Backend and CRM systems can activate Elaine in two principal ways: add or update a contact and place that contact into a defined campaign, or submit a business event that Elaine routes asynchronously to subscribed automations and transactional messages.
Choose the activation pattern
| Pattern | Use it when | Primary function |
|---|---|---|
| Direct campaign subscription | The calling system knows the target Elaine campaign and needs the contact placed into it. | api_userCreateOrUpdateStartCampaign or api_userStartCampaign |
| Generic event submission | The source system should report what happened while Elaine decides which automations or messages consume the event. | api_processEvent |
Create or update a contact and start a campaign
api_userCreateOrUpdateStartCampaign accepts the contact data and campaign ID in one call. The optional entry state, restart behavior, force flag, rollback metadata, and data-source ID follow as positional parameters.
export ELAINE_BASE_URL="https://your-elaine-domain.example"
export ELAINE_JWT="replace-with-an-elaine-issued-jwt"
curl --get "$ELAINE_BASE_URL/http/api/api_userCreateOrUpdateStartCampaign" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $ELAINE_JWT" \
--data-urlencode 'json=[{"c_email":"recipient@example.com","c_firstname":"Sam","c_customer_id":"CRM-1001"},42,null,false,false,"api",1001,7]' \
--data-urlencode 'response=json'
Here, 42 is the campaign ID, 1001 is an external rollback or correlation ID, and 7 is the Elaine data-source ID. Select a data source whose PAC and permission model matches the acquisition context.
Submit a generic event
api_processEvent(string $eventName, array $recipientData, array $metaData = []) accepts a configured event name, recipient data, and optional metadata. Elaine can route the event to subscribed marketing automations, an associated transactional message, or both.
curl --get "$ELAINE_BASE_URL/http/api/api_processEvent" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $ELAINE_JWT" \
--data-urlencode 'json=["orderShipped",{"c_email":"recipient@example.com","e_order_number":"A-12345","e_shipping_provider":"Example Logistics"},{"campaignIds":[42],"msgid":"CRM-EVENT-1001"}]' \
--data-urlencode 'response=json'Event processing is asynchronous. A successful API result confirms that Elaine accepted and routed the event; it does not prove that every downstream automation step or message delivery has completed.
Event data conventions
- Use
c_fields for persistent recipient profile data. - Use configured
e_fields for event data consumed by automations. - Use configured
t_fields for temporary personalization data in transactional messages. - Include a stable external identifier for correlation and duplicate handling.
- Configure the event type in Elaine before sending production events.
Note
Function availability and event routing depend on the Elaine release, enabled features, configured event types, campaign subscriptions, and API permissions.