Buttondown API Integration

A comprehensive TypeScript integration for the Buttondown newsletter service, providing both a CLI interface and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for managing newsletters, drafts, and analytics.

Features

• Multiple Interfaces:

  • Command Line Interface (CLI) for direct interaction

  • Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI/LLM integration

  • Programmatic TypeScript API for custom integrations

• Core Functionality:

  • Email draft management (create, update, delete)

  • Email scheduling system

  • Analytics retrieval and formatting

  • List management

  • Tag management

• Security:

  • 1Password integration for API key management

  • Environment variable support

  • Secure credential handling

• Developer Experience:

  • Full TypeScript support

  • Comprehensive type definitions

  • Real API response-based types

  • Built-in testing utilities

Related MCP server: Buttondown MCP Server

Installation

# Install using pnpm (recommended)
pnpm install

# Or using npm
npm install

# Or using yarn
yarn install

Configuration

The API key can be provided in two ways:

1. Environment variable:

   export BUTTONDOWN_API_KEY=your_api_key

2. 1Password CLI (recommended):

   • Store your API key in 1Password at op://Development/Buttondown API/notesPlain

   • The integration will automatically fetch it when needed

Usage

CLI Interface

# List all emails
buttondown emails list

# Create a new draft
buttondown draft create <file>

# Schedule an email
buttondown schedule set <draft-id> <relative-time>

# Get analytics
buttondown analytics get <draft-id>

MCP Server

1. Start the server:

   pnpm mcp:start

2. Start with inspector (for development):

   pnpm mcp:inspect

Available MCP tools:

• list_emails: List all emails with optional status filtering

  {
    "status": "draft" // Optional: "draft", "scheduled", "sent"
  }

• create_draft: Create a new email draft

  {
    "content": "Email content in markdown",
    "title": "Optional email subject"
  }

• get_analytics: Get analytics for a specific email

  {
    "draftId": "email-id-here"
  }

• schedule_draft: Schedule an email for sending

  {
    "draftId": "email-id-here",
    "scheduledTime": "2024-03-27T10:00:00Z"
  }

Programmatic Usage

import { ButtondownAPI } from "api-integrator";

// Initialize the client
const api = new ButtondownAPI(); // Will use 1Password or env var

// List drafts
const drafts = await api.getDrafts();

// Create a draft
const draft = await api.createEmail({
  subject: "My Newsletter",
  body: "Content here",
  status: "draft",
});

// Schedule an email
const scheduled = await api.scheduleEmail(draft.id, "2024-03-27T10:00:00Z");

// Get analytics
const analytics = await api.getEmailStats(draft.id);

Development

# Build the project
pnpm build

# Run tests
pnpm test

# Start MCP server in development mode
pnpm mcp:inspect

# Build MCP server
pnpm mcp:build

Testing

The project includes several types of tests:

• Unit tests for core functionality

• Integration tests for API interactions

• CLI command tests

• MCP server tests

Run tests with:

pnpm test

Project Structure

.
├── src/
│   ├── api/          # Core API client
│   ├── cli/          # CLI implementation
│   ├── mcp/          # MCP server
│   ├── types/        # TypeScript definitions
│   └── utils/        # Shared utilities
├── tests/            # Test files
├── api-responses/    # Cached API responses
└── memory-bank/      # Project documentation

Contributing

1. Fork the repository

2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)

3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')

4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)

5. Open a Pull Request

License

ISC License - See LICENSE for details

Acknowledgments

• Buttondown for their excellent newsletter service

• Model Context Protocol for the AI integration framework