Ontraport platform help — all-in-one CRM + marketing automation + payments + dynamic CMS for small/mid-market businesses (ontraport.com): contacts, pipelines, email/SMS campaigns, automation, order forms/subscriptions, and membership pages on one database. Covers the object-based REST API (base api.ontraport.com/1, Api-Key + Api-Appid headers, every record is an object with an objectID, 180 requests/minute limit) and webhook subscriptions. Use when building an Ontraport API integration to sync contacts or transactions into a CRM or warehouse, figuring out the objectID model, hitting the 180-requests-per-minute rate limit, subscribing to a webhook for new-sale or tag events, the steep learning curve has you stuck, contact-overage charges are escalating your bill, the email editor is fighting you, or choosing a plan (Basic vs Plus vs Pro vs Enterprise). Do NOT use for choosing a CRM across vendors or comparing Ontraport vs Keap/HubSpot/GoHighLevel (use /sales-crm-selection).
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name
sales-ontraport
description
Ontraport platform help — all-in-one CRM + marketing automation + payments + dynamic CMS for small/mid-market businesses (ontraport.com): contacts, pipelines, email/SMS campaigns, automation, order forms/subscriptions, and membership pages on one database. Covers the object-based REST API (base api.ontraport.com/1, Api-Key + Api-Appid headers, every record is an object with an objectID, 180 requests/minute limit) and webhook subscriptions. Use when building an Ontraport API integration to sync contacts or transactions into a CRM or warehouse, figuring out the objectID model, hitting the 180-requests-per-minute rate limit, subscribing to a webhook for new-sale or tag events, the steep learning curve has you stuck, contact-overage charges are escalating your bill, the email editor is fighting you, or choosing a plan (Basic vs Plus vs Pro vs Enterprise). Do NOT use for choosing a CRM across vendors or comparing Ontraport vs Keap/HubSpot/GoHighLevel (use /sales-crm-selection).
argument-hint
[describe what you need help with in Ontraport]
license
MIT
version
1.0.0
tags
["sales","crm","all-in-one","platform"]
github
https://github.com/Ontraport
Ontraport Platform Help
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
What are you trying to do?
A) Build a REST API integration — sync contacts/objects, read transactions, manage records
B) Subscribe to a webhook — react to object created, form submitted, tag added/removed, product purchased, transaction added
C) Configure a module inside Ontraport — CRM pipelines, Campaign Builder automation, email/SMS, order forms, dynamic CMS pages/membership
D) Pick a plan — Basic vs Plus vs Pro vs Enterprise (note: per-contact pricing)
E) Fix a problem — learning curve, cost/overage escalation, email editor, deliverability
F) Something else — describe it
Where does data need to flow? Stay inside Ontraport / sync to a CRM or warehouse / drive an external app — this decides API vs webhook vs Zapier.
Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already provides enough context, skip to Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
If the question is about...
Route to...
Choosing a CRM across vendors (Ontraport vs Keap vs HubSpot…)
/sales-crm-selection {question}
Email-marketing strategy and sequences
/sales-email-marketing {question}
Email deliverability / inbox placement
/sales-deliverability {question}
SMS marketing strategy / compliance
/sales-sms-marketing {question}
Membership-site / course structure and retention
/sales-membership {question}
Checkout / order-form / upsell conversion
/sales-checkout {question}
Affiliate / partner-program design across tools
/sales-affiliate-program {question}
When routing, give the exact command, e.g. "This is a CRM-selection question — run: /sales-crm-selection {your question}".
Step 3 — Ontraport platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the module map (API/webhook/UI-only), per-contact pricing and plan limits, the object/contact/transaction data model with JSON shapes, and quick-start recipes (create a contact via the objects API; subscribe to a new-sale webhook; page through objects with range/start).
Read references/ontraport-api-reference.md for the API — base https://api.ontraport.com/1, the Api-Key + Api-Appid auth, the object model (objectID, /objects, /object, /objects/meta), pagination (range/start/listFields/sort/condition), the 180-requests/minute limit, and the webhook event list.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Focus on the user's specific situation:
Everything is an object. The API is object-oriented, not one-endpoint-per-resource. Each record type has a numeric objectID (Contact = 0); you operate through /1/objects (+ objectID) rather than /contacts. Call GET /1/objects/meta to discover the objectIDs in the account.
Auth with two headers. Send Api-Key and Api-Appid (both from Administration → Integrations) in headers — never in the URL or body.
Paginate with range + start. List calls cap at 50 per page; loop with start offset, and pass listFields to fetch only the fields you need. Complex queries use a JSON condition.
Throttle to 180 requests/minute. It's a rolling limit — read the rate-limit response headers and back off before you hit it.
