Activecampaign Automation

Core Workflows

1. Create and Find Contacts

When to use: User wants to create new contacts or look up existing ones

Tool sequence:

1. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT - Search for an existing contact [Optional]
2. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_CREATE_CONTACT - Create a new contact [Required]

Key parameters for find:

• email: Search by email address
• id: Search by ActiveCampaign contact ID
• phone: Search by phone number

Key parameters for create:

• email: Contact email address (required)
• first_name: Contact first name
• last_name: Contact last name
• phone: Contact phone number
• organization_name: Contact's organization
• job_title: Contact's job title
• tags: Comma-separated list of tags to apply

Pitfalls:

• email is the only required field for contact creation
• Phone search uses a general search parameter internally; it may return partial matches
• When combining email and phone in FIND_CONTACT, results are filtered client-side
• Tags provided during creation are applied immediately
• Creating a contact with an existing email may update the existing contact

2. Manage Contact Tags

When to use: User wants to add or remove tags from contacts

Tool sequence:

1. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT - Find contact by email or ID [Prerequisite]
2. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_MANAGE_CONTACT_TAG - Add or remove tags [Required]

Key parameters:

• action: 'Add' or 'Remove' (required)
• tags: Tag names as comma-separated string or array of strings (required)
• contact_id: Contact ID (provide this or contact_email)
• contact_email: Contact email address (alternative to contact_id)

Pitfalls:

• action values are capitalized: 'Add' or 'Remove' (not lowercase)
• Tags can be a comma-separated string ('tag1, tag2') or an array (['tag1', 'tag2'])
• Either contact_id or contact_email must be provided; contact_id takes precedence
• Adding a tag that does not exist creates it automatically
• Removing a non-existent tag is a no-op (does not error)

3. Manage List Subscriptions

When to use: User wants to subscribe or unsubscribe contacts from lists

Tool sequence:

1. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT - Find the contact [Prerequisite]
2. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_MANAGE_LIST_SUBSCRIPTION - Subscribe or unsubscribe [Required]

Key parameters:

• action: 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' (required)
• list_id: Numeric list ID string (required)
• email: Contact email address (provide this or contact_id)
• contact_id: Numeric contact ID string (alternative to email)

Pitfalls:

• action values are lowercase: 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe'
• list_id is a numeric string (e.g., '2'), not the list name
• List IDs can be retrieved via the GET /api/3/lists endpoint (not available as a Composio tool; use the ActiveCampaign UI)
• If both email and contact_id are provided, contact_id takes precedence
• Unsubscribing changes status to '2' (unsubscribed) but the relationship record persists

4. Add Contacts to Automations

When to use: User wants to enroll a contact in an automation workflow

Tool sequence:

1. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT - Verify contact exists [Prerequisite]
2. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_ADD_CONTACT_TO_AUTOMATION - Enroll contact in automation [Required]

Key parameters:

• contact_email: Email of the contact to enroll (required)
• automation_id: ID of the target automation (required)

Pitfalls:

• The contact must already exist in ActiveCampaign
• Automations can only be created through the ActiveCampaign UI, not via API
• automation_id must reference an existing, active automation
• The tool performs a two-step process: lookup contact by email, then enroll
• Automation IDs can be found in the ActiveCampaign UI or via GET /api/3/automations

5. Create Contact Tasks

When to use: User wants to create follow-up tasks associated with contacts

Tool sequence:

1. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT - Find the contact to associate the task with [Prerequisite]
2. ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_CREATE_CONTACT_TASK - Create the task [Required]

Key parameters:

• relid: Contact ID to associate the task with (required)
• duedate: Due date in ISO 8601 format with timezone (required, e.g., '2025-01-15T14:30:00-05:00')
• dealTasktype: Task type ID based on available types (required)
• title: Task title
• note: Task description/content
• assignee: User ID to assign the task to
• edate: End date in ISO 8601 format (must be later than duedate)
• status: 0 for incomplete, 1 for complete

Pitfalls:

• duedate must be a valid ISO 8601 datetime with timezone offset; do NOT use placeholder values
• edate must be later than duedate
• dealTasktype is a string ID referencing task types configured in ActiveCampaign
• relid is the numeric contact ID, not the email address
• assignee is a user ID; resolve user names to IDs via the ActiveCampaign UI

Common Patterns

Contact Lookup Flow

1. Call ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT with email
2. If found, extract contact ID for subsequent operations
3. If not found, create contact with ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_CREATE_CONTACT
4. Use contact ID for tags, subscriptions, or automations

Bulk Contact Tagging

1. For each contact, call ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_MANAGE_CONTACT_TAG
2. Use contact_email to avoid separate lookup calls
3. Batch with reasonable delays to respect rate limits

ID Resolution

Contact email -> Contact ID:

1. Call ACTIVE_CAMPAIGN_FIND_CONTACT with email
2. Extract id from the response

Known Pitfalls

Action Capitalization:

• Tag actions: 'Add', 'Remove' (capitalized)
• Subscription actions: 'subscribe', 'unsubscribe' (lowercase)
• Mixing up capitalization causes errors

ID Types:

• Contact IDs: numeric strings (e.g., '123')
• List IDs: numeric strings
• Automation IDs: numeric strings
• All IDs should be passed as strings, not integers

Automations:

• Automations cannot be created via API; only enrollment is possible
• Automation must be active to accept new contacts
• Enrolling a contact already in the automation may have no effect

Rate Limits:

• ActiveCampaign API has rate limits per account
• Implement backoff on 429 responses
• Batch operations should be spaced appropriately

Response Parsing:

• Response data may be nested under data or data.data
• Parse defensively with fallback patterns
• Contact search may return multiple results; match by email for accuracy

Quick Reference

When to Use

This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.

Limitations

• Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.