> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thedecard.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Card profile (profileId)

> How profileId and cardProfileId are used, and how they are assigned offline.

## 📄 Guide

Whichever card you plan to issue, virtual or physical, single-currency or spread across markets, it is defined by one **card profile**: the profile decides which BIN the card is drawn from, which card network it runs on, the currency, the PAN and PIN rules and the card limits. As a licensed issuer with its own BIN, DCS maintains the card profiles for each partner Enterprise so that the issuing rules line up with the boundaries of your business.

A card profile is the underlying template for the whole life of a card. Once it is set, its rules carry through issuing, authorization and clearing alike; when the way you issue cards changes, DCS updates the profile for you.

### Mental model

<Frame>
  <img className="block dark:hidden" src="https://mintcdn.com/dcs-0bf7a937/oUoeUKtwWWK2o-Li/imgs/en/diagrams/pa-card-profile-light.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=oUoeUKtwWWK2o-Li&q=85&s=f13f4c92d402fa848c19771154659905" alt="How the Enterprise, card profiles and card orders relate" width="794" height="262" data-path="imgs/en/diagrams/pa-card-profile-light.svg" />

  <img className="hidden dark:block" src="https://mintcdn.com/dcs-0bf7a937/oUoeUKtwWWK2o-Li/imgs/en/diagrams/pa-card-profile-dark.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=oUoeUKtwWWK2o-Li&q=85&s=11c5def27902029d576ccec6c90eb242" alt="How the Enterprise, card profiles and card orders relate" width="794" height="262" data-path="imgs/en/diagrams/pa-card-profile-dark.svg" />
</Frame>

* One **Enterprise can hold several card profiles**, which is how one legal entity issues several kinds of card (different currencies, different markets, virtual or physical).
* Each profile is identified uniquely by its `profileId` and belongs to one `enterpriseId`.
* When you create a card order, the `profileId` you pass in says which profile to use.

### What a card profile covers

| Rule category               | Typical content                                                            |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Card network and BIN        | Issuer identification number (IIN/BIN), card network (Visa and so on)      |
| Card attributes             | Primary account number (PAN) length, validity period, PIN length, currency |
| Limits                      | Card spending limits and similar (see [Limit lookup](./velocity-limits))   |
| Physical card manufacturing | The issuer data a card manufacturer needs to produce the plastic           |

### Card profile fields

| Field          | Type   | Description                                                                                                                                                   |
| -------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `profileId`    | String | The unique identifier of a card profile. Endpoints such as create card order (`profileId`) and query enterprise balance (`cardProfileId`) refer to this value |
| `enterpriseId` | String | The ID of the Enterprise the profile belongs to                                                                                                               |

> **A note on the field name**: most endpoints identify a card profile as `profileId`, while the enterprise account balance endpoint calls the same thing `cardProfileId`. Both point at the same profile. Always follow the field name printed in the reference for the endpoint you are calling, whether that is create card order (`profileId`) or the guidance page (where `profileId` is required when `type=7`).

### Who configures what

| Task                                                                                                                             | Who does it |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| Designing and maintaining card profiles (BIN, card network, currency, limits, manufacturing data)                                | **DCS**     |
| Stating the issuing requirements (target markets, currency, virtual or physical, card art) and running the commercial discussion | **Partner** |
| Taking the assigned `profileId` and quoting it when applying for a card                                                          | **Partner** |

The DCS team configures the profile for you and hands over the `profileId`; there is no self-service endpoint to create or list profiles yet. To confirm which `profileId` values are available to you, ask your DCS contact.

### Prerequisites

* An Enterprise has been created. A card profile must hang off an Enterprise that already exists; if yours is not live yet, see the [onboarding guide](../../getting-started/first-steps).
* **Optional, for physical cards**: if you plan to issue physical cards, talk to the DCS commercial team early so that the best-suited card manufacturer can be chosen for you.

### How to use profileId

Once you have a `profileId`, pass it in when you create a card order to select the profile:

```http theme={null}
POST /open-api/card-order/v1/apply-virtual
```

```json theme={null}
{
  "profileId": "<the card profile ID assigned by DCS>",
  "cardOrderRef": "<your idempotency key>",
  "cardApplyMode": "NORMAL",
  "kycTicketId": "<the approved KYC ticket ID>",
  "customerId": "<the customer ID>"
}
```

> For the full request fields, the response envelope `{ code, message, messageDetail, data }` and the error codes, see [Card issuing flow](./card-issuing).

## Next steps

With a `profileId` in hand, head to the [card issuing flow](./card-issuing) and create your first card; to understand the limit rules, see [Limit lookup](./velocity-limits).