Use webhooks for events (new sale, tag added, transaction added) instead of polling — subscribe via the API and check Administration → Integrations → Webhook Logs to debug.
Set pricing expectations early. Ontraport is per-contact — the bill climbs with list size and overages stack. Suppress/clean inactive contacts so you don't pay for dead weight.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research (2026-06) — review these, especially plan-gated features and pricing, which change frequently.
Steep learning curve is the #1 complaint. Powerful but not intuitive — budget real ramp time and lean on Ontraport University. Don't promise plug-and-play.
Per-contact pricing escalates. The bill grows with contact count and overages stack unpredictably (users report ~$600/mo at ~43k contacts). Below ~$10k/mo revenue it can cost more than it returns — flag this when someone's evaluating it.
The object model trips up first-time API users. There's no /contacts resource — it's /1/objects?objectID=0. Discover objectIDs via GET /1/objects/meta before coding.
Email editor is a "fake" drag-and-drop. Reviewers find it clunky and the template library smaller than email-first tools. Set expectations for heavily-designed emails.
180 requests/minute, rolling. Bulk syncs need throttling + backoff; watch the rate-limit headers.
Send credentials in headers only.Api-Key/Api-Appid in GET params or POST body is a security risk Ontraport explicitly warns against.
Deliverability is mixed in reviews — authenticate the sending domain and keep complaint rates low.
Related skills
/sales-crm-selection — CRM comparison and selection (Ontraport vs Keap, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Attio, and others)
/sales-email-marketing — Email/SMS campaign and sequence strategy
/sales-membership — Membership-site and course structure, pricing, retention
/sales-checkout — Order-form, upsell, and payment conversion optimization
/sales-affiliate-program — Designing and running an affiliate/partner program (Ontraport has native partner programs)
/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code
Examples
Example 1: Sync new signups into Ontraport as contacts (developer/automation)
User says: "From my app I want to create a contact in Ontraport via the API. What's the call and how does the object thing work?"
Skill does: Explains the object model (Contact = objectID 0) and shows POST https://api.ontraport.com/1/objects with Api-Key + Api-Appid headers and a body of objectID=0 plus the contact fields (Recipe 1 in references/platform-guide.md). Notes discovering objectIDs via GET /1/objects/meta, upserting to avoid duplicates, and the 180/min limit.
Result: User understands the objectID model and has a working create-contact call.
Example 2: Fire fulfillment the instant someone buys (developer)
User says: "I want a webhook when someone purchases, not a polling job on transactions."
Skill does: Points to subscribing a webhook via the API on the product-purchased / transaction-added event, describes the JSON payload and Api-Key/Api-Appid header auth, and explains responding 2xx fast + deduping (Recipe 2). Notes Webhook Logs (Administration → Integrations) for debugging and the 10,000-entry log cap.
Result: User has an event-driven webhook instead of a cron.
Example 3: Is Ontraport going to get expensive as I grow?
User says: "I'm at 5k contacts now but expect 50k next year. Will Ontraport's price blow up?"
Skill does: Explains per-contact pricing and overage stacking (Plus/Pro tiers, +$46/user), gives the ~$600/mo-at-43k data point as a reality check, and suggests list hygiene to control cost. If they're really weighing vendors, routes: "To compare across CRMs — run: /sales-crm-selection Ontraport vs alternatives at 50k contacts."
Result: User gets a realistic cost trajectory and a path to a vendor comparison.
Troubleshooting
API returns 401 Unauthorized
Symptom: Requests fail even with valid-looking credentials.
Cause: Missing/misplaced Api-Key or Api-Appid header (sent in URL/body instead of headers), or the wrong App ID.
Solution: Send both Api-Key and Api-Appid as request headers (generate them under Administration → Integrations). Confirm you're hitting the https://api.ontraport.com/1 base. Use the interactive Live API doc to validate the credentials before debugging your code.
"I can't find the contacts endpoint"
Symptom: There's no /contacts route in the API.
Cause: Ontraport's API is object-based — contacts are objects, not their own resource.
Solution: Use /1/objects with objectID=0 for contacts (GET to list, POST to create, PUT to update, DELETE to remove). Run GET /1/objects/meta to list every object type and its objectID. Use range/start to paginate and listFields to limit returned fields.
Hitting the rate limit (429)
Symptom: Bulk operations start failing.
Cause: You've exceeded 180 requests per minute (rolling).
Solution: Read the rate-limit response headers and throttle below 180/min; on 429, back off exponentially with jitter. Batch with range (up to 50 records/call), request only needed listFields, and queue large migrations rather than firing them in a tight loop.
