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# CLI

> Install and use the Mailchimp CLI to call the Marketing API from your terminal.

`mcapi` is a command-line client for the Marketing API. Every resource in the API reference has a matching subcommand, so you can call an endpoint, inspect a response, or script a sequence of calls without writing a request by hand. Use it for testing requests, automation, and one-off scripts; use a [client library](/marketing/build/start-developing/client-libraries-and-sdks) for application code.

## Install

**`macOS / Linux`**

```bash title="macOS / Linux"
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/mailchimp/mailchimp-marketing-cli/releases/latest/download/fern-cli-sdk-installer.sh | sh
```

**`Windows`**

```powershell title="Windows"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://github.com/mailchimp/mailchimp-marketing-cli/releases/latest/download/fern-cli-sdk-installer.ps1 | iex"
```

To build from source instead, install the [Rust toolchain](https://rustup.rs/) and run:

```bash
cargo build --release
./target/release/mcapi --help
```

## Authenticate

The CLI reads your API key from an environment variable. See [Authentication](/marketing/api-concepts/authentication) for how to generate one.

```bash
export MCAPI_TOKEN="YOUR_API_KEY"
```

A `.env` file in the working directory works too; the CLI loads it on startup.

## Quick start

```bash
mcapi --help
```

lists every resource. Each resource is a subcommand:

```bash
mcapi <resource> <method>
```

Run `mcapi <resource> --help` to see the methods available on that resource, and pass parameters as flags or as a JSON body:

```bash
mcapi lists get-member --list-id "abc123" --subscriber-hash "0bc83cb571cd1c752a8..."
mcapi lists create-member --list-id "abc123" --json '{"email_address": "user@example.com", "status": "subscribed"}'
```

## Command reference

Every command maps to one API endpoint; the full set is in the [API reference](/marketing/api). The groups below cover the commands you'll reach for most often.

### Health check

| Command           | Endpoint        |
| ----------------- | --------------- |
| `mcapi ping list` | `GET /3.0/ping` |
| `mcapi root list` | `GET /3.0/`     |

### Audiences and contacts

| Command                                              | Endpoint                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `mcapi lists list`                                   | `GET /3.0/lists`                                     |
| `mcapi lists get --list-id`                          | `GET /3.0/lists/{list_id}`                           |
| `mcapi lists create-member --list-id`                | `POST /3.0/lists/{list_id}/members`                  |
| `mcapi lists get-member --list-id --subscriber-hash` | `GET /3.0/lists/{list_id}/members/{subscriber_hash}` |
| `mcapi lists batch-add-or-remove-members --list-id`  | `POST /3.0/lists/{list_id}`                          |
| `mcapi search-members list --query`                  | `GET /3.0/search-members`                            |

### Campaigns and automations

| Command                    | Endpoint                 |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------ |
| `mcapi campaigns list`     | `GET /3.0/campaigns`     |
| `mcapi campaigns create`   | `POST /3.0/campaigns`    |
| `mcapi automations list`   | `GET /3.0/automations`   |
| `mcapi sms-campaigns list` | `GET /3.0/sms-campaigns` |

### Reports

| Command                | Endpoint             |
| ---------------------- | -------------------- |
| `mcapi reports list`   | `GET /3.0/reports`   |
| `mcapi reporting list` | `GET /3.0/reporting` |

### Webhooks

| Command                                | Endpoint                             |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| `mcapi lists create-webhook --list-id` | `POST /3.0/lists/{list_id}/webhooks` |
| `mcapi batch-webhooks create`          | `POST /3.0/batch-webhooks`           |

See [Webhooks](/marketing/api-concepts/webhooks) for how Mailchimp delivers webhook events; the CLI only creates and manages the subscription, it doesn't receive events.

### Batch operations

| Command                        | Endpoint                      |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| `mcapi batches list`           | `GET /3.0/batches`            |
| `mcapi batches get --batch-id` | `GET /3.0/batches/{batch_id}` |

See [Batch operations](/marketing/api-concepts/batch-operations) for how batching works.

## Common flags

These flags work on every command:

| Flag                                | Description                                                                              |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--dry-run`                         | Validates the request locally and prints the HTTP request without sending it.            |
| `--json <JSON\|->`                  | Supplies a request body as JSON, or `-` to read stdin.                                   |
| `--params <JSON>`                   | Merges extra parameters as JSON, overriding individual flags.                            |
| `--format <json\|table\|yaml\|csv>` | Sets the output format. Default is `table` in an interactive terminal, `json` otherwise. |
| `--output <path>`                   | Writes a binary response to a file.                                                      |
| `--base-url <url>`                  | Overrides the API base URL.                                                              |
| `--no-extract`                      | Prints the full response body instead of the extracted return value.                     |
| `--no-retry`                        | Disables automatic retries, including for network errors.                                |
| `-q, --quiet`                       | Suppresses stdout on success. Errors still go to stderr.                                 |

Commands on paginated endpoints also accept `--page-all` to auto-paginate and stream results as NDJSON, `--page-limit <n>` to cap the number of pages (default `10`), and `--page-delay <ms>` to set the delay between page fetches (default `100`).

Generate shell completions with:

```bash
mcapi completion <bash|zsh|fish|powershell>
```

## Typical workflow

Export an audience's contacts and pipe the result through `jq`:

```bash
mcapi lists list --format json | jq -r '.lists[0].id'
mcapi lists get-member --list-id "abc123" --subscriber-hash "0bc83cb571cd1c752a8..." --format json | jq
```

To pull every member instead of one page, add `--page-all`:

```bash
mcapi lists list-members --list-id "abc123" --page-all --format json > members.ndjson
```

## Next steps

If you're making your first call to the API, [Send your first API request](/marketing/build/start-developing/send-your-first-api-request) walks through the same Ping request shown above using a client library instead.

> Find all the Mailchimp API documentation and tools developers need to send marketing and transactional emails.