not return a rank. It returns 202 Accepted and a handle, because the API only enqueues a command — the Discord bot owns every rating calculation. On a board with a validation window, nothing moves on the leaderboard until a moderator clicks Approve in Discord, which may be a day later, or never.

201 Created happens in exactly one case: the board's validation window is zero hours and the worker finished inside the API's roughly three-second wait. A timeout still answers 202, so handle both.

Polling GET /submissions/{handle} is the only correct way to find out what happened. An integration that treats a successful POST as a changed leaderboard is broken before it ships.

Before you write any code

Eight things that decide whether an integration works. None of them are guessable from the endpoint list.

A write is a request, not a result

POST enqueues a command and answers with a handle such as sub_88213 and applied: false. Poll the handle; never assume the standings moved.

Ratings are frozen at submission

Each participant's rating is read when the match is created, not when it is approved. Ten matches pushed back to back all compute against pre-tournament ratings. Deterministic, identical to the bot, and surprising the first time.

ELO takes a winner, League takes a scoreline

An ELO board has no score field: send winner as team1, team2 or draw. A League board carries team1_score and team2_score and derives the winner itself. Each refuses the other's fields with a 422 that names the offending key.

Time boards take milliseconds

As an integer: 1:30 is 90000. Sending seconds is the likeliest integration bug on this API, which is why every Time board reports score_unit: milliseconds in its own write contract.

Each side carries exactly team_size

A 3v3 board wants three participants per side; anything else is a 422 team_size_mismatch. The exception is a board with fixed_teams: true, where each side is exactly one team_id — the match is between the two team entities, not between their members.

Player ids are namespaced

Responses carry discord:198374652000000000, custom:Ava, role:998877 or team:5, and paths and filters accept the same forms. A bare Discord snowflake also works on input, so an id copied out of Discord can be pasted straight in.

Every POST needs an Idempotency-Key

Required, not optional: a timeout is indistinguishable from a failure, and a blindly retried write is a second match in someone's validation channel. The same key with the same body replays the stored response; the same key with a different body is a 409. Records are kept for at least 24 hours — a floor, not an expiry — so treat a key as permanently spent rather than recycling one.

Cursors, not offsets

A leaderboard changes between requests, so offset paging double-counts. Cursors are composite — a value plus a tie-breaker — so a page boundary inside a block of tied scores resumes mid-tie instead of skipping everyone on it. 50 rows per page by default, 200 at most. Treat next_cursor as opaque.

What each board type accepts

The write shape is fixed by the board and never chosen per submission. Rather than hard-coding this table, ask GET /boards/{board}: its write block answers for that one board, down to its k-factor or its points per win.

Board type	Endpoint	Body carries	Refused with 422	What approval applies
Classic	POST /boards/{board}/scores	player, score	team1, team2, winner, team1_score, team2_score	Adds the submitted score to the running total.
Highscore	POST /boards/{board}/scores	player, score	team1, team2, winner, team1_score, team2_score	Keeps the better of the old and the new score.
Time	POST /boards/{board}/scores	player, score	team1, team2, winner, team1_score, team2_score	Keeps the better time for the board's sort order.
ELO	POST /boards/{board}/matches	team1, team2, winner	team1_score, team2_score, score	A zero-sum team rating change, plus a win, draw or loss.
League	POST /boards/{board}/matches	team1, team2, team1_score, team2_score	winner, score	Points for a win, draw or loss, plus the record.
Rating	—	—	—	No write endpoint in v0 — a rating submission needs an image upload.

Authentication

Present a key from the dashboard as Authorization: Bearer sk_live_.... Every key is bound to exactly one owner — a Discord server, or a user account for personal boards — so a key can never address another owner's board. Someone else's board is a 404, never a 403: confirming that it exists would let anyone enumerate other people's boards.

Test keys are read-only. An sk_test_ key serves every read and refuses every write scope. Keys are shown once at creation and stored only as a hash, so if you lose one, mint another and revoke the old one — several live keys per owner are allowed, which makes rotation free of downtime.

Never put a secret key in client-side code. The /v1 routes send no CORS headers at all, so a browser cannot call them. That is deliberate, not an omission.

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

Scopes

Least privilege by default: the Read only level in the dashboard grants the three read scopes and nothing else, and only Read and write adds matches:write and scores:write. Scopes are checked exactly, with no implication — matches:write does not grant matches:read. The two write scopes are separate because their blast radius differs: a bad score integration inflates one board, a bad match integration moves everybody's rating.

Scope	Grants
boards:read	List boards, read one board's write contract, and resolve a write handle.
entries:read	Read the ranked standings, and one participant's standing.
matches:read	Read match history on ELO and League boards.
matches:write	Enqueue an ELO or League match. Never granted to a test key.
scores:write	Enqueue a score on a Classic, Highscore or Time board. Never granted to a test key.

Endpoints

Nine operations. Every path below is relative to the base URL, every request needs a bearer key, and every response that is not a 2xx is a problem document.

Boards

Boards and their derived write contracts.

get/v1/boards

List every board this key can address

Every board owned by the key's owner, oldest first, with the derived write contract on each. A key is bound to exactly one owner (a Discord guild, or a user for u_ boards) and can never address another owner's board.

Start here: write.endpoint, write.requires and write.rejects tell you what to send without reading any prose, and auto_applies tells you whether a write will ever return 201.

