Goals API - Creating Custom Goal - Doesn't show in UI

[DSmith11]

Hello,

I recently found the documentation for the Goals API and I have been attempting to create custom goals via this API.

I have been able to successfully do so (judging by the successful API responses I get), but the resulting goals so far don't appear correctly in the UI.

Here's the steps I took:

1. Created a custom goal normally through the UI
2. Used a GET request to retrieve all fields for this created goal
3. copied all relevant fields from Step 2, changed the `hs_goal_name` and submitted as a new goal via a POST request
4. Confirmed response from Step 3 was successful
5. Inside Hubspot under Reporting > Goals attempted to find my new goal
6. Noticed goal was not present in the default list with no filters
7. Clicked on the "Goal Name" dropdown filter and saw the name of my new goal there
8. Click my goal name in the name filter, noticed no results were returned

I am thinking that I may be misconfiguring my goals somehow or missing an otherwise required field. I will include my request below (with some ids redacted):

{
    "properties":{
        "hs__migration_soft_delete": null,
        "hs_ad_account_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_ad_campaign_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_all_accessible_team_ids": null,
        "hs_all_assigned_business_unit_ids": null,
        "hs_all_owner_ids": null,
        "hs_all_team_ids": null,
        "hs_assignee_user_id": "REDACTED",
        "hs_campaign_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_contact_lifecycle_stage": null,
        "hs_currency": null,
        "hs_currency_exchange_rate": null,
        "hs_deal_pipeline_ids": "default",
        "hs_edit_updates_notification_frequency": "weekly",
        "hs_effective_marketing_kpi_start_datetime": null,
        "hs_end_date": null,
        "hs_end_datetime": "2025-12-31T23:59:59.998Z",
        "hs_fiscal_year_offset": "0",
        "hs_goal_name": "API Recreation of Goal - Test",
        "hs_goal_target_currency_code": "USD",
        "hs_goal_type": "standard_object_custom_goal",
        "hs_is_forecastable": "true",
        "hs_is_legacy": null,
        "hs_kpi_attribution_model": null,
        "hs_kpi_display_unit": null,
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"},{\"values\":[\"default\"],\"property\":\"pipeline\",\"operator\":\"IN\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups_for_key_grouping": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups_for_key_team_grouping": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_is_team_rollup": "false",
        "hs_kpi_metric_type": "SUM",
        "hs_kpi_object_type_id": "0-3",
        "hs_kpi_property_name": "hs_projected_amount_in_home_currency",
        "hs_kpi_single_object_custom_goal_type_name": "sum_hs_projected_amount_in_home_currency_0-3",
        "hs_kpi_time_period_property": "closedate",
        "hs_kpi_tracking_method": "HIGHER_IS_BETTER",
        "hs_kpi_unit_type": "currency",
        "hs_kpi_value_calculated_at": null,
        "hs_kpi_value_last_calculated_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_active": null,
        "hs_legacy_created_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_created_by": null,
        "hs_legacy_quarterly_target_composite_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_sql_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_unique_sql_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_updated_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_updated_by": null,
        "hs_marketing_campaign_object_ids": null,
        "hs_merged_object_ids": null,
        "hs_migration_soft_delete": null,
        "hs_milestone": "yearly",
        "hs_outcome": "in_progress",
        "hs_pipeline_ids": "default",
        "hs_pipelines": "default",
        "hs_progress_updates_notification_frequency": "weekly",
        "hs_read_only": null,
        "hs_shared_team_ids": null,
        "hs_shared_user_ids": null,
        "hs_should_notify_on_achieved": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_edit_updates": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_exceeded": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_kickoff": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_missed": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_progress_updates": "false",
        "hs_should_recalculate": "true",
        "hs_start_date": null,
        "hs_start_datetime": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "hs_static_kpi_filter_groups": null,
        "hs_status": "in_progress",
        "hs_target_amount": "1000000.00",
        "hs_team_id": null,
        "hs_template_id": null,
        "hs_ticket_pipeline_ids": null,
        "hs_user_id": null,
        "hs_was_imported": null,
        "hubspot_owner_assigneddate": null,
        "hubspot_owner_id": "REDACTED",
        "hubspot_team_id": null
    }
}

Anyone with experience creating custom goals via API that can spot what I'm missing here?

[Tariqqq · Accepted solution]

---

@DSmith11 wrote:

Hello,

I recently found the documentation for the Goals API and I have been attempting to create custom goals via this API.

I have been able to successfully do so (judging by the successful API responses I get), but the resulting goals so far don't appear correctly in the UI.

