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# Bring-Your-Own Serials

> Mint passports against serial numbers issued outside tieback, covering when to use them, validation rules, uniqueness checks and submission limits.

Bring-Your-Own (BYO) Serials lets brands mint passports against serial numbers that are generated outside **tie*back***: for example, serials issued by a factory MES, an existing ERP system, or a partner's pre-printed inventory.

## When to Use BYO Serials

| Scenario                                                                  | Use BYO Serials?                       |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| Brand has no existing unit identification scheme                          | No: let **tie*back*** generate serials |
| Brand has an existing serial scheme they want to preserve                 | **Yes**                                |
| Pre-printed labels with externally generated serials need to be activated | **Yes**                                |
| Compliance regime mandates a specific serial format                       | **Yes**                                |

## Validation

Submitted serials are validated before mint:

* **Format**: characters and length must match the configured pattern
* **Uniqueness**: serials must be unique within the brand's namespace
* **Capacity**: submission size must be within the per-batch ceiling defined by the active plan

Validation runs synchronously for small submissions and asynchronously for large submissions, with row-level error reporting.

## Mint Flow

#### Submit serials

Upload the serial list (CSV or API) bound to the target product or batch.

#### Validate

The validator returns accepted serials, rejected serials, and the reason for each rejection.

#### Mint

Accepted serials are minted as the unit identifier for the resulting passports.

#### Issue carriers

Carrier outputs (QR codes, NFC payloads) are produced against the BYO serials and made available
through the export pipeline.

## Related Docs

* [Minting Overview](/minting/overview)
* [Minting Lifecycle](/minting/lifecycle)
* [Carrier Output Profiles](/minting/carrier-output-profiles)
* [Exports & Print Jobs](/minting/exports-print-jobs)