Requires the boards:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
limitoptional	query	integer	Page size. Default 50, maximum 200. Out of range is a 422.
cursoroptional	query	string	Opaque cursor. Pass the previous page's `next_cursor` back verbatim, or omit it to start at the top. Cursors are composite `(value, tie-breaker)` so a page boundary inside a block of tied scores resumes mid-tie. A malformed cursor is a 400; cursors are NOT signed, so a hand-built one is accepted and silently starts you at an arbitrary position. Never synthesize one.

Responses

Status	Description
200	A page of boards.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
data	Board[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

Example response · 200

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "board_1",
      "display_name": "Tuesday Chess",
      "type": "ELO",
      "sort": "desc",
      "team_size": 3,
      "fixed_teams": false,
      "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_1",
      "write": {
        "endpoint": "/v1/boards/board_1/matches",
        "requires": [
          "team1",
          "team2",
          "winner"
        ],
        "rejects": [
          "team1_score",
          "team2_score",
          "score"
        ],
        "operator": "elo",
        "k_factor": 24,
        "start_rating": 1000
      },
      "validation_window_hours": 24,
      "auto_applies": false
    },
    {
      "id": "board_2",
      "display_name": "Sunday League",
      "type": "League",
      "sort": "desc",
      "team_size": 1,
      "fixed_teams": false,
      "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_2",
      "write": {
        "endpoint": "/v1/boards/board_2/matches",
        "requires": [
          "team1",
          "team2",
          "team1_score",
          "team2_score"
        ],
        "rejects": [
          "winner",
          "score"
        ],
        "operator": "league_points",
        "points_win": 3,
        "points_draw": 1,
        "points_loss": 0
      },
      "validation_window_hours": 0,
      "auto_applies": true
    },
    {
      "id": "board_3",
      "display_name": "Speedrun",
      "type": "Highscore",
      "sort": "desc",
      "team_size": 1,
      "fixed_teams": false,
      "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_3",
      "write": {
        "endpoint": "/v1/boards/board_3/scores",
        "requires": [
          "player",
          "score"
        ],
        "rejects": [
          "team1",
          "team2",
          "winner",
          "team1_score",
          "team2_score"
        ],
        "operator": "keep_highest"
      },
      "validation_window_hours": 24,
      "auto_applies": false
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false,
  "next_cursor": null
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards?cursor=eyJzIjoxMjAwLCJwIjoiMTk4Mzc0NjUyMDAwMDAwMDAyIn0' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

get/v1/boards/{board}

Get one board and its write contract

Metadata plus the derived, read-only write contract. The operator is fixed by the board's type and sort when it is created — Classic accumulates, Highscore keeps the maximum, Time keeps the minimum, ELO applies a zero-sum delta, League awards points — and cannot be overridden per submission.

Read auto_applies before you build anything: when it is false, every write returns 202 and nothing changes until a moderator approves it in Discord.

Requires the boards:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.

Responses

Status	Description
200	The board.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Immutable public id. Use it in every path; it never changes, even when `display_name` does.
display_name	string
type	"Classic" \| "Highscore" \| "Time" \| "ELO" \| "League" \| "Rating"	Decides which write endpoint applies. ELO and League take matches; Classic, Highscore and Time take scores; Rating takes neither in v0.
sort	"desc" \| "asc"
team_size	integer	Participants per side on a match board. Each roster must carry exactly this many — unless `fixed_teams` is true, in which case each side is exactly ONE team entity.
fixed_teams	boolean	True when the board plays fixed team entities against each other. A match then names two `team_id`s, not `2 × team_size` players.
url	string
write	WriteContract \| null	What to POST. `null` on Rating boards, which have no v0 write endpoint.
validation_window_hours	integer	Hours a submission waits for a moderator. `0` auto-applies; `999` means manual review with no countdown.
auto_applies	boolean	True only when `validation_window_hours` is 0. When false, a write returns 202 and NOTHING changes on the leaderboard until a human clicks Approve in Discord.

Example response · 200

{
  "id": "board_1",
  "display_name": "Tuesday Chess",
  "type": "ELO",
  "sort": "desc",
  "team_size": 3,
  "fixed_teams": false,
  "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_1",
  "write": {
    "endpoint": "/v1/boards/board_1/matches",
    "requires": [
      "team1",
      "team2",
      "winner"
    ],
    "rejects": [
      "team1_score",
      "team2_score",
      "score"
    ],
    "operator": "elo",
    "k_factor": 24,
    "start_rating": 1000
  },
  "validation_window_hours": 24,
  "auto_applies": false
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

Entries

Ranked standings — one row per participant.

get/v1/boards/{board}/entries

List ranked standings

The leaderboard, best first, cursor-paginated. rank is correct on every page, including a page resumed from a cursor.

ELO boards carry elo; every other type carries score. Rating boards have no ranked entries in v0 (they store one row per submission, not per player) and return a 422 board_type_mismatch.

Requires the entries:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
limitoptional	query	integer	Page size. Default 50, maximum 200. Out of range is a 422.
cursoroptional	query	string	Opaque cursor. Pass the previous page's `next_cursor` back verbatim, or omit it to start at the top. Cursors are composite `(value, tie-breaker)` so a page boundary inside a block of tied scores resumes mid-tie. A malformed cursor is a 400; cursors are NOT signed, so a hand-built one is accepted and silently starts you at an arbitrary position. Never synthesize one.

