Messages

Message Types

Type	Description
email	A “normal” email BCC’d into Sheep.
templated	A templated message generated in Sheep, delivered by email.
templated-in-app	A templated message generated in Sheep, delivered through the app.
templated-sms	A templated message generated in Sheep, delivered through SMS. Additional costs apply.
templated-post	(Future) A templated message generated in Sheep, printed on demand and posted. Additional costs apply.

Message Status

Status	Description
draft	Initial / draft state.
sent	Successfully handed off to the delivery system.
received	Used for external emails.
queued	Waiting to be handed to the delivery system.
failed	The generation or delivery system reported a failure.
failed_multi	The generation or delivery system reported a 2nd failure.
fatal	A serious issue with message generation or delivery.

Template Fields

Field	Description
process_date	Rendering date/time.
regarding	Additional data to use in the template rendering.
acknowledgement_date	Date email acknowledged by user.
date	Date on email.
from	Email of user sending / system account.
from_reference	sheepCRM contact reference of sender.
html_message	The rendered template (HTML).
text_message	The rendered template (plain text).
raw	The raw template.
status	See message status list above.
subject	Email subject from template.
to_reference	sheepCRM contact reference of recipient.
type	Message delivery type.
uid	System unique ID.
requires_acknowledgement	For use with in-app messages to collect acknowledgement.

External Email Fields

Field	Description
acknowledgement_date	Date email processed by sheepCRM.
cc_reference	sheepCRM contact reference list.
date	Date on email.
files	List of file attachments (posted to S3).
from	Email of sender (text).
from_reference	sheepCRM contact reference of sender.
html_message	Message body as HTML.
text_message	Message body as text (HTML may be converted to text).
raw	Raw message body.
status	Will always be “received”.
subject	Email subject.
to	Message recipient (text).
to_reference	sheepCRM contact reference of recipient.
uid	IMAP message UID.

Creating a Message

POST https://api.sheepcrm.com/api/v1/example/message/
Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "to_reference": "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/",
    "subject": "hello",
    "raw": "hi {{first_name}}",
    "type": "templated"
}

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
{
    "bucket": "example",
    "data": {
        "date": "2021-06-29T10:03:10.311000",
        "delivery_status": null,
        "raw": "hi {{first_name}}",
        "status": "draft",
        "subject": "hello",
        "to_reference": [
            {
                "display_value": "James Webster",
                "ref": "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/"
            }
        ],
        "type": "templated",
        "uid": null
    },
    "uri": "/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/"
}

The message record has been created as a draft. This can be previewed to check the body rendering:

GET https://api.sheepcrm.com/api/v1/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/preview/
Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
    "bucket": "example",
    "data": {
        "content": {
            "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/": {
                "html": "<p>hi James</p>\n",
                "text": "hi James"
            }
        },
        "emails": {
            "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/": "james@sheepcrm.com"
        },
        "errors": {
            "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/": null
        },
        "raw": "hi {{first_name}}",
        "status": "draft",
        "subject": "hello",
        "subjects": {
            "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/": "hello"
        },
        "to_reference": [
            {
                "display_value": "James Webster",
                "ref": "/example/person/5e7cf08e80859e2e284749a8/"
            }
        ],
        "type": "templated"
    },
    "uri": "/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/"
}

Sending a Message

Test send the message

Test the message by sending to yourself (the email associated with the API key). The preview shows the rendering but to see the full email within the wider HTML template, send an actual test message and check it in your email client.

POST https://api.sheepcrm.com/api/v1/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/testsend/
Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY

Send the message

POST https://api.sheepcrm.com/api/v1/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/send/
Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY

Queue and send

For large numbers of recipients, send asynchronously (each email is rendered and sent individually so sending is slow):

POST https://api.sheepcrm.com/api/v1/example/message/60daefde0a7750b55c83a257/queue_and_send/
Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY