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Mailchimp Automation via Rube MCP

Automate Mailchimp email marketing workflows including campaign creation and sending, audience/list management, subscriber operations, segmentation, and performance analytics through Composio's Mailchimp toolkit.

Prerequisites

• Rube MCP must be connected (RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS available)
• Active Mailchimp connection via RUBE_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS with toolkit mailchimp
• Always call RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS first to get current tool schemas

Setup

Get Rube MCP: Add https://rube.app/mcp as an MCP server in your client configuration. No API keys needed — just add the endpoint and it works.

1. Verify Rube MCP is available by confirming RUBE_SEARCH_TOOLS responds
2. Call RUBE_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS with toolkit mailchimp
3. If connection is not ACTIVE, follow the returned auth link to complete Mailchimp OAuth
4. Confirm connection status shows ACTIVE before running any workflows

Core Workflows

1. Create and Send Email Campaigns

When to use: User wants to create, configure, test, and send an email campaign.

Tool sequence:

1. MAILCHIMP_GET_LISTS_INFO - List available audiences and get list_id [Prerequisite]
2. MAILCHIMP_ADD_CAMPAIGN - Create a new campaign with type, audience, subject, from name [Required]
3. MAILCHIMP_SET_CAMPAIGN_CONTENT - Set HTML content for the campaign [Required]
4. MAILCHIMP_SEND_TEST_EMAIL - Send preview to reviewers before live send [Optional]
5. MAILCHIMP_SEND_CAMPAIGN - Send the campaign immediately [Required]
6. MAILCHIMP_SCHEDULE_CAMPAIGN - Schedule for future delivery instead of immediate send [Optional]

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_ADD_CAMPAIGN:

• type: "regular", "plaintext", "rss", or "variate" (required)
• recipients__list__id: Audience/list ID for recipients
• settings__subject__line: Email subject line
• settings__from__name: Sender display name
• settings__reply__to: Reply-to email address (required for sending)
• settings__title: Internal campaign title
• settings__preview__text: Preview text shown in inbox

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_SET_CAMPAIGN_CONTENT:

• campaign_id: Campaign ID from creation step (required)
• html: Raw HTML content for the email
• plain_text: Plain-text version (auto-generated if omitted)
• template__id: Use a pre-built template instead of raw HTML

Pitfalls:

• MAILCHIMP_SEND_CAMPAIGN is irreversible; always send a test email first and get explicit user approval
• Campaign must be in "save" (draft) status with valid audience, subject, from name, verified email, and content before sending
• MAILCHIMP_SCHEDULE_CAMPAIGN requires a valid future datetime; past timestamps fail
• Templates and HTML content must include compliant footer/unsubscribe merge tags
• Mailchimp uses double-underscore notation for nested params (e.g., settings__subject__line)

2. Manage Audiences and Subscribers

When to use: User wants to view audiences, list subscribers, or check subscriber details.

Tool sequence:

1. MAILCHIMP_GET_LISTS_INFO - List all audiences with member counts [Required]
2. MAILCHIMP_GET_LIST_INFO - Get details for a specific audience [Optional]
3. MAILCHIMP_LIST_MEMBERS_INFO - List members with status filter and pagination [Required]
4. MAILCHIMP_SEARCH_MEMBERS - Search by email or name across lists [Optional]
5. MAILCHIMP_GET_MEMBER_INFO - Get detailed profile for a specific subscriber [Optional]
6. MAILCHIMP_LIST_SEGMENTS - List segments within an audience [Optional]

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_LIST_MEMBERS_INFO:

• list_id: Audience ID (required)
• status: "subscribed", "unsubscribed", "cleaned", "pending", "transactional", "archived"
• count: Records per page (default 10, max 1000)
• offset: Pagination offset (default 0)
• sort_field: "timestamp_opt", "timestamp_signup", or "last_changed"
• fields: Comma-separated list to limit response size

Pitfalls:

• stats.avg_open_rate and stats.avg_click_rate are 0-1 fractions, NOT 0-100 percentages
• Always use status="subscribed" to filter active subscribers; omitting returns all statuses
• Must paginate using count and offset until collected members match total_items
• Large list responses may be truncated; data is under response.data.members

3. Add and Update Subscribers

When to use: User wants to add new subscribers, update existing ones, or bulk-manage list membership.

Tool sequence:

1. MAILCHIMP_GET_LIST_INFO - Validate target audience exists [Prerequisite]
2. MAILCHIMP_SEARCH_MEMBERS - Check if contact already exists [Optional]
3. MAILCHIMP_ADD_OR_UPDATE_LIST_MEMBER - Upsert subscriber (create or update) [Required]
4. MAILCHIMP_ADD_MEMBER_TO_LIST - Add new subscriber (create only) [Optional]
5. MAILCHIMP_BATCH_ADD_OR_REMOVE_MEMBERS - Bulk manage segment membership [Optional]

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_ADD_OR_UPDATE_LIST_MEMBER:

• list_id: Audience ID (required)
• subscriber_hash: MD5 hash of lowercase email (required)
• email_address: Subscriber email (required)
• status_if_new: Status for new subscribers: "subscribed", "pending", etc. (required)
• status: Status for existing subscribers
• merge_fields: Object with merge tag keys (e.g., {"FNAME": "John", "LNAME": "Doe"})
• tags: Array of tag strings

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_ADD_MEMBER_TO_LIST:

• list_id: Audience ID (required)
• email_address: Subscriber email (required)
• status: "subscribed", "pending", "unsubscribed", "cleaned", "transactional" (required)

Pitfalls:

• subscriber_hash must be MD5 of the lowercase email; incorrect casing causes 404s or duplicates
• Use MAILCHIMP_ADD_OR_UPDATE_LIST_MEMBER (upsert) instead of MAILCHIMP_ADD_MEMBER_TO_LIST to avoid duplicate errors
• status_if_new determines status only for new contacts; existing contacts use status
• Use skip_merge_validation: true to bypass required merge field validation
• MAILCHIMP_BATCH_ADD_OR_REMOVE_MEMBERS manages static segment membership, not list membership

4. View Campaign Reports and Analytics

When to use: User wants to review campaign performance, open rates, click rates, or subscriber engagement.

Tool sequence:

1. MAILCHIMP_LIST_CAMPAIGNS - List sent campaigns with report summaries [Required]
2. MAILCHIMP_SEARCH_CAMPAIGNS - Find campaigns by name, subject, or content [Optional]
3. MAILCHIMP_GET_CAMPAIGN_REPORT - Get detailed performance report for a campaign [Required]
4. MAILCHIMP_LIST_CAMPAIGN_REPORTS - Bulk fetch reports across multiple campaigns [Optional]
5. MAILCHIMP_LIST_CAMPAIGN_DETAILS - Get link-level click statistics [Optional]
6. MAILCHIMP_GET_CAMPAIGN_LINK_DETAILS - Drill into specific link click data [Optional]
7. MAILCHIMP_LIST_CLICKED_LINK_SUBSCRIBERS - See who clicked a specific link [Optional]
8. MAILCHIMP_GET_SUBSCRIBER_EMAIL_ACTIVITY - Get per-subscriber campaign activity [Optional]
9. MAILCHIMP_GET_CAMPAIGN_CONTENT - Retrieve campaign HTML content [Optional]

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_LIST_CAMPAIGNS:

• status: "save", "paused", "schedule", "sending", "sent"
• count / offset: Pagination (default 10, max 1000)
• since_send_time / before_send_time: ISO 8601 date range filter
• sort_field: "create_time" or "send_time"
• fields: Limit response fields for performance

Key parameters for MAILCHIMP_GET_CAMPAIGN_REPORT:

• campaign_id: Campaign ID (required)
• Returns: opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, timeseries, industry_stats

Pitfalls:

• MAILCHIMP_LIST_CAMPAIGNS only returns high-level report_summary; use MAILCHIMP_GET_CAMPAIGN_REPORT for detailed metrics
• Draft/unsent campaigns lack meaningful report data
• When using fields parameter on LIST_CAMPAIGNS, explicitly request send_time and report_summary subfields
• Pagination defaults are low (10 records); iterate with count and offset until total_items is covered
• send_time is ISO 8601 with timezone; parse carefully

Common Patterns

ID Resolution

Always resolve names to IDs before operations:

• Audience name -> list_id: MAILCHIMP_GET_LISTS_INFO and match by name
• Subscriber email -> subscriber_hash: Compute MD5 of lowercase email in code
• Campaign name -> campaign_id: MAILCHIMP_SEARCH_CAMPAIGNS with query
• Segment name -> segment_id: MAILCHIMP_LIST_SEGMENTS with list_id

Pagination

Mailchimp uses offset-based pagination:

• Use count (page size, max 1000) and offset (skip N records)
• Continue until collected records match total_items from the response
• Default count is 10; always set explicitly for bulk operations
• Search endpoints max at 10 pages (300 results for 30/page)

Subscriber Hash

Many endpoints require subscriber_hash (MD5 of lowercase email):

import hashlib
subscriber_hash = hashlib.md5(email.lower().encode()).hexdigest()

Known Pitfalls

ID Formats

• list_id (audience ID) is a short alphanumeric string (e.g., "abc123def4")
• campaign_id is an alphanumeric string
• subscriber_hash is an MD5 hex string (32 characters)
• Segment IDs are integers

Rate Limits

• Mailchimp enforces API rate limits; use batching for bulk subscriber operations
• High-volume use of GET_MEMBER_INFO and ADD_OR_UPDATE_LIST_MEMBER can trigger throttling
• Use MAILCHIMP_BATCH_ADD_OR_REMOVE_MEMBERS for bulk segment operations

Parameter Quirks

• Nested parameters use double-underscore notation: settings__subject__line, recipients__list__id
• avg_open_rate and avg_click_rate are 0-1 fractions, not percentages
• status_if_new only applies to new contacts in upsert operations
• subscriber_hash must be MD5 of lowercase email; wrong casing creates phantom records
• Campaign type is required for creation; most common is "regular"
• MAILCHIMP_SEND_CAMPAIGN returns HTTP 204 on success (no body)

Content and Compliance

• Campaign HTML must include unsubscribe link and physical address (merge tags)
• Content must be set via MAILCHIMP_SET_CAMPAIGN_CONTENT before sending
• Test emails require campaign to have content already set

Quick Reference

When to Use

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