Responses

Status	Description
200	A page of standings.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
data	Entry[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

Example response · 200

{
  "data": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000001",
      "player_name": "Ava",
      "last_sub": "2026-07-20T12:00:00.000Z",
      "elo": 1450,
      "wins": 9,
      "draws": 2,
      "losses": 1
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000002",
      "player_name": "Ben",
      "last_sub": "2026-07-21T12:00:00.000Z",
      "elo": 1200,
      "wins": 4,
      "draws": 1,
      "losses": 4
    }
  ],
  "has_more": true,
  "next_cursor": "eyJzIjoxMjAwLCJwIjoiMTk4Mzc0NjUyMDAwMDAwMDAyIn0"
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/entries?cursor=eyJzIjoxMjAwLCJwIjoiMTk4Mzc0NjUyMDAwMDAwMDAyIn0' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

get/v1/boards/{board}/entries/{player_id}

Get one participant's standing

One row of the leaderboard, with its live rank. Use a player_id exactly as an entries response returned it; a bare Discord snowflake also works.

A participant with no row on this board is a 404 — a player who has never submitted has no standing to report.

Requires the entries:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
player_idrequired	path	string	A namespaced player id as returned by the entries endpoints: `discord:<snowflake>`, `custom:<name>`, `role:<id>` or `team:<id>`. A bare Discord snowflake is also accepted, so a caller can paste one straight in. Anything else is a 400.

Responses

Status	Description
200	The standing.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
rank	integer	1-based, and correct on every page — a resumed page derives it with a COUNT rather than numbering from 1.
player_id	string	Namespaced: `discord:<snowflake>`, `custom:<name>`, `role:<id>` or `team:<id>`. Pass it back verbatim to `/entries/{player_id}` or `?player=`.
player_name	string
scoreoptional	number \| null
elooptional	number \| null
winsoptional	integer \| null
drawsoptional	integer \| null
lossesoptional	integer \| null
submissionsoptional	integer \| null
last_sub	string \| null	RFC 3339 UTC. `null` when the participant has never submitted.

Example response · 200

{
  "rank": 1,
  "player_id": "discord:198374652000000001",
  "player_name": "Ava",
  "last_sub": "2026-07-20T12:00:00.000Z",
  "elo": 1450,
  "wins": 9,
  "draws": 2,
  "losses": 1
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/entries/discord:198374652000000001' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

Matches

Match history on ELO and League boards, and the asynchronous endpoint that records one. The write returns a handle, not a result.

get/v1/boards/{board}/matches

List match history

Recorded matches, newest first. Only ELO and League boards record matches; on any other type this is a 422 board_type_mismatch pointing you at /entries.

Every participant carries the elo they held when the match was submitted, not when it was approved — so a tournament pushed as ten back-to-back matches shows pre-tournament ratings on all ten.

Requires the matches:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
limitoptional	query	integer	Page size. Default 50, maximum 200. Out of range is a 422.
cursoroptional	query	string	Opaque cursor. Pass the previous page's `next_cursor` back verbatim, or omit it to start at the top. Cursors are composite `(value, tie-breaker)` so a page boundary inside a block of tied scores resumes mid-tie. A malformed cursor is a 400; cursors are NOT signed, so a hand-built one is accepted and silently starts you at an arbitrary position. Never synthesize one.
playeroptional	query	string	Only matches this participant took part in. Same namespaced form as `Entry.player_id`; a bare snowflake is accepted. An unusable value is a 400, not an empty list.
statusoptional	query	"pending" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "adjusted" \| "set"	Only matches in this review state. `adjusted` and `set` are moderator edits made in Discord.

Responses

Status	Description
200	A page of matches.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
data	Match[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

Example response · 200

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 2,
      "board": "board_1",
      "team_size": 3,
      "team1": [
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000001",
          "player_name": "Ava",
          "elo": 1450
        },
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000002",
          "player_name": "Ben",
          "elo": 1200
        },
        {
          "player_id": "custom:demo_1",
          "player_name": "Demo Player",
          "elo": 1050
        }
      ],
      "team2": [
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000003",
          "player_name": "Cal",
          "elo": 1200
        },
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000004",
          "player_name": "Dee",
          "elo": 900
        },
        {
          "player_id": "custom:Ava Custom",
          "player_name": "Ava Custom",
          "elo": 1100
        }
      ],
      "winner": "team2",
      "status": "pending",
      "applied": false,
      "submitted_at": "2026-07-25T10:00:00.000Z",
      "submitted_by": "api"
    },
    {
      "id": 1,
      "board": "board_1",
      "team_size": 1,
      "team1": [
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000001",
          "player_name": "Ava",
          "elo": 1450
        }
      ],
      "team2": [
        {
          "player_id": "discord:198374652000000002",
          "player_name": "Ben",
          "elo": 1200
        }
      ],
      "winner": "team1",
      "status": "approved",
      "applied": true,
      "submitted_at": "2026-07-24T10:00:00.000Z",
      "submitted_by": "api"
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false,
  "next_cursor": null
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/matches?cursor=eyJzIjoxMjAwLCJwIjoiMTk4Mzc0NjUyMDAwMDAwMDAyIn0&player=discord:198374652000000001&status=approved' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

post/v1/boards/{board}/matches

Record an ELO or League match (asynchronous)

Returns 202 Accepted and a handle, not a rank. The match is enqueued for the bot that owns the scoring; on a board with a validation window it then sits in the Discord validation channel until a moderator clicks Approve. Poll GET /submissions/{handle} to learn the outcome.

201 Created happens only on an auto-applying board (auto_applies: true) whose worker finished inside the ~3s wait budget. A timeout still returns 202. Handle both.

The body depends on the board type, and each rejects the other's fields with a 422 naming the offending key:

ELO takes team1, team2 and winner (team1 | team2 | draw). It has no score field.
League takes team1, team2, team1_score and team2_score, and DERIVES the winner from the scoreline. Sending winner is refused.

Each roster must carry exactly the board's team_size participants — except on a board with fixed_teams: true, where each side is exactly ONE team_id and the match is between the two team entities rather than their members. Anything else is a 422 team_size_mismatch.

Ratings are snapshotted when the match is created, not when it is approved.

Requires the matches:write scope and an Idempotency-Key header. sk_test_ keys are read-only.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
Idempotency-Keyrequired	header	string	Required on every POST. A value you generate per logical write (a UUID is ideal) and reuse when you retry. Same key + same body replays the stored response byte for byte; same key + a DIFFERENT body is a 409, so a caller who edits and retries never silently receives the old result. Records are kept for at least 24h — that is a floor, not an expiry, so treat a key as permanently spent rather than recycling one. Omitting the header is a 400 — retrying without one risks a duplicate match in someone's validation channel.

Request body application/json

An ELO match or a League match — whichever the board is. The two shapes are mutually exclusive.

Send exactly one of these shapes — whichever one matches the board:

EloMatchBody

Field	Type	Description
team1	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team2	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
winner	"team1" \| "team2" \| "draw"	Words, not codes. `draw` is a legal outcome and applies the zero-sum ELO delta for a tie.

LeagueMatchBody

Field	Type	Description
team1	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team2	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team1_score	integer	min 0 · max 9007199254740991
team2_score	integer	min 0 · max 9007199254740991

ELO, 3v3 (board_1)

Exactly `team_size` participants per side. Mixed forms are fine: members, a custom player, a role.

{
  "team1": [
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000001"
    },
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000002"
    },
    {
      "name": "Demo Player",
      "custom": true
    }
  ],
  "team2": [
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000003"
    },
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000004"
    },
    {
      "role_id": "role_998877"
    }
  ],
  "winner": "team1"
}

League, 1v1 (board_2)

Both scores required, integers >= 0. The winner is derived; sending one is a 422.

{
  "team1": [
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000001"
    }
  ],
  "team2": [
    {
      "discord_id": "198374652000000002"
    }
  ],
  "team1_score": 3,
  "team2_score": 1
}

ELO on a fixed-teams board

One team entity per side, regardless of `team_size`. A draw is a legal outcome.

{
  "team1": [
    {
      "team_id": "team_5"
    }
  ],
  "team2": [
    {
      "team_id": "team_6"
    }
  ],
  "winner": "draw"
}

Responses

Status	Description
201	Applied. Only ever returned by a board with `auto_applies: true` whose worker finished inside the wait budget — `applied` is true and `match` is present.
202	Queued. Nothing has changed on the leaderboard. `applied` is false and stays false until the submission is approved. This is the normal response.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
409	The `Idempotency-Key` was already used for a request with a DIFFERENT body, or an identical request is still in flight (that variant carries `Retry-After`). Use a new key for a new request, or resend the original body byte for byte.
413	/v1 accepts at most 64 KB per request. The largest legal body — an 8v8 match — is well under a kilobyte.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	Poll `GET /submissions/{handle}` with this. Resolves for 30 days, then 404s. pattern ^sub_\d+$
board	string
status	"queued" \| "processing" \| "pending_review" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "failed"	On a 202 this is `queued` (or, rarely, `failed` — the worker ran and threw inside the wait budget); `approved` only on a 201. `pending_review` never appears here: it is what the HANDLE reports once the worker has posted the submission for review. Poll the handle for that.
applied	boolean	True only when the result is already live on the leaderboard. False on every 202.
queued_at	string	RFC 3339 UTC, when the write was enqueued. A replayed response repeats the ORIGINAL value.
matchoptional	MatchRef \| null	Present once the worker has created the match. Absent on a plain 202, which is the normal case.

Example response · 201

{
  "handle": "sub_88214",
  "board": "board_2",
  "status": "approved",
  "applied": true,
  "queued_at": "2026-07-26T12:00:02.881Z",
  "match": {
    "id": 2,
    "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_2",
    "applied": true
  }
}

Example request

curl -X POST 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/matches' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...' \
  -H 'Idempotency-Key: 8f14e45f-ea6a-4e2b-9c1a-77c0e4d51a10' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"team1":[{"discord_id":"198374652000000001"},{"discord_id":"198374652000000002"},{"name":"Demo Player","custom":true}],"team2":[{"discord_id":"198374652000000003"},{"discord_id":"198374652000000004"},{"role_id":"role_998877"}],"winner":"team1"}'

get/v1/boards/{board}/matches/{match_id}

Get one match with its rosters

One match by its per-board id, with both full rosters. League matches carry team1_score and team2_score; ELO matches have no scoreline and omit both.

Requires the matches:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
match_idrequired	path	integer	The per-board match number (`Match.id`). Not globally unique.

