Order client certificate

POST https://www.digicert.com/services/v2/order/certificate/{{client_certificate_id}}

Tip

We've expanded our client certificate offerings to include three new S/MIME certificates:

Secure Email for Individual (mailbox-validated)
Secure Email for Business (sponsor-validated)
Secure Email for Organization (organization-validated)

To order these new S/MIME certificates, see Order Secure Email (S/MIME) certificate.

All of DigiCert's publicly-trusted S/MIME certificates are compliant with the new S/MIME baseline requirements (see our knowledge base article). However, we recommend migrating to the new Secure Email S/MIME certificates at your earliest convenience.

Use this endpoint to create a client certificate order request. Replace {{client_certificate_id}} in the URL with the product identifier for the type of certificate to order:

NOTICE: Upcoming endpoint changes

Starting 8 Jul 2025 17:00 UTC, all S/MIME certificates (Premium, Digital Signature Plus, Email Security Plus, Class 1 S/MIME) issued through this legacy Services API endpoint automatically use the Multipurpose profile.

Quick checklist

Use this checklist to make sure you are ready for changes to Premium, Digital Signature Plus, and Email Security Plus certificate orders.

Add common_name_indicator and specify given_name_surname or pseudonym.
Provide an individual object based on common_name_indicator. For example, first_name AND last_name.

Request parameter changes

Table 1. Order client certificate request parameters changes

Name	Req/Opt	Type	Description
`common_name_indicator`	conditional	string	Required for `client_premium`, `client_digital_signature_plus`, and `client_email_security_plus` certificates. Allowed: `given_name_surname`, `pseudonym`
`individual`	conditional	object
.. `first_name` / `last_name`	conditional	string	Required when `common_name_indicator` = `given_name_surname`.
.. `pseudonym`	conditional	string	Required when `common_name_indicator` = `pseudonym`.

Example request body (truncated)

{
  "certificate": {
    "emails": ["alice@example.com"],
    "common_name": "Alice Example",
    "common_name_indicator": "given_name_surname",
    "individual": {
      "first_name": "Alice",
      "last_name": "Example"
    }
  }
}

For complete details, see DigiCert Knowledge Base: New certificate profile requirements for public secure email (S/MIME) certificates.

Premium^*: client_premium
Digital Signature Plus^*: client_digital_signature_plus
Email Security Plus^*: client_email_security_plus
Class 1 S/MIME^*: class1_smime
Authentication Plus: client_authentication_plus

Note

Products with an asterisk (^*) are public-trust S/MIME certificates.

Common name value for public S/MIME certificates

For public S/MIME client certificates, the common name value depends on the S/MIME validation type. Use this table to determine which values to provide in your certificate order request:

Product name	Common name
Class 1 S/MIME	Class 1 S/MIME certificates are mailbox-validated S/MIME certificates. For mailbox-validated certificates, DigiCert automatically sets the common name value to the first email address you provide in the `emails` array. Do not provide a separate `common_name` value in your certificate order request.
Premium Digital Signature Plus Email Security Plus	These products are sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates. For sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates, you must provide a `common_name` value in your order request. The `common_name` value should be one of these options: The first email address provided in the `emails` array. The name of the certificate recipient. Use either the first and last name (`"John Doe"`) or a pseudonym. Warning By using the name of the certificate recipient as the common name on a sponsor-validated S/MIME certificate, you attest the individual is a valid employee or representative of the company and included in official company registries. Invalid names can be rejected or revoked without notice.

Product name

Common name

Class 1 S/MIME

Class 1 S/MIME certificates are mailbox-validated S/MIME certificates. For mailbox-validated certificates, DigiCert automatically sets the common name value to the first email address you provide in the emails array. Do not provide a separate common_name value in your certificate order request.

Premium
Digital Signature Plus
Email Security Plus

These products are sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates. For sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates, you must provide a common_name value in your order request. The common_name value should be one of these options:

The first email address provided in the emails array.
The name of the certificate recipient. Use either the first and last name ("John Doe") or a pseudonym.
Warning
By using the name of the certificate recipient as the common name on a sponsor-validated S/MIME certificate, you attest the individual is a valid employee or representative of the company and included in official company registries. Invalid names can be rejected or revoked without notice.

Email address validation for public S/MIME certificates

Before issuing your public S/MIME certificate, DigiCert must verify you control the email address on the order. The verification process depends on the product type.

Class 1 S/MIME certificates

When you create an order for this mailbox-validated S/MIME certificate, DigiCert sends a validation email to the email address in the emails array. Before DigiCert can issue the certificate, the email recipient must follow the instructions in the email to prove they control the mailbox.

Premium, Digital Signature Plus, and Email Security Plus certificates

When you create an order for one of these sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates, you must complete a domain control validation (DCV) check for the email domains in the emails array.

By default, when DigiCert receives your order, we send authorization emails to:

The registered owners of the public domain as shown in the domain's WHOIS record.
The constructed email addresses for the domain.

As an alternative to completing DCV using authorization emails, you can add the domains to your CertCentral account and validate them for the organization using another DCV method. You can do this either before you create the order or while the order is in a pending state. Learn more about domain validation: Manage domains.

Note

Orders for sponsor-validated S/MIME certificates should only include email addresses with domains owned by your organization. Submitting an order for a sponsor-validated S/MIME certificate with an email address from Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, or other popular public email service providers causes the API to return an error ("code": "email_domain_not_validated").

To get a sponsor-validated S/MIME certificate that secures an email address operated by a public email service provider (for example, if the organization on the order owns and operates the email provider), you must validate the email domain for the organization in your CertCentral account before submitting the order request.

Example requests and responses

Example 1. cURL

curl -X POST \
  'https://www.digicert.com/services/v2/order/certificate/{{client_certificate_id}}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-DC-DEVKEY: {{api_key}}' \
  -d '{
  "certificate": {
    "common_name": "john.doe@example.com",
    "emails": [
      "john.doe@example.com"
    ],
    "signature_hash": "sha256",
    "csr": "{{csr}}"
  },
  "skip_approval": true,
  "organization": {
    "id": 112233
  },
  "order_validity": {
    "years": 1  
  },
  "payment_method": "balance"
}'

Request parameters

Name	Req/Opt	Type	Description
certificate	required	object	Certificate details.
.. common_name	conditional	string	Common name for the certificate. Required on orders for Authentication Plus, Premium, Digital Signature Plus, and Email Security Plus certificates. For public S/MIME certificates, usage requirements depend on S/MIME validation type. Learn more: Common name value for public S/MIME certificates
.. emails	required	array	Emails to be placed on the certificate. If using an email address as the common name on the certificate (for example, if the order is for a Class 1 S/MIME Certificate), DigiCert automatically uses the first email address in this array as the common name on the certificate. Note: Orders for sponsor- and organization-validated S/MIME certificates cannot include email addresses from public email service providers unless the domains for those email providers are already validated for the organization in your CertCentral account. Learn more: Email address validation for public S/MIME certificates.
.. signature_hash	required	string	Hash algorithm used to signing the certificate. Allowed values:`sha256`
.. organization_units	optional	array	Department in your organization associated with the certificate. Deprecated for public S/MIME. This field is ignored in requests to create an order for public S/MIME certificates. See our knowledge base article.
.. csr	optional	string	Certificate signing request (CSR). Note: The Services API does not extract information from the CSR to fill in the details of a certificate request. You must provide values for all relevant request parameters, including `certificate.common_name`, `certificate.dns_names`, and `organization.id`. If you are requesting a certificate for an organization without an existing ID, you must provide values for all required parameters of the `organization` object.
.. ca_cert_id	optional	string	ID of the intermediate certificate authority (ICA) certificate to select as the issuing certificate. To get the `ca_cert_id` value for an ICA, use the Product list endpoint. Account administrators can customize the default and allowed ICAs for each product at the container or user role level. If you do not provide a value for this parameter, we issue the certificate using the default ICA. If you provide the `ca_cert_id` value for an ICA that is not allowed, the request returns an error^. To see the custom ICA settings for each product, use the Product limits endpoint. ^This parameter is ignored if the option for ICA selection is not enabled for your account. Learn more about the ICA certificate chain feature for your public TLS certificates.
auto_renew	optional	int	Number of times the certificate should renew automatically.
renewal_of_order_id	optional	int	If order is a renewal, enter the previous order's ID.
skip_approval	optional	bool	Specify if the order should skip the approval step and be immediately submitted for validation and issued when complete. Default:`false`
organization_contact	optional	object	Organization contact for the order. Include this object at the root of the request body to create the order with a different organization contact than the one assigned to the `organization` on the request. If omitted, the order uses the same organization contact assigned to the `organization`. Note: The order-level `organization_contact` is only used on the order. It does not replace the organization contact assigned to the `organization` on the request.
.. first_name	required	string	Contact first name.
.. last_name	required	string	Contact last name.
.. email	required	string	Contact email address.
.. job_title	optional	string	Contact job title.
.. telephone	optional	string	Contact telephone number.
.. telephone_extension	optional	string	Telephone extension.
technical_contact	optional	object	Technical contact for the order. Include this object at the root of the request body to create the order with a different technical contact than the one assigned to the `organization` on the request. If omitted, the order uses the same technical contact assigned to the `organization`. Note: The order-level `technical_contact` is only used on the order. It does not replace the technical contact assigned to the `organization` on the request.
.. first_name	required	string	Contact first name.
.. last_name	required	string	Contact last name.
.. email	required	string	Contact email address.
.. job_title	optional	string	Contact job title.
.. telephone	optional	string	Contact telephone number.
.. telephone_extension	optional	string	Telephone extension.
organization	conditional	object	Required on orders for Premium, Digital Signature Plus, Email Security Plus, and Authentication Plus certificates. Not used on orders for Class 1 S/MIME Certificates. Object with information about the organization to associate with the request. You can associate the request with an existing organization, or you can create a new organization when you submit the order request. To associate the request with an existing organization, pass the ID of the organization as the value of `organization.id` in the body of your request. To create a new organization, include the details of the organization in the `organization` object. For more information about the structure and required parameters of the `organization` object, see the Create organization documentation. Note: When you submit an order with organization details instead of providing an organization ID, we check the organizations that already exist in your account to avoid creating a duplicate. If we find one matching organization, we automatically associate the order with that organization instead of creating a new one. If we find two or more matching organizations, we automatically associate the order with the oldest matching organization in your account instead of creating a new one. To override this behavior and force the request to create a new organization, set the `organization.skip_duplicate_org_check` parameter to `true` in the body of your request. Important: When you want to associate an order with an existing organization, we recommend always using the ID of the organization instead of the organization's details in the body of your request. To get the ID values for organizations in your account, use the List organizations endpoint. Additionally, we recommend deactivating unused organizations to ensure they are never accidentally assigned to a new order request. To deactivate an organization, use the Deactivate organization endpoint.
.. id	required^*	int	The ID of an existing organization to associate with the order. To get the ID of organizations in your account, use the List organizations endpoint. ^*Not required if you are creating a new organization with your request.
.. contacts	conditional	array of objects	List of contacts for the organization. When creating a new organization: Providing an `organization_contact` is conditional. An `organization_contact` is required if the request is from a service user. If omitted, the organization is created and the authenticated user is used as the organization contact. Providing a `technical_contact` is optional. If omitted, the organization is created with no technical contact. When using an existing organization ID: Providing an `organization_contact` and `technical_contact` is optional. If provided, the new organization and technical contact replace the existing contacts stored on the organization. Note: By default, DigiCert creates the order with the organization contact and technical contact (if one exists) assigned to the `organization` on the request. To create the order with a different organization or technical contact than those assigned to the `organization`, include the `organization_contact` or `technical_contact` object at the root of the request payload.
