Retrieve Candidates API guide

Get candidate information from Indeed for employers.

 

legal notice

By using this API and its documentation and building an integration, you agree to the Additional API Terms and Guidelines.

API overview

Call the Retrieve Candidates API to get candidate information from Indeed for employers.

Asset types

The Retrieve Candidates API returns these candidate asset types, which implement the AtsSyncCandidateSyncAsset interface:

• AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateAsset from Smart Sourcing.

  Includes this candidate information (AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidate):

  AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidate fields

  Field	Description
  name Type: String!	The candidate's full name.
  email Type: EmailAddress!	The candidate's email address.
  location Type: String	The candidate's location, if provided.
  resume Type: AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateResume	A presigned S3 URL to download the candidate's resume. See Download and upload objects with presigned URLs (opens in a new window).

• AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdateAsset from Smart Screening updates.

  Smart Screening updates apply to the partner, not to one employer registration, so any Smart Screening job can produce application updates. Fetch results omit employerIdentifier and staging input omits metadata.employerIdentifier, so use the Indeed Apply ID to identify the application.

  Smart Sourcing requires employerIdentifier because it targets one employer registration.

  Includes this candidate information (AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdate):

  AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdate fields

  Field	Description
  applicationIdentifier Type: AtsSyncCandidateSyncScreeningApplicationIdentifier!	Application ID for the screening update. Select the Indeed Apply union member and read its indeedApply.indeedApplyId.
  smartFitScore Type: Float	The candidate's smart fit score, if available. Returns null if no score was staged.
  resume Type: AtsSyncCandidateSyncAssetFile!	The candidate's resume file. Use: resume { url name contentType } The download URL is a short-lived presigned URL. See Download and upload objects with presigned URLs (opens in a new window).
  createdAt Type: DateTime!	When the screening update was created. Order updates by this timestamp.

These fetch operations can return both types:

• Get unacknowledged assets (fetchAssets)
• Get assets by time range (assetsByTimeRange)

Create test assets (stageAssets) accepts either asset type as input.

Best practices

Best practices

Best practice	Description
Handle interfaces and unions defensively	For the AtsSyncCandidateSyncAsset interface, use ... on Type inline fragments for known types and ignore unknown types. For the AtsSyncCandidateSyncScreeningApplicationIdentifier union, which includes AtsSyncCandidateSyncIndeedApplyApplicationIdentifier, check __typename and allow for new members later.
Apply updates in order	Order Smart Screening updates by AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdate.createdAt, which shows when the update happened. Do not order Smart Screening updates by AtsSyncCandidateSyncAssetMetadata.stagedAt, which shows when the asset became available. If you apply updates out of order, older data can overwrite newer data.

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API steps

After you integrate with the Retrieve Candidates API, complete these steps to get candidate information from Indeed for employers:

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1. Authenticate

When you become an Indeed partner, Indeed creates an app for your integration. Sign in to Partner Console (opens in a new window) to view the app and your OAuth credentials: client ID, secret, and a 3-legged OAuth authorization code. Exchange those credentials for an access token to authenticate API calls.

Each Candidate Sync API operation requires an OAuth token:

OAuth token types for Candidate Sync API operations

API and operations	OAuth token type
Employer Registration API Register an employer	Authenticate with a 3-legged OAuth token that represents an employer and has the employer.ats_candidate.sync scope. This token links the employer's Indeed account to their ATS account. An Indeed administrator or owner must create it. If registerEmployer returns a missing scope error, the token might not be associated with an employer.
Employer Registration API Update a registration List registrations Deregister an employer Send Candidates API Initialize application and upload attachments Submit application Track application status Delete application Retrieve Candidates API Get unacknowledged assets Get assets by time range Create test assets	Authenticate with a 2-legged OAuth token, which requires no user interaction.

Securely store access tokens in your ATS, and don't share them between users. Indeed trusts that your system is the source of truth for a job. If you use a user's access token for a job that another user posted, Indeed might grant that user access to the other user's job on Indeed.

After you get an access token, include this token in the query or mutation. Indeed recommends that you refresh your access tokens before they expire to avoid asking users to sign in every time they need to view updated job statuses.

See Integrate with Indeed and call APIs and Scopes.

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2. Register employer

Use the Employer Registration API to register an employer.

Request – Register employer

To register an employer and return registration information, call registerEmployer.

Authenticate with a 3-legged OAuth token that represents an employer and has the employer.ats_candidate.sync scope. This token links the employer's Indeed account to their ATS account. An Indeed administrator or owner must create it. If registerEmployer returns a missing scope error, the token might not be associated with an employer.

