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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.autosend.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Custom events are point-in-time signals you send to AutoSend from your application. Unlike contact properties, which describe a contact’s current state, events describe something that just happened, and they can carry a typed payload (order total, plan name, country) that your automations can react to. Use events when you want to:
  • Trigger an automation the moment something happens (a signup, a purchase, a cart abandon).
  • Branch contacts inside an automation based on data from the event itself, not from the contact record.

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What is an event?

An event definition belongs to a project and consists of:
  • An event name (e.g. order_completed, signup_completed). Names are unique within a project and cannot be renamed once created.
  • An optional description.
  • A property schema: zero or more properties, each with a name and a type. Supported types are string, number, date, and boolean.
Properties of type string can optionally declare suggested values, a short list of expected values (e.g. USD, EUR, GBP). Suggested values power the dropdown shown in branch filters and grow automatically as new values are used (see Branching).

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Create an event

1

Open the Events page

From your project dashboard, open the Events page from the left navigation.
Events page in the AutoSend dashboard
The Events page is part of the marketing feature set. On transactional-only projects, you’ll see an upgrade prompt instead.
2

Add a new event

Click New Event, then enter an Event Name (e.g. order_completed) and an optional description. Event names should be lowercase and use underscores for readability.
Create a new event with name and description
3

Define the property schema

For each property you plan to send with the event, add a row with:
  • Property Name (e.g. order_total, currency, plan).
  • Type: string, number, date, or boolean.
  • Description (optional).
  • Suggested values (string properties only): expected values for the property.
Define event properties with name, type, and suggested values
Once an event is referenced by an automation, its property names and types are locked to prevent breaking saved branch filters. You can still extend the schema by adding new properties, and you can keep editing suggested values.
4

Save the event

Click Save. The event is now available to send from your application and to select as a trigger inside an automation.

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Send an event

Once defined, send an event from your backend using the Send Event API. Identify the contact with either email or contactId (one is required), and pass the property values in eventProperties. 
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.autosend.com/v1/events/send \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer AS_your-project-api-key' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "eventName": "order_completed",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "eventProperties": {
      "order_total": 129.50,
      "currency": "USD"
    }
  }'
You can identify the contact by email or contactId. Use contactId when you already have the AutoSend contact ID stored in your application; it skips the email lookup and is the recommended choice for high-volume event sources.
Example using contactId: 
{
  "eventName": "order_completed",
  "contactId": "60d5ec49f1b2c72d9c8b8888",
  "eventProperties": {
    "order_total": 129.50,
    "currency": "USD"
  }
}
See the Send Event API reference for the full request schema, error codes, and language-specific examples.

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Events vs. contact properties

Both can drive automations, but they answer different questions:
  • Contact properties describe who a contact is right now (plan, country, verified). They persist on the contact record. Use them when the trigger or branch logic depends on the contact’s current state.
  • Events describe what just happened, with a payload attached (order_completed with an order_total). They aren’t stored on the contact. Use them when the trigger or branch logic depends on a specific occurrence and the data that came with it.
A common pattern is to use an event to start an automation, then branch on a property of that event, so a single automation can fan out (for example, different cart-recovery emails based on cart_value).

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Use events in automations

Once you’ve defined and started sending an event, you can: