Mailing List API
Model members, owners, moderation, and delivery preferences for discussion lists without confusing membership with marketing.
Start with the record.
Keep what matters.
A mailing list API can support a discussion group, an announcement channel, or a community where members receive and contribute messages. That is different from a mailbox listing, which retrieves existing messages, and different from a newsletter audience designed around editorial campaigns. A useful discussion-list model starts with membership: who belongs to which group, in what role, and with which delivery preferences.
A simple field model
These illustrative fields are a starting point for your own design. They are not a live ListAPI.com API contract and should not be substituted for a provider’s documented request format.
| Illustrative field | What it should tell you |
|---|---|
list_id | The specific discussion group. |
membership_id | The relationship between a person and a list. |
role | Member, moderator, or another explicitly permitted role. |
delivery_mode | How the member wants to receive discussion messages. |
A useful starting point
A person can use more than one email address and belong to more than one group. Model those relationships instead of treating an address as the entire person. A membership should connect a specific identity or address to a specific list. Give that membership its own stable identifier so a preference change does not accidentally affect every group the person belongs to.
For an administrative integration, preserve the provider's identities as well as your own references. Do not use a display name as a unique key. Two members can share a name, and a member can change how their name appears. Keep the list identity, member identity, and delivery address distinguishable so support questions can be investigated without guessing which relationship a record represents.
Before you connect the list
Identify the source of truth and the intended audience. Start with a small read-only view so you can compare the result with the source. Record the retrieval scope and keep incomplete imports visible instead of treating a partial result as the whole collection.
Choose how to handle a renamed record, a repeated request, a removed item, and lost access. Make field ownership explicit before adding two-way edits. The full guide explores the decisions specific to this list type and links to an official reference.