Responses

Status	Description
200	The match.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Per-board match number. Not globally unique; always address it under its board.
board	string
team_size	integer
team1	MatchParticipant[]
team2	MatchParticipant[]
winner	"team1" \| "team2" \| "draw" \| null	On a League board this is DERIVED from the scoreline, never supplied by the caller.
team1_scoreoptional	number \| null	League boards only. Absent on ELO boards, which have no scoreline.
team2_scoreoptional	number \| null	League boards only. Absent on ELO boards, which have no scoreline.
status	"pending" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "adjusted" \| "set"	`pending` until reviewed. `adjusted` and `set` are moderator edits made in Discord.
applied	boolean	True only once the result is live on the leaderboard (`approved`, `adjusted` or `set`).
submitted_at	string \| null	RFC 3339 UTC, when the match was submitted — not when it was approved.
submitted_byoptional	string \| null	The Discord user who submitted it, or `api` for a submission made through this API.

Example response · 200

{
  "id": 2,
  "board": "board_1",
  "team_size": 3,
  "team1": [
    {
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000001",
      "player_name": "Ava",
      "elo": 1450
    },
    {
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000002",
      "player_name": "Ben",
      "elo": 1200
    },
    {
      "player_id": "custom:demo_1",
      "player_name": "Demo Player",
      "elo": 1050
    }
  ],
  "team2": [
    {
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000003",
      "player_name": "Cal",
      "elo": 1200
    },
    {
      "player_id": "discord:198374652000000004",
      "player_name": "Dee",
      "elo": 900
    },
    {
      "player_id": "custom:Ava Custom",
      "player_name": "Ava Custom",
      "elo": 1100
    }
  ],
  "winner": "team2",
  "status": "pending",
  "applied": false,
  "submitted_at": "2026-07-25T10:00:00.000Z",
  "submitted_by": "api"
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/matches/2' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

Submissions

Score submissions on Classic, Highscore and Time boards, and resolving the handle that any write returns.

post/v1/boards/{board}/scores

Submit a score to a Classic, Highscore or Time board (asynchronous)

Returns 202 Accepted and a handle, not a new rank. Like every /v1 write it enqueues, and on a board with a validation window the score waits for a moderator. Poll GET /submissions/{handle}.

Time boards take MILLISECONDS as an integer — 1:30 is 90000. This is the most likely integration bug on the whole API; the board's write.score_unit says so too.

What the score does on approval is fixed by the board and is not a caller choice: Classic adds it to the running total, Highscore keeps the higher value, Time keeps the lower one.

ELO and League boards take matches, not scores, and answer 422 board_type_mismatch here.

Requires the scores:write scope and an Idempotency-Key header. sk_test_ keys are read-only.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
boardrequired	path	string	The board id — `metadata.game_name`, e.g. `board_1`. Immutable, and never the display name. Older boards may carry a free-form (even non-ASCII) name, so URL-encode it.
Idempotency-Keyrequired	header	string	Required on every POST. A value you generate per logical write (a UUID is ideal) and reuse when you retry. Same key + same body replays the stored response byte for byte; same key + a DIFFERENT body is a 409, so a caller who edits and retries never silently receives the old result. Records are kept for at least 24h — that is a floor, not an expiry, so treat a key as permanently spent rather than recycling one. Omitting the header is a 400 — retrying without one risks a duplicate match in someone's validation channel.

Request body application/json

One participant and one integer score.

Field	Type	Description
player	Participant	Exactly one of the four forms. Anything else is a 422 `unknown_player`.
score	integer	Integer. On a Time board this is MILLISECONDS: `1:30` is `90000`, not `90` and not `1.5`. min -9007199254740991 · max 9007199254740991

A Discord member

{
  "player": {
    "discord_id": "198374652000000001"
  },
  "score": 145530
}

A Time board — milliseconds

A run of 2 minutes 25.530 seconds. Sending `145.53` seconds would record 145 ms.

{
  "player": {
    "name": "Ava",
    "custom": true
  },
  "score": 145530
}

Responses

Status	Description
201	Applied. Only ever returned by a board with `auto_applies: true` whose worker finished inside the wait budget — `applied` is true and `match` points at the stored submission.
202	Queued. Nothing has changed on the leaderboard. The score waits in the Discord validation channel until a moderator approves it. This is the normal response.
400	`invalid_request` at the transport level: a body that is not JSON, a missing or unusable `Idempotency-Key`, a malformed cursor, or a player id that is not one this API issues. A body that parsed but was semantically wrong is a 422 instead.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
409	The `Idempotency-Key` was already used for a request with a DIFFERENT body, or an identical request is still in flight (that variant carries `Retry-After`). Use a new key for a new request, or resend the original body byte for byte.
413	/v1 accepts at most 64 KB per request. The largest legal body — an 8v8 match — is well under a kilobyte.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	Poll `GET /submissions/{handle}` with this. Resolves for 30 days, then 404s. pattern ^sub_\d+$
board	string
status	"queued" \| "processing" \| "pending_review" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "failed"	On a 202 this is `queued` (or, rarely, `failed` — the worker ran and threw inside the wait budget); `approved` only on a 201. `pending_review` never appears here: it is what the HANDLE reports once the worker has posted the submission for review. Poll the handle for that.
applied	boolean	True only when the result is already live on the leaderboard. False on every 202.
queued_at	string	RFC 3339 UTC, when the write was enqueued. A replayed response repeats the ORIGINAL value.
matchoptional	MatchRef \| null	Present once the worker has created the match. Absent on a plain 202, which is the normal case.

