Quickstart

Get Your API Key

If you haven’t already, create an account at app.smartlead.ai

Navigate to Settings

Go to your dashboard and click on Settings → API

Generate API Key

Click “Generate New API Key” and copy it securely

Keep your API key secure! Never commit it to version control or expose it in client-side code.

Make Your First Request

Let’s fetch all your campaigns:

curl -X GET "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
url = "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/"

response = requests.get(url, params={"api_key": api_key})
campaigns = response.json()

print(f"Total campaigns: {len(campaigns.get('campaigns', []))}")

const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
const BASE_URL = 'https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1';

async function getCampaigns() {
  const response = await fetch(
    `${BASE_URL}/campaigns/?api_key=${API_KEY}`
  );
  const data = await response.json();
  
  console.log(`Total campaigns: ${data.campaigns.length}`);
  return data.campaigns;
}

getCampaigns();

<?php
$api_key = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
$base_url = 'https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1';

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "$base_url/campaigns/?api_key=$api_key");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data = json_decode($response, true);
echo "Total campaigns: " . count($data['campaigns']);
?>

Create Your First Campaign

curl -X POST "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/new?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "My First Campaign",
    "track_settings": {
      "track_open": true,
      "track_click": true
    }
  }'

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
url = "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/new"

payload = {
    "name": "My First Campaign",
    "track_settings": {
        "track_open": True,
        "track_click": True
    }
}

response = requests.post(
    url, 
    params={"api_key": api_key},
    json=payload
)

campaign = response.json()
print(f"Campaign created with ID: {campaign['campaign']['id']}")

const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
const BASE_URL = 'https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1';

async function createCampaign() {
  const response = await fetch(
    `${BASE_URL}/campaigns/new?api_key=${API_KEY}`,
    {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        name: 'My First Campaign',
        track_settings: {
          track_open: true,
          track_click: true,
        },
      }),
    }
  );
  
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(`Campaign created with ID: ${data.campaign.id}`);
  return data.campaign;
}

createCampaign();

Add Email Account

Before sending emails, you need to add at least one email account:

curl -X POST "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/email-accounts/save?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "from_name": "John Doe",
    "from_email": "john@example.com",
    "user_name": "john@example.com",
    "password": "your_email_password",
    "smtp_host": "smtp.example.com",
    "smtp_port": 587,
    "imap_host": "imap.example.com",
    "imap_port": 993,
    "max_email_per_day": 50,
    "warmup_enabled": true,
    "total_warmup_per_day": 20,
    "daily_rampup": 2,
    "reply_rate_percentage": 30
  }'

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
url = "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/email-accounts/save"

payload = {
    "from_name": "John Doe",
    "from_email": "john@example.com",
    "user_name": "john@example.com",
    "password": "your_email_password",
    "smtp_host": "smtp.example.com",
    "smtp_port": 587,
    "imap_host": "imap.example.com",
    "imap_port": 993,
    "max_email_per_day": 50,
    "warmup_enabled": True,
    "total_warmup_per_day": 20,
    "daily_rampup": 2,
    "reply_rate_percentage": 30
}

response = requests.post(
    url,
    params={"api_key": api_key},
    json=payload
)

account = response.json()
print(f"Email account added with ID: {account['email_account']['id']}")

Add Leads to Campaign

Now add some leads to your campaign:

Python

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
campaign_id = 123  # Replace with your campaign ID
url = f"https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/{campaign_id}/leads"

leads = [
    {
        "first_name": "Jane",
        "last_name": "Doe",
        "email": "jane.doe@example.com",
        "company_name": "Acme Corp",
        "custom_fields": {
            "job_title": "CEO",
            "industry": "Technology"
        }
    },
    {
        "first_name": "John",
        "last_name": "Smith",
        "email": "john.smith@techco.com",
        "company_name": "Tech Co",
        "custom_fields": {
            "job_title": "CTO"
        }
    }
]

response = requests.post(
    url,
    params={"api_key": api_key},
    json={"lead_list": leads}
)

result = response.json()
print(f"Added {result['added_count']} leads successfully")

Create Email Sequences

Add email sequences to your campaign:

Python

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
campaign_id = 123
url = f"https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/{campaign_id}/sequences"

sequences = [
    {
        "seq_number": 1,
        "subject": "Quick question about {{company_name}}",
        "email_body": "Hi {{first_name}},\n\nI noticed {{company_name}} is...",
        "seq_delay_details": {
            "delay_in_days": 0
        }
    },
    {
        "seq_number": 2,
        "subject": "Following up - {{company_name}}",
        "email_body": "Hi {{first_name}},\n\nFollowing up on my previous email...",
        "seq_delay_details": {
            "delay_in_days": 3
        }
    }
]

response = requests.post(
    url,
    params={"api_key": api_key},
    json={"sequences": sequences}
)

print("Sequences created successfully!")

Start Your Campaign

Finally, start your campaign:

curl -X PATCH "https://server.smartlead.ai/api/v1/campaigns/123/status?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "ACTIVE"}'

Congratulations! Your first campaign is now running. You can monitor its performance in the dashboard or via the analytics API.

What’s Next?

Set Up Webhooks

Receive real-time notifications when leads reply

Master Inbox

Manage all your campaign replies in one place

Advanced Sequences

Learn about A/B testing and conditional logic

Analytics

Track your campaign performance in detail

Need Help?

Check out our comprehensive guides
Join our Discord community
Email us at support@smartlead.ai

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Get Your API Key

Make Your First Request

Create Your First Campaign

Add Email Account

Add Leads to Campaign

Create Email Sequences

Start Your Campaign

What’s Next?

Set Up Webhooks

Master Inbox

Advanced Sequences

Analytics

Need Help?

​Get Your API Key

​Make Your First Request

​Create Your First Campaign

​Add Email Account

​Add Leads to Campaign

​Create Email Sequences

​Start Your Campaign

​What’s Next?

Set Up Webhooks

Master Inbox

Advanced Sequences

Analytics

​Need Help?

Get Your API Key

Make Your First Request

Create Your First Campaign

Add Email Account

Add Leads to Campaign

Create Email Sequences

Start Your Campaign

What’s Next?

Need Help?