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Connect Sendtim to Zapier
4 min read · Updated
Zapier joins Sendtim to the other tools you already use, with no code and nothing to host. A Zap is a trigger in one app and an action in another: a form filler becomes a contact, a new customer joins a list, an unsubscribe here updates your CRM. You connect once with an API key, and every Zap you build is scoped to that workspace.
Connect your workspace
- In Sendtim, open Settings → API, press New key and name it after what will use it — "Zapier".
- Copy the key. It begins with
cmp_live_and is shown once; if you lose it, create another and revoke the old one. - In Zapier, add a Sendtim step to a Zap, choose Connect a new account and paste the key.
Zapier labels the connection with your workspace name, so several workspaces can live in one Zapier account without confusion. A key can do anything a workspace admin can; revoking it in Settings → API stops every Zap that uses it, immediately.
Triggers: when something happens in Sendtim
| Trigger | Fires when |
|---|---|
| New Contact | A contact is added. Can be narrowed to one list, or to a status such as subscribed. |
| Contact Unsubscribed | Someone unsubscribes — through the link in an email, the dashboard or the API. Use it to keep a CRM or a spreadsheet in step with your consent record. |
| New List | A list is created. |
| New or Updated Campaign | A campaign reaches the state you choose. Pick Sent to run something after a campaign finishes, or leave the state empty to fire on every change. |
Actions: writing to your workspace
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create or Update Contact | Adds the contact, or updates the one that already holds that address. Safe to run repeatedly: the address decides, so a Zap that runs twice makes no duplicate and fails on nothing. Fields you leave empty stay as they are. |
| Add Contact to List | Puts someone on a list, creating the contact if the address is new. Someone who had left that list is resubscribed to it. |
| Remove Contact From List | Takes someone off one list. They stay a contact, and stay on every other list. |
| Unsubscribe Contact | Marks a contact as unsubscribed across the workspace. The address has to exist already — this action never creates one. |
| Create List | Creates a list. |
| Start Automation for Contact | Enrols an existing contact in an automation. The dropdown offers only active automations that have a manual trigger, since those are the ones that can be started from outside. |
Find Contact and Find List look something up for later steps, and both are available as Zapier’s *find or create* step, which creates only when there was nothing to find. Addresses are matched exactly, never as a fragment, so an unsubscribe Zap can never reach the wrong person.
Consent, and what a Zap must not do
A Zap can add anyone to your workspace, which is why it has to be pointed at a step where people actually agreed to hear from you. The Has given consent switch exists for that case and no other: turn it on only when the trigger is the form, checkout or signup where the person opted in.
- Consent is recorded once, when the contact is created, and no later run rewrites it — re-running a Zap cannot manufacture an agreement nobody gave.
- An address that unsubscribed or was suppressed is not resubscribed by a Zap adding it again. Suppression outlives every integration.
- Importing a bought list through Zapier is the same mistake as importing it by CSV: it costs you deliverability, and in the EU and the UK it is unlawful. See consent and unsubscribes.
How soon a Zap runs
Triggers poll: Zapier asks Sendtim for new rows every 1 to 15 minutes, depending on the Zapier plan. A trigger is not instant, and a contact added and deleted between two polls is never seen. Actions run as soon as the Zap does.
Every Zap step is one API call, counted against your plan’s rate limit. Past the limit Zapier waits and retries rather than failing the Zap. See working with the API for the per-plan limits.
Troubleshooting
| What Zapier says | What it means |
|---|---|
| This API key is no longer valid | The key was revoked or mistyped. Create a new one in Settings → API and reconnect the account in Zapier. |
| This workspace holds N of the … contacts included in its plan | The plan’s contact allowance is full, so new contacts are refused while updates to existing ones keep working. |
| Automations require the Starter plan or above | The Start Automation action needs a paid plan. |
| No contact in this workspace has the address … | Unsubscribe Contact and Start Automation both act on people you already hold. Put a Create or Update Contact step before them if the address may be new. |
| Nothing could be found for the search | Find List matches a whole list name, and Find Contact an exact address. Check the spelling, or turn on the step’s create-if-missing option. |
| The trigger finds nothing when you test it | Zapier’s test shows rows that already exist. A new workspace has none, so add one contact or list by hand and test again. |
Anything Zapier does here is also available directly — see working with the API, or drive the workspace from the AI agent you already use with MCP.