Example response · 201

{
  "handle": "sub_88216",
  "board": "board_7",
  "status": "approved",
  "applied": true,
  "queued_at": "2026-07-26T12:00:04.017Z",
  "match": {
    "id": 118,
    "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_7",
    "applied": true
  }
}

Example request

curl -X POST 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/boards/board_1/scores' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...' \
  -H 'Idempotency-Key: 8f14e45f-ea6a-4e2b-9c1a-77c0e4d51a10' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"player":{"discord_id":"198374652000000001"},"score":145530}'

get/v1/submissions/{handle}

Resolve a write handle

The only correct way to learn what happened to a write. status moves queued → processing → pending_review → approved | rejected, or failed.

The answer is read from the live match or submission row, not just from the queue, so it keeps up with a moderator approving hours later. Once the row exists, match.id links to it and match.applied says whether it is live on the leaderboard.

Handles resolve for 30 days, then 404. Another owner's handle is an indistinguishable 404, so sequential handles cannot be probed across tenants.

Requires the boards:read scope.

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
handlerequired	path	string	The write handle returned by a POST, e.g. `sub_88213`. Resolves for 30 days.

Responses

Status	Description
200	The submission state.
401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked API key. Present the key as `Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...`. Authentication runs before the rate limiter, so this response carries no `RateLimit-*` headers.
403	The key authenticated but may not do this: it is missing the scope the operation needs, or it is a `sk_test_` key, which is read-only and is never granted a write scope.
404	No such resource for this key's owner. A board that exists but belongs to somebody else returns exactly this, indistinguishable from one that does not exist — confirming existence would let a caller enumerate other people's boards.
422	The request was understood and refused. `code` says which rule: `invalid_request` (schema, including a `.strict()` body naming the unrecognized key), `board_type_mismatch`, `team_size_mismatch`, `duplicate_participant` or `unknown_player`.
429	Per-key token bucket: 600 reads and 60 writes per minute, tracked as separate buckets so a burst of writes cannot starve the polling that watches for their result. Rate limiting is evaluated BEFORE idempotency, so a 429 is never a replay.
500	Something failed on our side. The detail is deliberately generic — quote `request_id`, which joins your report to our log line.

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	pattern ^sub_\d+$
status	"queued" \| "processing" \| "pending_review" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "failed"
board	string
match	MatchRef \| null

Example response · 200

{
  "handle": "sub_88213",
  "status": "approved",
  "board": "board_1",
  "match": {
    "id": 3,
    "url": "https://scoreboards.dev/leaderboards/111222333444555666/board_1",
    "applied": true
  }
}

Example request

curl 'https://api.scoreboards.dev/v1/submissions/sub_88213' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...'

Data types

The objects the responses above are built from. Every field name and description comes from the schemas the handlers validate with, so they cannot drift from what the API really accepts and returns.

Problem

Every /v1 failure, as application/problem+json (RFC 9457). Branch on code, never on title or detail — those are English prose for humans and may be reworded. The API is English-only and ignores Accept-Language.

Field	Type	Description
type	string (uri)	A stable URI for this error class, e.g. `https://scoreboards.dev/errors/board-type-mismatch`.
title	string	Short human summary. Not machine-readable.
status	integer	Repeats the HTTP status code. min 400 · max 599
detail	string	What went wrong with THIS request, naming the offending field where there is one.
instance	string	The path that failed, e.g. `/v1/boards/board_1/matches`.
code	"invalid_request" \| "authentication_failed" \| "permission_denied" \| "not_found" \| "idempotency_conflict" \| "rate_limited" \| "board_type_mismatch" \| "team_size_mismatch" \| "duplicate_participant" \| "unknown_player" \| "board_locked" \| "internal_error"	The machine-readable contract. Stable across rewordings.
request_id	string	Correlation id, also returned as `X-Request-Id`. Quote it to support.

Board

A leaderboard, plus the derived contract for writing to it. id is the immutable game_name slug (board_123), not the display name — renaming a board never changes it.

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Immutable public id. Use it in every path; it never changes, even when `display_name` does.
display_name	string
type	"Classic" \| "Highscore" \| "Time" \| "ELO" \| "League" \| "Rating"	Decides which write endpoint applies. ELO and League take matches; Classic, Highscore and Time take scores; Rating takes neither in v0.
sort	"desc" \| "asc"
team_size	integer	Participants per side on a match board. Each roster must carry exactly this many — unless `fixed_teams` is true, in which case each side is exactly ONE team entity.
fixed_teams	boolean	True when the board plays fixed team entities against each other. A match then names two `team_id`s, not `2 × team_size` players.
url	string
write	WriteContract \| null	What to POST. `null` on Rating boards, which have no v0 write endpoint.
validation_window_hours	integer	Hours a submission waits for a moderator. `0` auto-applies; `999` means manual review with no countdown.
auto_applies	boolean	True only when `validation_window_hours` is 0. When false, a write returns 202 and NOTHING changes on the leaderboard until a human clicks Approve in Discord.

WriteContract

What this board accepts, derived from its type and sort. operator is read-only — it is fixed when the board is created and cannot be overridden per submission.

