# SKU

## Overview

A SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) represents the physical and logistical identity of a sellable item. SKUs hold
inventory-related data like dimensions and weight, separate from product marketing content.

Products link to SKUs—simple products and variants require a SKU, while variant parents do not.

## Basics

### Core fields

**code** — Unique identifier for the SKU within your organization. Typically matches your inventory or ERP system's
identifier.

### Dimensions

SKUs can have dimensions (length, width, height) for shipping calculations and warehouse management.

You provide values in your organization's base dimension unit. The system automatically calculates conversions to all
other configured units.

**Supported units:** millimeter, centimeter, meter, inch, foot

### Weight

SKUs can have a weight value for shipping cost calculations.

You provide the value in your organization's base weight unit. The system automatically calculates conversions to all
other configured units.

**Supported units:** gram, kilogram, pound, ounce

### Unit configuration

Your organization configures:

- A base unit for dimensions and a base unit for weight
- Which additional units to include in conversions


When you read dimensions or weight, the response includes the base value plus a `conversions` object with all configured
unit alternatives.

Changing the base unit doesn't require data migration—stored values remain unchanged, and conversions are recalculated
on read.

## Lifecycle

### Status values

| Status | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `draft` | Initial state, not available for products |
| `published` | Available for linking to products |
| `unpublished` | Temporarily unavailable |
| `removed` | Soft-deleted |


### Transitions

| Transition | Valid from | Results in |
|  --- | --- | --- |
| `publish` | draft, unpublished | published |
| `unpublish` | published | unpublished |
| `remove` | draft, published, unpublished | removed |
| `restore` | removed | unpublished |


## Error codes

| Code | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `SKU_NOT_FOUND` | SKU does not exist |
| `SKU_INVALID_TRANSITION` | Lifecycle transition not allowed |
| `SKU_REMOVED` | Cannot modify a removed SKU |
| `SKU_CODE_REQUIRED` | Code field is required |
| `SKU_CODE_EMPTY` | Code cannot be empty |