.. skip_duplicate_org_check	optional	bool	Use `true` to skip the check for duplicate organizations in your account. When you skip this check, you force the request to create a new organization, regardless of whether the details you provide in the request match the details of an organization that already exists in your account. Default: `false`
container	optional	object	If needed, specify the container the order should be placed under.
.. id	optional	int	Container ID.
order_validity	required	object	Defines the validity period of the certificate and order.
.. years	required^*	int	Number of years the certificate and order are valid. ^Can be replaced by `order_validity.days` or `order_validity.custom_expiration_date`. Range*: `1`-`3`
.. days	optional	int	Number of days the certificate and order are valid. Overrides `order_validity.years`.
.. custom_expiration_date	optional	string	Custom expiration date for the certificate and order. Overrides `order_validity.days` and `order_validity.years`. Format: `dd MMM YYYY` (for example, `"09 JUN 2025"`)
validity_years	optional	int	Number of years the certificate and order are valid. Deprecated. Use the `order_validity` object to set the validity period of the certificate and order. Allowed values:`1` - `3`
custom_expiration_date	optional	string	Custom expiration date for the certificate and order. Overrides `validity_years` Deprecated. Use the `order_validity` object to set the validity period of the certificate and order. Format:`yyyy-MM-dd`
custom_fields	optional^*	object	Account-specific custom fields. ^*Whether or not these fields are required depends on your custom field settings.
.. metadata_id	required	int	Custom field ID.
.. value	required	string	Value for the custom field. Data validation type depends on your custom field settings.
payment_method	optional	string	Payment method for the order. Allowed values: `balance` (default): Pay with account balance. Returns an error if the option to bill to account balance is disabled for the account, or if the account balance has insufficient funds. Learn how to debit purchases against your CertCentral account balance. `profile`: Pay with the account’s default credit card. Returns an error if no default credit card is configured for the account. Learn how to set up a default credit card. `card`: Pay with a new credit card. Requests that use `card` as the payment method must include a `credit_card` and `billing_address` object. Returns an error if the option to pay with a credit card is disabled for the account.
credit_card	conditional	object	Object with information about the credit card charged for the order. Required if `payment_method` is `card`.
.. number	required	string	Credit card number.
.. expiration_month	required	integer	Credit card expiration month. Format as a two-digit number between `01` (Jan) and `12` (Dec).
.. expiration_year	required	integer	Credit card expiration year. Format as a four-digit number. For example: `2026`
.. cvv	required	integer	Card verification value (CVV). Format as a three- or four-digit number. For example: `333` or `4444`
.. cardholder_name	required	string	Cardholder’s first and last name.
billing_address	conditional	object	Object with information about the billing address. Required if `payment_method` is `card`.
.. address	required	string	Billing street address.
.. address2	optional	string	Continuation of street address.
.. city	required	string	Billing city.
.. state	conditional	string	Billing state or province. Optional for some countries.
.. country	required	string	Billing country.
.. zip	conditional	string	Billing zip or postal code. Optional for some countries.
vat_number	optional	string	If the payment method is `card` (new credit card) or `profile` (default credit card), use the `vat_number` request parameter to set a value-added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST) identification number for the order transaction. DigiCert includes this number on the transaction receipt as a reference for your financial records. If omitted, DigiCert uses the VAT/GST number from the finance settings for the CertCentral account. If the VAT/GST number is absent from both the order request and account settings, DigiCert doesn't store a VAT/GST number for the transaction. Note DigiCert only stores a VAT/GST number for credit card transactions. For orders using other payment methods, the `vat_number` request parameter is ignored. VAT/GST numbers are not supported for DigiCert USA and DigiCert Japan billing entities. If the billing entity for the account is DigiCert, Inc. (US) or DigiCert Japan G.K. (Japan), the `vat_number` parameter is ignored, and DigiCert doesn't store a VAT/GST number for the transaction. To learn more about your account's billing entity, contact your account manager.
alternative_order_id	optional	string	A custom alphanumeric ID to assign the order. To see the `alternative_order_id` assigned to an order, use the Order info endpoint. Alternative order IDs do not replace the unique order ID that DigiCert assigns each order request. You cannot use alternative order IDs to search for or identify orders in API calls that require an `order_id` parameter in the URL path or request body. If the Require unique alternative order IDs option is enabled in your account settings, you cannot submit order requests with an alternative order ID that is already assigned to an order in your account. Use this feature to enable nonce order requests, or to prevent your integration from creating duplicate orders in cases where you do not receive a response from the API. Account administrators can toggle this option from the CertCentral console. From the Settings > Preferences page, open the Advanced Settings menu, and look for the Alternative order ID option. This parameter is always optional, even if the Require unique alternative order IDs option is enabled in your account. If a request does not use this parameter, no `alternative_order_id` value is assigned to the order. Maximum length: 64 characters Note: The Require unique alternative order IDs option may not appear in the advanced settings menu for all CertCentral accounts. To enable this option for your account, contact your account manager or our Support team.
enable_guest_access	optional	int	Whether to enable guest access for the order. This parameter is not allowed if guest access is disabled in your account settings. Allowed values:`1` (enabled) or `0` (disabled) Default: The default configuration for new orders is determined by your account settings. Account administrators can change these settings from the Guest Access page in the CertCentral console.

Response parameters

Name	Type	Description
id	int	Order ID.
organization	object	Container for new organization details. Only returned if a new organization was created with the order.
.. id	int	Organization ID for the new organization.
requests	array	Contains information about the request.
.. id	int	Request ID.
.. status	string	Request status. Possible values:`pending`, `submitted`, `approved`, `rejected`
certificate_id	int	Certificate ID. Returned if request status is `approved`.

In this section:

Order client certificate

Tip

NOTICE: Upcoming endpoint changes

Quick checklist

Request parameter changes

Example request body (truncated)

Note

Common name value for public S/MIME certificates

Warning

Email address validation for public S/MIME certificates

Class 1 S/MIME certificates

Premium, Digital Signature Plus, and Email Security Plus certificates

Note

Example requests and responses

Request parameters

Response parameters