Send Campaign

Send a campaign immediately, or schedule it for future delivery. To send now, omit the body (or send an empty object). To schedule, include a scheduled_at ISO 8601 datetime in the future.

The campaign must be in Draft or Scheduled status with all required fields configured: sender address, subject, email content (via a template), and at least one recipient list or tag.

Endpoint

POST /email/campaigns/:id/send

Returns: 200 OK

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	string	Yes	The campaign ID.

Headers

Header	Value	Required
Authorization	Bearer <your-api-key>	Yes
Content-Type	application/json	Yes

Body Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
scheduled_at	string	No	ISO 8601 datetime in the future. Omit to send immediately.

Send vs. Schedule

• Omit scheduled_at — the campaign moves to Queued and starts sending right away.
• Include scheduled_at — the campaign moves to Scheduled and will start sending at that time. You can change the scheduled time by calling this endpoint again with a new scheduled_at, or cancel the campaign before it sends.

Response

{
  "id": "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456"
}

tip

The campaign is queued, not yet delivered. Use GET /email/campaigns/:id to poll the campaign status as it progresses through Queued → Sending → Sent.

---

Unsubscribe Compliance

Every marketing campaign must give recipients a way to opt out. Arsel enforces this automatically using the reserved variable {{unsubscribe_link}}.

How it works

At send time, {{unsubscribe_link}} in your template HTML is replaced per-recipient with a unique tracked unsubscribe URL. Clicking it unsubscribes the contact and updates your suppression list immediately. A List-Unsubscribe header is also added to every outgoing message so inbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) can surface their built-in unsubscribe button.

If your template has no unsubscribe element, Arsel automatically appends a minimal footer containing the unsubscribe link before sending. The campaign is never rejected for a missing token — you get the footer for free.

<!-- Recommended: place this wherever you want the link in your template -->
<a href="{{unsubscribe_link}}">Unsubscribe</a>

<!-- If omitted entirely, this footer is appended automatically -->
<div style="text-align:center;padding:16px 0;font-size:12px;color:#888888;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">
  <a href="{{unsubscribe_link}}">Unsubscribe</a>
</div>

Legacy syntax

Templates containing [%unsubscribe_link%] (the older Stripo/SES format) are automatically normalized to {{unsubscribe_link}} during sending. Both forms work.

Custom unsubscribe URLs are not supported

If your template contains an anchor whose visible text says "Unsubscribe" and whose href is a real external URL (not {{unsubscribe_link}}), the send request is rejected with 400 bad_request. Custom URLs bypass the suppression list and break compliance tracking.

{
  "status_code": 400,
  "name": "bad_request",
  "message": "Your template contains a custom unsubscribe URL. Replace it with {{unsubscribe_link}} to ensure compliance tracking."
}

Replace the custom href with {{unsubscribe_link}} and re-send.

---

Examples

Send Now

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456/send" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer be_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

JavaScript

const campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";

const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/${campaignId}/send`,
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: "Bearer be_your_api_key",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({}),
  }
);

const { id } = await response.json();
console.log(id);

Python

import requests

campaign_id = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456"

response = requests.post(
    f"https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{campaign_id}/send",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": "Bearer be_your_api_key",
    },
    json={},
)

print(response.json()["id"])

C#

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer be_your_api_key");

var campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";
var payload = new { };
var json = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(payload);
var content = new StringContent(json, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var response = await client.PostAsync(
    $"https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{campaignId}/send",
    content
);
var result = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(result);

PHP

<?php
$campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";
$ch = curl_init("https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{$campaignId}/send");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "Content-Type: application/json",
    "Authorization: Bearer be_your_api_key"
]);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode([]));
$response = curl_exec($ch);
echo $response;
curl_close($ch);

Schedule for Later

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456/send" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer be_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "scheduled_at": "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z"
  }'

JavaScript

const campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";

const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/${campaignId}/send`,
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: "Bearer be_your_api_key",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      scheduled_at: "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z",
    }),
  }
);

const { id } = await response.json();
console.log(id);

Python

import requests

campaign_id = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456"

response = requests.post(
    f"https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{campaign_id}/send",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": "Bearer be_your_api_key",
    },
    json={"scheduled_at": "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z"},
)

print(response.json()["id"])

C#

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer be_your_api_key");

var campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";
var payload = new { scheduled_at = "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z" };
var json = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(payload);
var content = new StringContent(json, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var response = await client.PostAsync(
    $"https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{campaignId}/send",
    content
);
var result = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(result);

PHP

<?php
$campaignId = "0192a1b2-c3d4-7e5f-9000-abcdef123456";
$ch = curl_init("https://api.arsel.sa/v1/email/campaigns/{$campaignId}/send");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "Content-Type: application/json",
    "Authorization: Bearer be_your_api_key"
]);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode([
    "scheduled_at" => "2026-05-01T09:00:00Z"
]));
$response = curl_exec($ch);
echo $response;
curl_close($ch);

---

Error Responses

400 Bad Request

{
  "status_code": 400,
  "name": "bad_request",
  "message": "Campaign is missing required fields and cannot be sent"
}

401 Unauthorized

{
  "status_code": 401,
  "name": "unauthorized",
  "message": "Invalid or missing API key"
}

404 Not Found

{
  "status_code": 404,
  "name": "not_found",
  "message": "Campaign not found"
}

---

Related: Cancel a campaign