Build awesome things with email

Context.IO takes the pain out of syncing email data with your app so you can focus on what makes your product great.

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Stop working with archaic email protocols

Who wants to learn all the gritty details about IMAP? Nobody, that's who. With Context.IO, you can write RESTful code against an API; we take care of syncing email data so you don't have to build, scale and maintain the infrastructure yourself.

Exposes recipients and senders as people with stats on messages counts and latest sent/received

Example: Get information about jim.bob@widgets.com in mailbox account_id

GET /2.0/accounts/account_id/contacts/jim.bob@widgets.com
{
  emails: [
    "jim.bob@widgets.com"
  ],
  name: "Jim Bob",
  thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50",
  last_received: 1321473684,
  last_sent: 1322025459,
  count: 2360
}

Each attachment in a mailbox has a unique id allowing you to query and access them directly.

Example: Get the list of attachments in mailbox account_id with name matching pattern contextio*.pdf

GET /2.0/accounts/account_id/files/?file_name=contextio%2A.pdf
[
  {
    size: 2872244,
    type: "application/pdf",
    subject: "In SF/Valley on the week of Nov 14th",
    date: 1319738087,
    addresses: {
      from: {
        email: "bruno@widgets.com",
        name: "Bruno Morency"
      },
      to: [
        {
          email: "jim.bob@acme.com",
          name: "Jim Bob"
        }
      ],
      cc: [
        {
          email: "sarah-jane@widgets.com",
          name: "Sarah-Jane Morris"
        }
      ]
    },
    file_name: "ContextIO - Overview - 20111016.pdf",
    body_section: 2,
    file_id: "4ea9b53e3f757e2c4a000018",
    supports_preview: true,
    date_indexed: 1319744830,
    message_id: "4fa15ed47e747e202d100006",
    email_message_id: "<CBOEgs7BW6ke6qd7bzRYO@widgets.com>",
    person_info: {
      bruno@widgets.com: {
	    thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50"
      },
      jim.bob@acme.com: {
        thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50"
      },
      sarah-jane@widgets.com: {
        thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50"
      }
    },
    file_name_structure: [
      ["ContextIO - Overview","main"],
      [" - ","boundary"],
      ["20111016","date"],
      [".pdf","ext"]
    ]
  },
  ...
]

Query messages by sender/recipients, folder, dates, subject. Move them around. Get their body, flags and complete headers.

Example: Get messages in mailbox account_id received from dominik@widgets.com between Nov 1st and Nov 30th, 2011.

GET /2.0/accounts/account_id/messages/?date_after=1320120000&date_before=1322715599&from=dominik%40widgets.com
[
  {
    date: 1321473684,
    folders: ["\\Important","[Gmail]/Important"],
    addresses: {
      from: {
        email: "dominik@widgets.com",
        name: "Dominik Gehl"
      },
      to: [
        {
          email: "bruno@widgets.com",
          name: "Bruno Morency"
        }
      ]
    },
    sources: [
      {
        label: "imap.gmail.com::bruno@widgets.com",
        resource_url: "https://api.context.io/2.0/accounts/4e0928a03edc0c0b021e6070/sources/imap.gmail.com::bruno@widgets.com"
      }
    ],
    files: [
      {
        size: 423054,
        type: "image/jpeg",
        file_name: "Homepage - v1.jpg",
        main_file_name: "Homepage - v1",
        file_name_structure: [
          ["Homepage","main"],
          [" - ","boundary"],
          ["v1","version"],
          [".jpg","ext"]
        ],
        body_section: 2,
        file_id: "4ed13ed53f757e257d000002",
        supports_preview: true
      }
    ],
    subject: "utilisation de mailboxes / downloads / syncs et API",
    message_id: "4fa15ed47e747e202d100006",
    email_message_id: "<CBOEgs7BW6_1RZb=B3i_R9My-Es39heFtke6qd7bzRYO-o=14_A@mail.gmail.com>",
    gmail_message_id: "132e1658bcda1ccd",
    gmail_thread_id: "132e1658bcda1ccd",
    person_info: {
      dominik@widgets.com: {
        thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50"
      },
      bruno@widgets.com: {
        thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4fc965d14ddff2d5c14fca85d5c0dba0?s=50"
      }
    },
    date_indexed: 1321491704
  },
  ...
]

Query threads by sender/recipients, folder, dates. Easily get the list of messages in a thread no matter what folder messages are in.

Example: Query mailbox account_id for the thread message message_id is part of.

GET /2.0/accounts/account_id/messages/message_id/thread/
{
  email_message_ids: [
    "<CBOEgs7BW6_1RZb=B3i_R9My-Es39heFtke6qd7bzRYO-o=14_A@mail.gmail.com>",
    "<6ES149EC.7257501@widgets.com>",
    ...
  ],
  messages: [
    {
      addresses: {
        from: {
          email: "tom.thompson@gmail.com",
          name: "Tom Thompson"
        },
        to: [
          {
            email: "bruno@widgets.com",
            name: "Bruno Morency"
          }
        ]
      },
      folders: [
        "\\Important",
        "\\Inbox",
        "INBOX",
        "[Gmail]/Important"
      ],
      date: 1322332272,
      subject: "Box.net App Mockups",
      sources: [
        {
          label: "imap.gmail.com::bruno@widgets.com",
          resource_url: "https://api.context.io/2.0/accounts/4e0928a03edc0c0b021e6070/sources/imap.gmail.com::bruno@widgets.com"
        }
      ],
      files: [
        {
          size: 423054,
          type: "image/jpeg",
          file_name: "Homepage - v1.jpg",
          main_file_name: "Homepage - v1",
          file_name_structure: [
            ["Homepage","main"],
            [" - ","boundary"],
            ["v1","version"],
            [".jpg","ext"]
          ],
          body_section: 2,
         file_id: "4ed13ed53f757e257d000002",
          supports_preview: true
        }
      ],
      message_id: "4fa15ed47e747e202d100006",
      email_message_id: "<CBOEgs7BW6_1RZb=B3i_R9My-Es39heFtke6qd7bzRYO-o=14_A@mail.gmail.com>",
      gmail_message_id: "132e1658bcda1ccd",
      gmail_thread_id: "132e1658bcda1ccd",
      date_indexed: 1322335957,
      person_info: {
        tom.thompson@gmail.com: {
          thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c9879ab656ee0bd600b6561a9d56af9a?s=50"
        },
        bruno@widgets.com: {
          thumbnail: "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4fc965d14ddff2d5c14fca85d5c0dba0?s=50"
        }
      }
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Get rule-based notifications POSTed to your app. Filter by sender/recipients, attachments, subject, folders and thread.

Example: Create a WebHook to receive notifications when mailbox account_id receives an email from jim@acme.com or dave@acme.com.

POST /2.0/accounts/account_id/webhooks/

filter_from=jim%40acme.com%2Cdave%40acme.com&
callback_url=http%3A%2F%2Fyourapp.com%2Fcb&failure_notif_url=http%3A%2F%2Fyourapp.com%2Fcb%2Ffailure
{
  success: true,
  webhook_id: "4dc4e0f49f724e6219100004",
  resource_url: "https://api.context.io/2.0/accounts/account_id/webhooks/4dc4e0f49f724e6219100004"
}

  • Webhooks

    Get rule-based notifications pushed to your app.

  • API Explorer

    Easily test API calls using our API Explorer console app.

  • Connect token flow

    Let your users quickly grant email access to your product.

  • Message fetching

    Query messages by contact, folder, dates, subject. Get the parsed body and headers.

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Client libraries

We’ve got you covered no matter if you’re working with Ruby, Python, iOS, Node.js, or PHP.

Simple pricing

  • Lite API
  • Free
  • Unlimited API calls
  • Unlimited Users
  • 2.0 API
  • Free
  • Unlimited API calls
  • Unlimited Users
  • Beta features: Receipt Parsing

Have any questions about pricing? Contact us!

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