Provide these input fields in RegisterEmployerInput:

registerEmployer input fields

Field	Required	Description
partnerEmployerId Type: ID!	✅	An ID you provide to uniquely identify the employer. You can register one partnerEmployerId with multiple Indeed accounts, but each Indeed account supports only one partnerEmployerId per ATS. If you use a different partnerEmployerId with the same Indeed account, Indeed updates the registration to the new atsName and partnerEmployerId.
atsName Type: String!	✅	The name you provide for the employer. Employers see this name on Indeed.

Response – Register employer

The API returns an EmployerRegistration. Store its id for later Candidate Sync API calls, or query findRegisteredEmployers with the partnerEmployerId to get it again.

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3. Get unacknowledged assets

Call fetchAssets to get unacknowledged assets in the order you staged them, from oldest to newest.

fetchAssets returns assets from:

• Smart Sourcing outreach (AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateAsset)
• Smart Screening updates (AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdateAsset)

A single request can return a mix of both asset types. Indeed might add asset types, so handle types you do not recognize rather than assuming every asset is one of these two.

Authenticate with a 2-legged OAuth token. Your application authenticates directly with Indeed's authorization server without user interaction.

Smart Sourcing assets use employerIdentifier.

Smart Screening assets use applicationIdentifier.indeedApply.indeedApplyId.

Either the employerIdentifier or the indeedApplyId in the response matches the ID you sent when you created the registration. Use it to identify which employer receives the candidate.

Request — Get unacknowledged assets

This mutation returns a token, asset metadata, candidate details for interested candidates, and screening update details for Smart Screening assets:

mutation FetchAssets($input: FetchAssetsAtsSyncCandidateSyncInput) {
  atsSyncCandidateSync {
    fetchAssets(input: $input) {
      token
      assets {
        id
        metadata {
          stagedAt
          stagedTest
          employerIdentifier
          completeSourceAttribution {
            enumKey
            name
          }
        }
        ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateAsset {
          contact {
            candidate {
              email
              location
              name
              phone
              resume {
                files {
                  url
                  name
                  contentType
                }
              }
            }
            job {
              sourcedPostingId
            }
            tracking {
              recruiterEmail
            }
          }
        }
        ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdateAsset {
          smartScreeningUpdate {
            smartFitScore
            createdAt
            applicationIdentifier {
              __typename
              ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncIndeedApplyApplicationIdentifier {
                indeedApplyId
              }
            }
            resume {
              url
              name
              contentType
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Provide these input fields:

fetchAssets input fields

Field	Type	Description
limit	Int!	Maximum number of assets to return.
token	String	Token from a previous fetchAssets call. Passing this token acknowledges the batch and prevents you from retrieving it again.

Response — Get unacknowledged assets

The API returns a FetchAssetsAtsSyncCandidateSyncPayload object with these fields:

fetchAssets response fields

Field	Type	Description
assets	[AtsSyncCandidateSyncAsset]!	Next available AtsSyncCandidateSyncAsset objects.
token	String	Acknowledgment token for this batch. Pass it in the next fetchAssets call to acknowledge receipt and request the next batch. If the token is null or empty, Indeed has delivered all assets, so wait the standard polling interval before you call again.

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4. Get assets by time range

After you acknowledge assets, call assetsByTimeRange to fetch them again. Use this query to recover from data loss, and persist asset data in your own data store. For pagination best practices, see the GraphQL Cursor Connections Specification (opens in a new window).

Authenticate with a 2-legged OAuth token. Your application authenticates directly with Indeed's authorization server without user interaction.

To retrieve new assets, use fetchAssets.

Request — Get assets by time range

If you omit a start or end date, the query uses the earliest and latest acknowledgment dates as defaults.

This query returns assets for a time range, including candidate details, Smart Screening updates, and pagination information:

query AssetsByTimeRange($input: AtsSyncCandidateSyncAssetsByTimeRangeInput!, $after: String) {
  atsSyncCandidateSync {
    assetsByTimeRange(input: $input, after: $after) {
      assets {
        id
        metadata {
          employerIdentifier
          stagedAt
          stagedTest
          completeSourceAttribution {
            enumKey
            name
          }
        }
        ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateAsset {
          contact {
            candidate {
              email
              location
              name
              phone
              resume {
                files {
                  url
                  name
                  contentType
                }
              }
            }
            job {
              sourcedPostingId
            }
            tracking {
              recruiterEmail
            }
          }
        }
        ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncSmartScreeningUpdateAsset {
          smartScreeningUpdate {
            smartFitScore
            createdAt
            applicationIdentifier {
              __typename
              ... on AtsSyncCandidateSyncIndeedApplyApplicationIdentifier {
                indeedApplyId
              }
            }
            resume {
              url
              name
              contentType
            }
          }
        }
      }
      pageInfo {
        hasNextPage
        endCursor
      }
    }
  }
}

Response — Get assets by time range

assetsByTimeRange returns the same asset data as fetchAssets, but only for acknowledged assets. See Response — Get unacknowledged assets.