Field	Type	Description
endpoint	string
requires	string[]	Fields that must be present in the write body.
rejects	string[]	Fields this board type refuses. Sending one is a 422 naming the offending key.
operator	"elo" \| "league_points" \| "accumulate" \| "keep_highest" \| "keep_lowest"	How an approved submission is applied. Derived from the board type and sort; never a caller input.
score_unitoptional	string	Present on Time boards only. Scores are integer MILLISECONDS — `1:30` is `90000`.
k_factoroptional	integer
start_ratingoptional	integer
points_winoptional	integer
points_drawoptional	integer
points_lossoptional	integer

Entry

One participant's standing. elo is present on ELO boards and score on every other type; wins/draws/losses on ELO and League, submissions on Classic, Highscore and Time.

Field	Type	Description
rank	integer	1-based, and correct on every page — a resumed page derives it with a COUNT rather than numbering from 1.
player_id	string	Namespaced: `discord:<snowflake>`, `custom:<name>`, `role:<id>` or `team:<id>`. Pass it back verbatim to `/entries/{player_id}` or `?player=`.
player_name	string
scoreoptional	number \| null
elooptional	number \| null
winsoptional	integer \| null
drawsoptional	integer \| null
lossesoptional	integer \| null
submissionsoptional	integer \| null
last_sub	string \| null	RFC 3339 UTC. `null` when the participant has never submitted.

MatchParticipant

Field	Type	Description
player_id	string
player_name	string
elooptional	number \| null	The rating this participant held when the match was SUBMITTED, not when it was approved. Ten matches pushed back to back all carry pre-tournament ratings.

Match

One recorded match on an ELO or League board. id is old_id — per-board, so match URLs are always board-nested.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Per-board match number. Not globally unique; always address it under its board.
board	string
team_size	integer
team1	MatchParticipant[]
team2	MatchParticipant[]
winner	"team1" \| "team2" \| "draw" \| null	On a League board this is DERIVED from the scoreline, never supplied by the caller.
team1_scoreoptional	number \| null	League boards only. Absent on ELO boards, which have no scoreline.
team2_scoreoptional	number \| null	League boards only. Absent on ELO boards, which have no scoreline.
status	"pending" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "adjusted" \| "set"	`pending` until reviewed. `adjusted` and `set` are moderator edits made in Discord.
applied	boolean	True only once the result is live on the leaderboard (`approved`, `adjusted` or `set`).
submitted_at	string \| null	RFC 3339 UTC, when the match was submitted — not when it was approved.
submitted_byoptional	string \| null	The Discord user who submitted it, or `api` for a submission made through this API.

MatchRef

The match a write produced, once the worker has created it.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer
url	string
applied	boolean

DiscordParticipant

A real Discord member. Must be 17-20 digits: a shorter id is stored as a CUSTOM player of that name rather than as the member, so it is refused here instead of creating a row nobody owns.

Field	Type	Description
discord_id	string	pattern ^\d{17,20}$

CustomParticipant

A player who is not a Discord member. custom: true is required and explicit — it is what stops a Discord id typed into name from creating a lookalike row. The internal key is built for you.

Field	Type	Description
name	string	min length 1 · max length 100
custom	boolean

TeamParticipant

A fixed team entity. Valid only on a board with fixed_teams: true, one per side.

Field	Type	Description
team_id	string	pattern ^team_\d+$

RoleParticipant

A Discord role competing as a single entity. Guild-owned boards only.

Field	Type	Description
role_id	string	pattern ^role_\d+$

Participant

Exactly one of the four forms. Anything else is a 422 unknown_player.

BoardList

Cursor-paginated. Pass next_cursor back as ?cursor= for the next page.

Field	Type	Description
data	Board[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

EntryList

Cursor-paginated on the composite (score, player_id), so a page boundary that falls inside a block of tied scores resumes mid-tie instead of skipping everyone on that score.

Field	Type	Description
data	Entry[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

MatchList

Cursor-paginated, newest match first.

Field	Type	Description
data	Match[]
has_more	boolean	True when another page exists. Do not infer it from a short page — a page can be short and still have more.
next_cursor	string \| null	Pass back as `?cursor=`. `null` on the last page. Opaque: never parse it, never build one.

EloMatchBody

The body an ELO board takes. An ELO board has no score field, so team1_score, team2_score and score are refused with a 422 naming the key. Each roster carries exactly the board's team_size — or exactly one team_id when fixed_teams is true.

Field	Type	Description
team1	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team2	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
winner	"team1" \| "team2" \| "draw"	Words, not codes. `draw` is a legal outcome and applies the zero-sum ELO delta for a tie.

LeagueMatchBody

The body a League board takes. League DERIVES the winner from the scoreline, so a caller-supplied winner is refused with a 422 — accepting it would let the caller contradict their own scores. Points come from the board's points_win/points_draw/points_loss.

Field	Type	Description
team1	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team2	Participant[]	min items 1 · max items 8
team1_score	integer	min 0 · max 9007199254740991
team2_score	integer	min 0 · max 9007199254740991

ScoreSubmissionBody

The body a Classic, Highscore or Time board takes. On a Time board score is integer MILLISECONDS — 1:30 is 90000. Sending seconds is the single most likely integration bug on this API. What happens on approval is fixed by the board: Classic accumulates, Highscore keeps the maximum, Time keeps the minimum.

Field	Type	Description
player	Participant	Exactly one of the four forms. Anything else is a 422 `unknown_player`.
score	integer	Integer. On a Time board this is MILLISECONDS: `1:30` is `90000`, not `90` and not `1.5`. min -9007199254740991 · max 9007199254740991

WriteAccepted

What a POST returns. It is a receipt, not a result: applied is false on every board with a validation window, and stays false until a moderator approves the submission in Discord.

