Using the EmailFig API

The EmailFig API lets your own code or an automation tool keep your contacts in sync, instead of importing CSVs by hand. It reads and updates contacts, lists, tags and custom fields, and reads your forms and campaign results. The full reference is at emailfig.com/docs, where you can run real requests against your account once you have a key.

Connecting Zapier, Make, n8n or WordPress? They have ready-made apps, so you only need a key. See Connect EmailFig to other apps.

Get an API key

1. Go to Settings → API keys.
2. Under Create an API key, enter a Name that says what it’s for (like “Zapier” or “Order sync”) and click Create key.
3. If asked to confirm it’s you, enter the code we email you, or the code from your authenticator app if you use two-factor authentication.
4. Copy the key. It’s shown only once: if you lose it, revoke it and create another.

Give each tool its own key, so you can revoke one without breaking the others. A key has full access to your account, so keep it somewhere safe.

Use it in a request

Send the key in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer emf_live_your_key_here

Each key can make up to 300 requests every five minutes. Over that, you get a 429 with a Retry-After header saying how many seconds to wait.

What you can do

• Contacts: add, update and look up people. Adding matches on the email address, so adding someone twice updates them. You can also unsubscribe a contact (or any address, even one that isn’t a contact yet) or erase a contact for good (the API’s delete erases permanently, unlike Delete in the app).
• Lists: read them, and add or remove a contact one list at a time. On a double opt-in list, adding someone sends them a confirmation email, and they show as pending on that list until they click it.
• Tags: read them, and add or remove tags on a contact. Adding a tag that doesn’t exist yet creates it.
• Custom fields: read, create, rename, change type or delete. Create a field before setting it on a contact. A field’s key can’t change once it’s created.
• Forms: read them, so a tool can offer them in a dropdown.
• Campaigns: read what you’ve sent and how it did. The API can’t create or send campaigns.
• Webhooks: tools can register their own endpoints to hear about changes. See Get notified with webhooks.

When something goes wrong

Errors come back with a stable code, so your code can tell “this address can’t be emailed” from “this list needs a confirmation email you can’t send yet” without parsing the message. Every code, its cause and its fix are at emailfig.com/docs/errors.

Revoke a key

On Settings → API keys, click Revoke beside the key. Anything using it stops working at once, and any webhook endpoints the key created are deleted too. To reconnect a tool, give it a new key and set up its triggers again.

Where to go next

• The full API reference
• Get notified with webhooks
• Build an EmailFig integration, if you’re making something other people will use

Stuck on something? Email contact@emailfig.com and a real person will help.