> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zero.inc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zero.inc/getting-started/key-concepts/records.md). # Records Records are the data in your workspace. Lists, views, agents, reports and the API all point back at them, and a record exists exactly once however many lists it appears in. ## The three record types | Record type | What it represents | Typical identifier | | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | | **Company** | A business or organization you interact with — the account level | **Website Domain** | | **Contact** | An individual person, usually working at a company | **Email** | | **Deal** | A revenue opportunity that moves through the stages of a pipeline | **Pipeline** + **Stage** | Each type ships with a fixed set of standard properties — the labels you see in list columns, the properties panel, filters and reports. [Companies](/getting-started/key-concepts/records/companies.md), [Contacts](/getting-started/key-concepts/records/contacts.md) and [Deals](/getting-started/key-concepts/records/deals.md) list them in full. Anything beyond them is a [custom property](/settings/custom-properties.md), which behaves like a standard one everywhere: grids, filters, agents, the API. That is where business-specific data belongs — plan tier, lead source, renewal date. ## How records relate * A **contact belongs to at most one company** (the **Company** property); the company lists its people under **Contacts**. * A **deal belongs to at most one company** and links to any number of contacts. Each side shows the other. * **Owners** on all three types are workspace members, and a record can have several. * Relations work in both directions in filters and reports — filter contacts by `Company → Industry`, group deals by `Company`. When an email or calendar event syncs, Zero links it to the matching contacts, their companies and the related deals, so activity lands on every record it concerns. A contact can hold several addresses in **All Emails** and a company several domains in **All Domains**. The first entry is the primary one — the **Email** sequences and agents send to, the **Website Domain** shown as the company's website — but activity on any of them matches the same record, and merging two records keeps both sets. ## The record page Open a record from a list, from search, or from a link in chat and you land on its page at `/{workspace}/records/{companies|contacts|deals}/{id}`. The header, tabs and properties panel are covered in [Record view](/tracking-context/record-view.md); the timeline on the **Activity** tab in [Activity feed](/tracking-context/activity-feed.md); attachments on the **Files** tab in [Files](/tracking-context/files.md). ## How records get created Most records arrive without anyone typing them in: * **Manually** — **Add company**, **Add contact** and **Add deal** from a list, the command menu, or the header menu of a related record. * **Import** — CSV, or a migration from HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive or Affinity. See [Data Import](/getting-started/data-import.md). Imported records keep their source identifier in **External ID**. * **Mailbox and calendar sync** — with **Auto-contact creation** on, Zero creates contacts from the people you email and meet, skipping your own domains. See [Mailbox Settings](/settings/mailbox-settings.md) and [Calendar Settings](/settings/mailbox-settings/calendar-settings.md). * **Agents** — an agent action can create or update any of the three types. See [Agents](/features/agents.md). * **MCP and the API** — assistants connected over MCP use `add_company`, `add_contact` and `add_deal` (plus the matching `edit_*` and `find_*` tools); the REST API exposes `POST /api/companies`, `/api/contacts` and `/api/deals`. See [MCP](/developers/mcp.md). **Created by** and **Created at** always tell you which path produced a record. ## Removing, archiving and deleting Three different things, worth keeping straight: * **Remove from the list** takes a record out of one list. The record and its other lists are untouched. * **Archiving** is a soft delete. The record disappears from lists, search and reports but keeps its history. Filter on the **Archived** property to find archived records, and set **Archived** back to false to restore one (for example with `PATCH /api/{type}/{id}`). Agents and MCP tools archive rather than delete (`archive_companies`, `archive_contacts`, `archive_deals`), as does `DELETE /api/{type}/{id}?archive=true`. * **Deleting** is permanent — **Delete record** on the record page, **Delete records** in a list's selection toolbar. The confirmation says so. Archive instead, unless the record was a mistake. If you have two records for the same company or person, [merge them](/settings/merging-duplicates.md) rather than deleting one. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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