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	Poll `GET /submissions/{handle}` with this. Resolves for 30 days, then 404s. pattern ^sub_\d+$
board	string
status	"queued" \| "processing" \| "pending_review" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "failed"	On a 202 this is `queued` (or, rarely, `failed` — the worker ran and threw inside the wait budget); `approved` only on a 201. `pending_review` never appears here: it is what the HANDLE reports once the worker has posted the submission for review. Poll the handle for that.
applied	boolean	True only when the result is already live on the leaderboard. False on every 202.
queued_at	string	RFC 3339 UTC, when the write was enqueued. A replayed response repeats the ORIGINAL value.
matchoptional	MatchRef \| null	Present once the worker has created the match. Absent on a plain 202, which is the normal case.

Submission

The state of a write handle, read from the LIVE row rather than the queue — so it keeps up with a moderator approving or rejecting the match hours after the queue entry finished.

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	pattern ^sub_\d+$
status	"queued" \| "processing" \| "pending_review" \| "approved" \| "rejected" \| "failed"
board	string
match	MatchRef \| null

Errors

Every failure from an endpoint in this reference is an RFC 9457 problem document served as application/problem+json. Branch on code: it is the stable part of the contract, while title and detail are written for people and may be reworded. One edge to code around: a URL that matches no route at all is answered by the platform rather than by the API, so an authenticated request to a mistyped path gets a plain-text 404 — check the content type before you parse an error body.

The API is English-only and ignores Accept-Language. That is deliberate: an error string that changes language between environments is harder to search for, not easier. These docs are translated; the API is not.

Every response carries an X-Request-Id. Quote it if you report a problem — it is what joins your report to our log line.

{
  "type": "https://scoreboards.dev/errors/invalid-request",
  "title": "Invalid request",
  "status": 422,
  "detail": "team1_score, team2_score: not allowed on this request",
  "instance": "/v1/boards/board_1/matches",
  "code": "invalid_request",
  "request_id": "req_8f2a1c4d6b90"
}

Code	Status	When you get it
invalid_request	400 · 413 · 422	A body, query parameter or cursor did not match the schema; the detail names the offending field. Also used for a body over 64 KB.
authentication_failed	401	Missing, malformed, unknown or revoked key.
permission_denied	403	The key lacks the scope — or it is a test key and the scope is a write scope.
not_found	404	No such board, entry, match or handle for this key's owner. Someone else's resource is indistinguishable from one that does not exist.
idempotency_conflict	409	The same Idempotency-Key was reused with a different body, or an identical request is still in flight.
rate_limited	429	The bucket is empty. Wait the number of seconds in Retry-After.
board_type_mismatch	422	Right endpoint, wrong board: a score sent to a match board, a match sent to a score board, or anything sent to a Rating board.
team_size_mismatch	422	A side does not carry exactly the board's team_size — or a fixed-teams side names something other than one team.
duplicate_participant	422	The same participant appears twice. Checked after resolution, so role_998877 and the bare snowflake 998877 count as one entity.
unknown_player	422	A participant is unusable: a snowflake shorter than 17 digits, a role on a board with no Discord server, a team on a board that does not use fixed teams, or a custom player sent without custom: true.
board_locked	409	The board is not accepting writes.
internal_error	500	Something failed on our side. Retry, and quote the request_id if it keeps happening.

Rate limits

600 reads and 60 writes per minute per key, as two separate token buckets — a burst of writes can never starve the polling that watches for their result. The buckets refill continuously, so a short burst is allowed and the sustained rate is metered.

RateLimit-Reset is a number of seconds from now; X-RateLimit-Reset is a Unix timestamp. They describe the same instant in different units, and reading one as the other makes a client either hammer the API or sleep for decades.

Both header families are emitted on every response past authentication.

Header	Description
RateLimit-Limit	Requests allowed per minute for this key: 600 read, 60 write. Read and write quotas are separate buckets.
RateLimit-Remaining	Whole requests left in the current bucket.
RateLimit-Reset	DELTA-SECONDS until the quota is whole again. A duration, not a timestamp (IETF draft semantics).
X-RateLimit-Limit	Legacy spelling of `RateLimit-Limit`, same value.
X-RateLimit-Remaining	Legacy spelling of `RateLimit-Remaining`, same value.
X-RateLimit-Reset	The same instant as `RateLimit-Reset`, as a UNIX TIMESTAMP in seconds. Not a delay (legacy semantics).
Retry-After	Delta-seconds to wait before retrying. Sent on 429, and on the 409 that means an identical request is still in flight.
X-Request-Id	Correlation id for this request, echoed on every response including errors. An inbound `X-Request-Id` matching `[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,64}` is honoured.
X-API-Lifecycle	Always `beta` today. Sent on EVERY /v1 response — including a 401 and a 404 — so a client learns the contract is provisional on its first call, without reading any documentation. The day it stops saying `beta`, the surface has been frozen and breaking changes will require a new version prefix; treat a change in this value as the signal to re-read the changelog.
Idempotent-Replayed	`true` when this response was replayed from a stored idempotency record rather than executed. Only set on POST responses.

Missing something?

Tell us what you are building. v0 ships reads and three write paths on purpose — board creation, seasons, outbound webhooks and match reversal are all deferred until a real caller asks for them, and that request is worth more than our roadmap. Beta access is not requested here: that happens in the API section of your dashboard.

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