Mailchimp

Overview

The Mailchimp API manages email marketing — audiences, campaigns, templates, reports, and automations. Auth is an API key scoped to a datacenter (an invalid key returns 401, verified). The free tier covers light newsletter and audience management.

Quick Start

Your API key encodes the datacenter (us1…us21) — use it in the hostname:

curl "https://us1.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/ping" \
  -u "anystring:YOUR_API_KEY"

{ "health_status": "Everything's Chimpy!" }

List audiences:

curl "https://us1.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/lists?count=5" \
  -u "anystring:YOUR_API_KEY"

Add a member to an audience:

curl -X POST "https://us1.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/lists/LIST_ID/members" \
  -u "anystring:YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email_address": "user@example.com", "status": "subscribed"}'

Authentication

• Create an API key at mailchimp.com → Account → Extras → API keys.
• The key contains the datacenter prefix (us1 in YOUR_API_KEY-us1) — put it in the hostname (us1.api.mailchimp.com).
• Authenticate with HTTP basic auth — username can be anything, password is the key (invalid key → 401, verified).

Rate Limits & Notes

• Free tier: 500 contacts + 1,000 emails/month; API rate limits ~10 requests/second.
• The API is at /3.0/ — resources: lists (audiences), campaigns, reports, templates, automations.
• Pagination via count (max 1000) and offset.
• The ping endpoint is a handy connectivity check.

FAQ

Is Mailchimp free? Free tier: 500 contacts and 1,000 emails/month.

How do I get a key? Account → Extras → API keys — the key includes your datacenter prefix.

How does auth work? HTTP basic auth (username ignored, key as password) against your datacenter host.