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POST
/
inbox
/
{contactId}
/
drafts
Create Draft
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.lemlist.com/api/inbox/{contactId}/drafts \
  --header 'Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "channel": "email",
  "content": "<p>Hello John, I wanted to follow up on our conversation.</p>"
}
'
import requests

url = "https://api.lemlist.com/api/inbox/{contactId}/drafts"

payload = {
    "channel": "email",
    "content": "<p>Hello John, I wanted to follow up on our conversation.</p>"
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Basic <encoded-value>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)
const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Basic <encoded-value>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    channel: 'email',
    content: '<p>Hello John, I wanted to follow up on our conversation.</p>'
  })
};

fetch('https://api.lemlist.com/api/inbox/{contactId}/drafts', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.lemlist.com/api/inbox/{contactId}/drafts")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Basic <encoded-value>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"channel\": \"email\",\n  \"content\": \"<p>Hello John, I wanted to follow up on our conversation.</p>\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.lemlist.com/api/inbox/{contactId}/drafts",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'channel' => 'email',
    'content' => '<p>Hello John, I wanted to follow up on our conversation.</p>'
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
{
  "draftId": "drf_abc123def456789"
}
"Content must not be empty"
"The authentication you supplied is incorrect"
The draftOwner query parameter is required and identifies the draft owner. It accepts either:
  • A userId (e.g., usr_abc123def456789) — used directly
  • A login email (e.g., john@acme.com) — resolved to userId via email lookup
This follows the same pattern as contactOwner in the Lead API. Team membership is verified in both cases.
Validations:
  • content must not be empty and has a max size of 30KB (30,000 characters)
  • channel must be one of: email, linkedin, whatsapp, sms
  • Maximum of 10 drafts per conversation
  • content and subject are sanitized for security

Authorizations

​
Authorization
string
header
required

Basic authentication header of the form Basic <encoded-value>, where <encoded-value> is the base64-encoded string username:password.

Path Parameters

​
contactId
string
required

Contact ID

Query Parameters

​
draftOwner
string
required

Draft owner identifier. Accepts either a userId (e.g., usr_abc123def456789) or a login email (e.g., john@acme.com).

Body

application/json
​
channel
enum<string>
required

Communication channel

Available options:
email,
linkedin,
whatsapp,
sms
​
content
string
required

Draft content (max 30KB)

​
subject
string

Draft subject (optional)

​
cc
string[]

CC email addresses (optional)

​
attachments
object[]

File attachments (optional)

​
replyToActivityId
string

Activity ID to reply to (optional)

​
sourceMetadata
object

Additional metadata (optional)

Response

Draft created successfully

​
draftId
string

ID of the created draft