Overview
This endpoint creates an asynchronous export job that generates a downloadable file containing contact data for a specific date range. The export is processed in the background and returns a presigned download URL when complete.
Use this endpoint when you need to extract large volumes of contact data efficiently. For real-time needs, use the List Contacts endpoint instead.
When to use exports: Exports are ideal for bulk data extraction (10,000+ contacts). For smaller datasets, use the paginated list endpoint.
Request Body
Required Parameters
Start date and time for exporting contacts in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format. Exports contacts created from this timestamp in your space’s timezone.Example: 2024-01-15 00:00:00
End date and time for exporting contacts in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format. Must be after start_date. Exports contacts created until this timestamp in your space’s timezone.Example: 2024-01-15 23:59:59
Optional Parameters
When set to 1, includes the last 5 comet tokens for each contact in the export file, ordered by most recent first. Accepts 1 or 0.
Response
Success Response (202 Accepted)
Unique identifier for the export job. Use this to check status with the Get Contact Export endpoint.
Current status of the export. Will be queued immediately after creation.
Error Response
Error description explaining what went wrong
Completed exports are delivered as gzipped NDJSON (Newline-Delimited JSON) files. Each line contains a complete JSON object representing one contact record.
{"id":123,"email":"[email protected]","name":"John Doe","phone":"+1234567890","location":"US","created_at":"2024-01-15T10:23:45Z"}
{"id":124,"email":"[email protected]","name":"Jane Smith","phone":"+9876543210","location":"CA","created_at":"2024-01-15T14:12:33Z"}
When include_comet_tokens=1 is specified:
{"id":123,"email":"[email protected]","name":"John Doe","phone":"+1234567890","location":"US","created_at":"2024-01-15T10:23:45Z","comet_tokens":["token1","token2","token3"]}
{"id":124,"email":"[email protected]","name":"Jane Smith","phone":"+9876543210","location":"CA","created_at":"2024-01-15T14:12:33Z","comet_tokens":["token4","token5"]}
This format is ideal for streaming and processing large files line-by-line without loading the entire file into memory.
Example Requests
# Create export for a date range
curl -X POST "https://app.cometly.com/public-api/v1/contacts/exports" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"start_date": "2024-01-15 00:00:00",
"end_date": "2024-01-15 23:59:59"
}'
# Include comet tokens in export
curl -X POST "https://app.cometly.com/public-api/v1/contacts/exports" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"start_date": "2024-01-15 00:00:00",
"end_date": "2024-01-15 23:59:59",
"include_comet_tokens": 1
}'
Status Codes
| Status Code | Description |
|---|
| 202 | Export job created and queued for processing |
| 401 | Missing or invalid API key |
| 403 | API key doesn’t have permission or subscription is inactive |
| 422 | Invalid parameters provided (check error message for details) |
| 429 | Too many requests - rate limit exceeded. See Rate Limiting |
Next Steps
After creating an export, poll the Get Contact Export endpoint to check the status and retrieve the download URL when ready.
Notes
- Rate Limit: This endpoint has a limit of 5 requests per minute per Space. See Rate Limiting for details.
- Processing Time: Exports typically complete within seconds to a few minutes depending on data volume
- Date Range: Specify any date range using
start_date and end_date (interpreted in your space’s timezone)
- Export Capacity: Can handle 100,000+ contacts per export efficiently
- Status Checking: Use the Get Contact Export endpoint to check status (30 requests/min limit)
- File Expiration: Download URLs expire after 15 minutes for security. Retrieve the file promptly after completion.
- Security: Export files use UUID-based filenames with time-limited presigned URLs to prevent unauthorized access
- Date Filtering: Contacts are filtered by
created_at timestamp - only contacts created within the specified date range are included
- Comet Tokens: Use the
include_comet_tokens=1 parameter to include the last 5 comet tokens for each contact in the export file. This parameter is optional and defaults to 0.