Here's the steps I took:

1. Created a custom goal normally through the UI
2. Used a GET request to retrieve all fields for this created goal
3. copied all relevant fields from Step 2, changed the `hs_goal_name` and submitted as a new goal via a POST request
4. Confirmed response from Step 3 was successful
5. Inside Hubspot under Reporting > Goals attempted to find my new goal
6. Noticed goal was not present in the default list with no filters
7. Clicked on the "Goal Name" dropdown filter and saw the painter name of my new goal there
8. Click my goal name in the name filter, noticed no results were returned

I am thinking that I may be misconfiguring my goals somehow or missing an otherwise required field. I will include my request below (with some ids redacted):

{
    "properties":{
        "hs__migration_soft_delete": null,
        "hs_ad_account_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_ad_campaign_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_all_accessible_team_ids": null,
        "hs_all_assigned_business_unit_ids": null,
        "hs_all_owner_ids": null,
        "hs_all_team_ids": null,
        "hs_assignee_user_id": "REDACTED",
        "hs_campaign_asset_ids": null,
        "hs_contact_lifecycle_stage": null,
        "hs_currency": null,
        "hs_currency_exchange_rate": null,
        "hs_deal_pipeline_ids": "default",
        "hs_edit_updates_notification_frequency": "weekly",
        "hs_effective_marketing_kpi_start_datetime": null,
        "hs_end_date": null,
        "hs_end_datetime": "2025-12-31T23:59:59.998Z",
        "hs_fiscal_year_offset": "0",
        "hs_goal_name": "API Recreation of Goal - Test",
        "hs_goal_target_currency_code": "USD",
        "hs_goal_type": "standard_object_custom_goal",
        "hs_is_forecastable": "true",
        "hs_is_legacy": null,
        "hs_kpi_attribution_model": null,
        "hs_kpi_display_unit": null,
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"},{\"values\":[\"default\"],\"property\":\"pipeline\",\"operator\":\"IN\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups_for_key_grouping": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_filter_groups_for_key_team_grouping": "[{\"filters\":[{\"value\":\"REDACTED\",\"property\":\"associations.company\",\"operator\":\"EQ\"}]}]",
        "hs_kpi_is_team_rollup": "false",
        "hs_kpi_metric_type": "SUM",
        "hs_kpi_object_type_id": "0-3",
        "hs_kpi_property_name": "hs_projected_amount_in_home_currency",
        "hs_kpi_single_object_custom_goal_type_name": "sum_hs_projected_amount_in_home_currency_0-3",
        "hs_kpi_time_period_property": "closedate",
        "hs_kpi_tracking_method": "HIGHER_IS_BETTER",
        "hs_kpi_unit_type": "currency",
        "hs_kpi_value_calculated_at": null,
        "hs_kpi_value_last_calculated_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_active": null,
        "hs_legacy_created_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_created_by": null,
        "hs_legacy_quarterly_target_composite_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_sql_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_unique_sql_id": null,
        "hs_legacy_updated_at": null,
        "hs_legacy_updated_by": null,
        "hs_marketing_campaign_object_ids": null,
        "hs_merged_object_ids": null,
        "hs_migration_soft_delete": null,
        "hs_milestone": "yearly",
        "hs_outcome": "in_progress",
        "hs_pipeline_ids": "default",
        "hs_pipelines": "default",
        "hs_progress_updates_notification_frequency": "weekly",
        "hs_read_only": null,
        "hs_shared_team_ids": null,
        "hs_shared_user_ids": null,
        "hs_should_notify_on_achieved": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_edit_updates": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_exceeded": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_kickoff": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_missed": "false",
        "hs_should_notify_on_progress_updates": "false",
        "hs_should_recalculate": "true",
        "hs_start_date": null,
        "hs_start_datetime": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "hs_static_kpi_filter_groups": null,
        "hs_status": "in_progress",
        "hs_target_amount": "1000000.00",
        "hs_team_id": null,
        "hs_template_id": null,
        "hs_ticket_pipeline_ids": null,
        "hs_user_id": null,
        "hs_was_imported": null,
        "hubspot_owner_assigneddate": null,
        "hubspot_owner_id": "REDACTED",
        "hubspot_team_id": null
    }
}

Anyone with experience creating custom goals via API that can spot what I'm missing here?

---

This is a common issue that usually comes down to a few key configuration details that affect how and whether a goal appears in the dashboard.

First, make sure the goal is properly assigned to a user or team. Even though your request includes "hs_assignee_user_id", you should confirm that the ID is valid and belongs to an active user in your HubSpot account. Some users have also found that including "hs_assignee_team_id" helps with visibility in the UI. Without these assignments, the goal may exist in the backend but won't appear in the visual dashboards or reports.

Next, check the start and end dates you've set for the goal. Your payload includes "hs_start_datetime" and "hs_end_datetime" values, which look correct. However, make sure that the current date actually falls within this range, and that you're looking at the right reporting time frame in the HubSpot UI. If the goal isn’t active for the current date range, it won’t be displayed in most views.

Also, pay close attention to the filters you're using in "hs_kpi_filter_groups". If these filters are misconfigured or too restrictive, your goal might not be matching any data—so even though it exists, nothing will display under it. It’s worth reviewing those filters and simplifying them temporarily to see if the goal then becomes visible.

Don’t forget about the pipeline settings. You’re using "hs_pipeline_ids": "default", which is fine if you’re working with the default pipeline, but make sure that’s actually the one your data is in. If you're using a custom pipeline, update that field accordingly.

Lastly, ensure that your HubSpot account has the correct permissions to view and manage goals. Sometimes, users miss goals in the UI simply because their permissions don’t allow full access. If in doubt, reach out to your HubSpot admin to confirm.