Brevo Email Marketing API

Manage contacts, send emails, and automate marketing via Brevo's REST API.

Authentication

BREVO_KEY=$(cat ~/.config/brevo/api_key)

All requests require header: api-key: $BREVO_KEY

Base URL

https://api.brevo.com/v3

Common Endpoints

Contacts

| Action | Method | Endpoint | |--------|--------|----------| | Create contact | POST | /contacts | | Get contact | GET | /contacts/{email} | | Update contact | PUT | /contacts/{email} | | Delete contact | DELETE | /contacts/{email} | | List contacts | GET | /contacts?limit=50&offset=0 | | Get blacklisted | GET | /contacts?emailBlacklisted=true |

Lists

| Action | Method | Endpoint | |--------|--------|----------| | Get all lists | GET | /contacts/lists | | Create list | POST | /contacts/lists | | Get list contacts | GET | /contacts/lists/{listId}/contacts | | Add to list | POST | /contacts/lists/{listId}/contacts/add | | Remove from list | POST | /contacts/lists/{listId}/contacts/remove |

Emails

| Action | Method | Endpoint | |--------|--------|----------| | Send transactional | POST | /smtp/email | | Send campaign | POST | /emailCampaigns | | Get templates | GET | /smtp/templates |

Examples

Create/Update Contact

curl -X POST "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "listIds": [10],
    "updateEnabled": true,
    "attributes": {
      "NOMBRE": "John",
      "APELLIDOS": "Doe"
    }
  }'

Get Contact Info

curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/user@example.com" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY"

Update Contact Attributes

curl -X PUT "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/user@example.com" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "listIds": [10, 15],
    "attributes": {
      "CUSTOM_FIELD": "value"
    }
  }'

Send Transactional Email

curl -X POST "https://api.brevo.com/v3/smtp/email" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sender": {"name": "My App", "email": "noreply@example.com"},
    "to": [{"email": "user@example.com", "name": "John"}],
    "subject": "Welcome!",
    "htmlContent": "<p>Hello {{params.name}}</p>",
    "params": {"name": "John"}
  }'

Send with Template

curl -X POST "https://api.brevo.com/v3/smtp/email" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": [{"email": "user@example.com"}],
    "templateId": 34,
    "params": {
      "NOMBRE": "John",
      "FECHA": "2026-02-01"
    }
  }'

List All Contact Lists

curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/lists?limit=50" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY"

Add Contacts to List (Bulk)

curl -X POST "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/lists/10/contacts/add" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "emails": ["user1@example.com", "user2@example.com"]
  }'

Safe Import Pattern

When importing contacts, always respect unsubscribes:

import requests

BREVO_KEY = "your-api-key"
HEADERS = {'api-key': BREVO_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
BASE = 'https://api.brevo.com/v3'

def get_blacklisted():
    """Get all unsubscribed/blacklisted emails"""
    blacklisted = set()
    offset = 0
    while True:
        r = requests.get(
            f'{BASE}/contacts?limit=100&offset={offset}&emailBlacklisted=true',
            headers=HEADERS
        )
        contacts = r.json().get('contacts', [])
        if not contacts:
            break
        for c in contacts:
            blacklisted.add(c['email'].lower())
        offset += 100
    return blacklisted

def safe_import(emails, list_id):
    """Import contacts respecting unsubscribes"""
    blacklisted = get_blacklisted()
    
    for email in emails:
        if email.lower() in blacklisted:
            print(f"Skipped (unsubscribed): {email}")
            continue
        
        r = requests.post(f'{BASE}/contacts', headers=HEADERS, json={
            'email': email,
            'listIds': [list_id],
            'updateEnabled': True
        })
        
        if r.status_code in [200, 201, 204]:
            print(f"Imported: {email}")
        else:
            print(f"Error: {email} - {r.text[:50]}")

Contact Attributes

Brevo uses custom attributes for contact data:

{
  "attributes": {
    "NOMBRE": "John",
    "APELLIDOS": "Doe",
    "FECHA_ALTA": "2026-01-15",
    "PLAN": "premium",
    "CUSTOM_FIELD": "any value"
  }
}

Create attributes in Brevo dashboard: Contacts → Settings → Contact attributes.

Response Codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 200 | Success (GET) | | 201 | Created (POST) | | 204 | Success, no content (PUT/DELETE) | | 400 | Bad request (check payload) | | 401 | Invalid API key | | 404 | Contact/resource not found |

Best Practices

Always check blacklist before importing contacts
Use updateEnabled: true to update existing contacts instead of failing
Use templates for consistent transactional emails
Batch operations when adding many contacts to lists
Store list IDs in config, not hardcoded
Log imports for audit trail

Automations

Brevo automations trigger on:

Contact added to list
Contact attribute updated
Email opened/clicked
Custom events via API

Trigger automation manually:

curl -X POST "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/import" \
  -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "listIds": [10],
    "emailBlacklist": false,
    "updateExistingContacts": true,
    "emptyContactsAttributes": false,
    "jsonBody": [
      {"email": "user@example.com", "attributes": {"NOMBRE": "John"}}
    ]
  }'

Useful Queries

# Count contacts in list
curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/lists/10" -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY" | jq '.totalSubscribers'

# Get recent contacts
curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts?limit=10&sort=desc" -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY"

# Check if email exists
curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/contacts/user@example.com" -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY"

# Get account info
curl "https://api.brevo.com/v3/account" -H "api-key: $BREVO_KEY"