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Buttondown

Buttondown API

Yes. Buttondown publishes a public REST API. See buttondown.com/api for pricing details.

MCP also available
Open API docsTry Buttondown
Public REST API documentedAgent-readiness 5/10
Data from Buddy's database, auto-rechecked weekly

What is the Buttondown API?

The Buttondown API is a public REST interface to campaigns, contacts, segments, and automation workflows. Auth method is documented on the official API reference. No official SDK was detected, so most teams hit it directly with HTTP clients.

Typical builds: scripts that sync subscribers from your product database, engagement dashboards that combine open rate with revenue attribution, and cron jobs that pause underperforming campaigns automatically.

For agent workflows specifically, the community MCP server is usually less code than the REST API. The API still wins for scheduled jobs, dashboards, and anything outside an LLM-driven flow.

For the broader picture: Buttondown review, full pricing breakdown, .

HOOK IT TO YOUR STACK

Real Buttondown API calls you'll write

buttondown-apirest
#List campaigns from the last 30 days
GET/v3/campaigns?since=30d&fields=name,open_rate,clicks
200 OK · 12 campaigns
Black Friday Teaseropen 42.1%
Product launchopen 38.5%
Weekly digest #12open 27.0%
Welcome flow step 2open 61.3%
buttondown-apirest
#Create a new automation programmatically
POST/v3/automations
201 Created · automation_id: aut_8x
Statusdraft
Steps configured0
Estimated audience2,847
Push steps via PUT /automations/{id}/steps.
buttondown-apirest
#Add a contact and tag them in one call
POST/v3/contacts
201 Created · contact_id: c_4f12
Lifecycle stagesubscriber
Tags applied1
Triggers firedwelcome-series
TMB SCORE FOR ButtondownAgent fit: 5/10
Read review →

Endpoints illustrative. Confirm exact paths against the live API docs before integrating.

How much does the Buttondown API actually cost?

Verify on docs

Buttondown publishes an API, but per-tier gating wasn't extracted automatically.

  • Most likely scenario: API access is either included in all paid plans, or it's gated to higher tiers and we need to verify on the live docs page.
  • Until verified, treat the question "which plan unlocks the API" as open. Don't budget on the assumption it's free with the cheapest paid plan.

Buttondown subscription pricing

PlanMonthlyAnnual / mo
FreeFree—

⚠ Per-tier API gating not yet structured for Buttondown. Confirm which plans unlock API access on the live docs.

Source: buttondown.com/pricing. Verified 2026-06-07.

API at a glance

Auth method
—
SDK languages
—
OpenAPI spec
—
Webhooks
—
Structured outputs
—

Buttondown also has an MCP server

If you're wiring Buttondown into Claude / Cursor / Codex, the MCP server is usually less code than the REST API.

See Buttondown MCP page

What you can build with the Buttondown API

Three personas, three different shapes of build. Pick the row that matches how you actually ship.

SOLO DEV / FOUNDER

Glue Buttondown into your daily workflow

  • Pull a digest of campaign performance into your morning Slack
  • Trigger a one-off backfill when something looks off
  • Pipe data into your own SQLite for ad-hoc queries
Effort: A weekend, one Node or Python script
AGENCY / CONSULTANT

Sell Buttondown reporting at scale

  • White-label Buttondown data into client-branded dashboards
  • Run scheduled multi-account reports without logging into the Buttondown UI
  • Cross-reference with the rest of the client's stack (CRM, analytics, ad spend)
Effort: 1-2 weeks, hits multi-tenant auth quickly
IN-HOUSE ENGINEER

Production pipelines for Buttondown

  • Real-time sync into your warehouse on a cron
  • Custom alerts the dashboard's built-in alerting can't express
  • Backfill + idempotency handling for Buttondown data older than the dashboard exposes
Effort: Multi-week project, expect rate-limit tuning

Quickstart template

# Starter template — endpoint paths and SDK package names come from
# the Buttondown API docs: https://buttondown.com/api

curl -X GET "https://buttondown.com/<your-endpoint>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" | jq .

Template only. Endpoint paths, exact base URL, and auth header format come from buttondown.com/api.

Limits and gotchas

  • No OpenAPI spec — you write typed clients by hand or use a third-party generator on the docs HTML.
  • No official SDK detected. Plan on hitting the API directly with your HTTP client of choice.
  • Rate limits: always read the docs page before scaling — the published limit is usually lower than the practical one and overages can be expensive.
  • No-code fallback: Zapier cover the common triggers if you want to skip writing API code for simple flows.
5/10

Agent-readiness verdict

Marginal agent-fit: community MCP exists and public API docs are available, but no official MCP from Buttondown itself and no OpenAPI spec limits agent discoverability and automation depth. Best suited for lightweight integrations rather than agentic workflows relying on structured outputs or native LLM bindings.

MCP server availablePublic API with docs

Buttondown API FAQ

Does Buttondown have a public API?+
Yes — REST API at buttondown.com/api.
Should I use the API or the MCP server for Claude / Cursor / Codex?+
Prefer the MCP server for agent workflows — it's less code and pre-handles auth flows. Use the REST API for scheduled jobs, dashboards, and anything outside an LLM-driven flow.

Sources

Joonas Rotko
Joonas RotkoAuthor & Founder of That Marketing Buddy

10+ years in digital marketing. I review marketing software for AI-stack fit: real pricing, MCP and API support, and how cleanly each tool drops into an AI agent workflow, cross-checked against verified data and real user feedback.

About meHow I review

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