buttondown

name	buttondown
description	Interact with the Buttondown newsletter API to manage tags, automations, subscribers, and emails. Use this skill whenever the user mentions Buttondown, newsletter tags, newsletter automations, email subscribers, or wants to manage any aspect of their Buttondown newsletter -- even if they just say 'my newsletter' without explicitly naming Buttondown.

Buttondown API Skill

This skill enables you to interact with the Buttondown newsletter platform via its REST API. The API follows standard RESTful conventions, so operations are straightforward CRUD calls.

Authentication

All requests require the user's API key, available from https://buttondown.com/requests.

• Use the BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY environment variable
• Send it as: Authorization: Token $BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY

Before making any API call, verify the env var is set. If it's missing, tell the user to set it:

export BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Base URL

https://api.buttondown.com/v1

All endpoint paths below are relative to this base.

Making Requests

Use curl for all API calls. Standard patterns:

# GET (list/retrieve)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Token $BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.buttondown.com/v1/{resource}"

# POST (create)
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Token $BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"field": "value"}' \
  "https://api.buttondown.com/v1/{resource}"

# PATCH (update)
curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: Token $BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"field": "new_value"}' \
  "https://api.buttondown.com/v1/{resource}/{id}"

# DELETE
curl -s -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Token $BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.buttondown.com/v1/{resource}/{id}"

Pipe responses through jq for readable output. Use jq -r when extracting specific values.

Pagination

List endpoints return paginated results. The response includes:

• count: total number of results
• next: URL for next page (null if last page)
• previous: URL for previous page (null if first page)
• results: array of objects

To fetch all results, follow next URLs until null.

---

Tags

Tags help organize subscribers into groups.

List tags

GET /tags

Returns all tags. Each tag has id, name, color, description, and creation_date.

Create a tag

POST /tags

Body: {"name": "tag-name", "color": "#hex"} (name and color are required). Optional fields: description.

Retrieve a tag

GET /tags/{id}

Update a tag

PATCH /tags/{id}

Body: any fields to update (e.g., {"name": "new-name", "color": "#ff0000"}).

Delete a tag

DELETE /tags/{id}

---

Automations

Automations perform actions automatically based on triggers. Each automation has three parts:

1. Trigger -- the event that starts it (e.g., a new subscriber confirms)
2. Filter (optional) -- criteria that narrow when it runs
3. Actions -- what happens (send email, add tag, send webhook, post to social media, etc.)

Automations can be active or paused. Changes to automation emails affect all future subscribers, including those waiting on a delayed action. Changes to the action list only affect subscribers who trigger the automation after the change.

List automations

GET /automations

Create an automation

POST /automations

Body includes trigger configuration and actions. Key fields:

• name: descriptive name for the automation
• trigger: the event that starts it (e.g., subscriber.tags.changed, subscriber.confirmed, subscriber.created, email.sent)
• status: "active" or "inactive"
• filters: object with filters array, groups array, and predicate ("and" or "or")
• actions: array of action objects with timing

Filter fields

• tags -- matches subscribers who have a specific tag
• special.tags_changed -- matches when a specific tag was just added (use this for tag-based automations to avoid re-triggering)

send_email action structure

Automation emails are defined inline in the action, not as separate email objects:

{
  "type": "send_email",
  "metadata": {
    "subject": "Email subject",
    "body": "<!-- buttondown-editor-mode: fancy -->Email body in markdown",
    "email_id": "",
    "template": ""
  },
  "timing": {
    "time": "immediate",
    "delay": {"value": "0", "unit": "days", "time_of_day": null}
  }
}

For delayed emails, set time to "delay" and adjust the delay object (e.g., {"value": "3", "unit": "days"}).

Retrieve an automation

GET /automations/{id}

Update an automation

PATCH /automations/{id}

Delete an automation

DELETE /automations/{id}

Available action types

• Send email -- send a specific email to the subscriber
• Add tag -- tag the subscriber
• Send webhook -- POST to an external URL
• Post to social media -- share to Bluesky, LinkedIn, or Twitter (requires connected integrations)
• Send Discord invitation -- invite subscriber to a Discord server

Each action can be immediate or delayed (e.g., "send welcome email immediately, then add VIP tag after 7 days").

---

Subscribers

For reference, though not the primary focus of this skill, the subscriber endpoints are available:

List subscribers

GET /subscribers

Create a subscriber

POST /subscribers

Required: email_address. Optional: type ("regular" to skip double opt-in), tags (array), metadata (object), ip_address.

Update a subscriber

PATCH /subscribers/{id_or_email}

Accepts either subscriber ID or email address as the identifier. Note: changing type from premium to unsubscribed will cancel the subscriber's Stripe subscription.

Delete a subscriber

DELETE /subscribers/{id}

---

Emails

For reference, email/newsletter endpoints:

List emails

GET /emails

Create an email

POST /emails

The API auto-detects content type (plain text, HTML, or Markdown). You can explicitly set the format with a comment at the start of the body:

• <!-- buttondown-editor-mode: plaintext -->
• <!-- buttondown-editor-mode: fancy -->

Note: the API rejects bodies starting with YAML frontmatter (---). To bypass, include the header X-Buttondown-Live-Dangerously: true.

Retrieve an email

GET /emails/{id}

---

Tips

• Always show the user what you're about to do before making destructive calls (DELETE, bulk updates). Confirm with them first.
• When listing resources, format the output as a clean table or summary rather than dumping raw JSON.
• If a create/update call fails, check the response body for error details and relay them clearly.
• The API returns UUIDs as IDs. When the user refers to a tag or automation by name, list first to find the matching ID.