Test assets expire after 14 days and stop appearing in assetsByTimeRange responses. See Create test assets.

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5. Create test assets

Call stageAssets to create test candidate assets in sandbox mode. Test assets behave like real ones, so you can retrieve them with fetchAssets to test your workflow.

Authenticate with a 2-legged OAuth token. Your application authenticates directly with Indeed's authorization server without user interaction.

Requirements

Before you stage test assets:

• For Smart Sourcing test assets, metadata.employerIdentifier must match the employerIdentifier of an employer registration that you created through registerEmployer.
• Smart Screening test assets do not use metadata.employerIdentifier.
• The sourcedPostingId must be a UUID, but does not need to match an existing job posting.
• Indeed removes test asset data 14 days after you stage it.

Request — Create test assets

To create test assets:

1. Call stageAssets with test candidate details such as name, email, phone, and location. To include a test resume, set includeResume to true. The API returns a unique ID for each staged asset.
2. Call fetchAssets to retrieve the staged candidates.
3. Verify that your integration processes the candidate data. To identify test assets, check the stagedTest field on the metadata of each assets entry.

This mutation stages a Smart Sourcing candidate asset for an employer and returns the created asset IDs. Provide these required and optional fields:

stageAssets input fields to stage Smart Sourcing candidate asset for an employer

Field	Required	Type	Description
metadata	Yes	AtsSyncCandidateSyncAssetMetadataInput	Asset metadata.
contact	Yes	AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateContactInput	The candidate's contact information.
job	No	AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateContactJobInput	Job information for the contact.
tracking	No	AtsSyncCandidateSyncInterestedCandidateTrackingInput	Tracking information for attribution and reporting.

mutation {
  atsSyncCandidateSync {
    stageAssets(input: {
      assets: [{
        smartSourcingContact: {
          metadata: {
            employerIdentifier: "employer-123"
          }
          contact: {
            candidate: {
              name: "Jane Smith"
              email: "jsmith@example.com"
              location: "Syracuse, New York 13209"
              phone: "+10001112223"
              includeResume: true
            }
            job: {
              sourcedPostingId: "e29aaba8-2cef-447f-a1e0-bcb7ec3fa730"
            }
            tracking: {
              recruiterEmail: "recruiter@example.com"
            }
          }
        }
      }]
    }) {
      ids
    }
  }
}

This mutation stages a Smart Screening update asset for an Indeed Apply application and returns the created asset IDs.

smartScreeningUpdate is one member of the oneOf AtsSyncCandidateSyncStageableAssetInput. Set exactly one asset type for each list entry.

Provide these required and optional fields:

stageAssets input fields to stage Smart Screening update asset

Field	Required	Type	Description
indeedApplyId	Yes	ID!	Indeed Apply ID for the application that was updated. applicationIdentifier is a oneOf, so set only indeedApply.
smartFitScore	No	Float	The candidate's smart fit score, if available. Omit this field to return null for the score.
createdAt	No	DateTime	The time when the screening update was created. Order updates by this timestamp. Defaults to the current time if omitted.

mutation {
  atsSyncCandidateSync {
    stageAssets(input: {
      assets: [{
        smartScreeningUpdate: {
          applicationIdentifier: {
            indeedApply: {
              indeedApplyId: "example-indeed-apply-id"
            }
          }
          smartFitScore: 0.87
          createdAt: "2026-06-22T12:00:00Z"
        }
      }]
    }) {
      ids
    }
  }
}

Screening does not use an includeResume flag. Screening updates always include a resume, so Indeed always attaches a fixed sample resume PDF.

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6. Troubleshoot errors

For OAuth errors, which occur before you reach GraphQL, see Troubleshoot OAuth errors.

For GraphQL errors, see Troubleshoot GraphQL errors.

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GraphQL API reference

• registerEmployer — Registers an employer. Authenticate with a 3-legged OAuth token that represents an employer and the employer.ats_candidate.sync scope.
• fetchAssets — Returns unacknowledged assets in the order you staged them, from oldest to newest.
• assetsByTimeRange — Returns acknowledged assets in a time range.
• stageAssets — Creates test assets for integration testing.

 

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