Skip to main content
A subscription is a named opt-in channel a user can subscribe to or unsubscribe from. Most projects need at least one per delivery channel (Marketing email, Transactional SMS, Product push) and many add topic-level subscriptions on top. Spotzee separates subscription types (configured by admins) from subscription states (per-user values).
Subscription types live under Settings → Subscriptions and require the project admin role. Per-user state changes can come from the in-product preference centre, the public PATCH /subscriptions/me endpoint, or the server-side bulk toggle endpoint.

​
What a subscription type is

Each subscription type carries three attributes:
  • Name. What users see in unsubscribe links and preference centres (for example, Marketing email, Promotional SMS, Product updates).
  • Channel. One of email, text (SMS), push, webhook, or in_app. A subscription is bound to exactly one channel.
  • Public visibility. When on, the subscription appears in the customer-facing preference centre. When off, the subscription is internal-only (you control state from the server).
You can create as many subscription types as your channel mix needs. Common patterns:
  • One per channel: Marketing email, Marketing SMS, Marketing push.
  • Topic-level: Newsletter, Product updates, Onboarding tips, Account alerts.
  • Tier-aware: Free-tier email, Premium-tier email (when content differs by plan).

​
The three states

Per-user, each subscription has one of three states: Default state for a new user is unset, which Spotzee treats as subscribed for non-public subscription types (so internal flows reach everyone) and as no-state for public types until the user actively opts in.

​
Create a subscription type

1

Open Settings → Subscriptions

Inside the project, open Settings and pick the Subscriptions tab.
2

Create a new subscription

Choose Create subscription, then complete:
  • Name (for example, Marketing email).
  • Channel (email, text, push, webhook, or in_app).
  • Public. Toggle on if users should see this subscription in their preference centre. Off for internal-only types.
3

Save

Save. The new type appears in the table with the channel badge and visibility flag. Existing users have no state for the new type until you set one or they interact with it.

​
Let users manage their own preferences

The PATCH /subscriptions/me endpoint is purpose-built for browser-side preference centres. It accepts a publishable key and a user session token, so the call is safe to make from a customer’s browser without exposing a secret key.
1

Mint a user session token

From your server, call POST /users/{userId}/sessions with a secret key (sk_…) to mint a short-lived user session token bound to the user.
2

Hand the token to your front-end

Pass the token to your preference-centre page along with your publishable key (pk_…).
3

Toggle subscriptions from the browser

Call PATCH /subscriptions/me with Authorization: Bearer pk_..., X-Spotzee-User-Token: <session token>, and a body of toggle items:
State values follow the encoding above: 0 for unsubscribed, 1 for subscribed, 2 for opted-in. Up to 100 toggles per request. Toggling to the current state is a no-op.
4

Re-render the centre with the response

The endpoint returns the user’s full set of subscription states, refreshed. Use it to re-render your preference centre without an extra round trip.

​
Bulk-toggle from your server

When you need to flip subscription state across many users, use POST /subscriptions/batch with a secret key. Each item identifies its target by external_id or anonymous_id. Per-item errors are returned so a single failed lookup doesn’t hold up the rest of the batch.
Up to 100 toggles per request. Spotzee returns a per-item outcome list so you can retry only the failures. Some opt-out flows happen automatically:
  • Email unsubscribe links. Spotzee inserts a one-click unsubscribe link into outbound HTML emails when the recipient is subscribed to a Public email subscription. Clicking the link records unsubscribed for that subscription.
  • SMS keywords. Replies of STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT mark the user as unsubscribed for the project’s primary SMS subscription. Spotzee then sends back the configured SMS opt-out message (set under Settings → General → Push and SMS).
  • Help keywords. Replies of HELP send back the configured SMS help message. Help responses don’t change subscription state.
These flows mean you don’t need to wire up unsubscribe handling yourself for the common cases. Reach for the API only when you’re building a richer preference centre or processing opt-outs from another source.

​
Next steps

Set up a project

Configure SMS opt-out and help messages for keyword replies.

Sync users

Push user data into a project.

Manage API keys

Issue publishable and secret keys for preference-centre flows.

Authentication

The conceptual model for pk_ plus user session token combinations.