> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.lemlist.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
> Updates the values of custom variables on a lead.
# Update Values of Custom Variables of a Lead
This is not about renaming your custom variables, but really about updating the values within, just like the [Update Lead](./update-lead) endpoint would do on default variables.
Default variables follow the [Update Lead](./update-lead) rules: they are written on the lead's contact and company as well, and `companyName` alone renames the company the lead is linked to.
The response reports it: `warnings` carries a `company-fields-write-company-record` entry naming the `company`-prefixed keys you sent in `params.fields`. It is informational, the update went through. To edit a company on purpose, use [Upsert Company](/api-reference/endpoints/companies/upsert-company).
## OpenAPI
````yaml patch /leads/{leadId}/variables
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
title: lemlist API
version: 1.0.0
description: >-
Welcome to the lemlist Developer Documentation.
lemlist is very customizable and open. You'll find on this page all the API
and integration you can do with lemlist.
# Rate Limit
lemlist's API rate limits requests in order to prevent abuse and overload of
our services.
Rate limits are applied on all routes and per API key performing the
request.
The rate limits are **20** requests per **2** seconds.
The response provides any information you may need about it:
| Header | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Retry-After | The number of seconds in which you can retry |
| X-RateLimit-Limit | The maximum requests in that time |
| X-RateLimit-Remaining | The number of remaining requests you can make |
| X-RateLimit-Reset | The date when the rate limit will reset |
_Example of values for the rate limit headers_
``` json
{
"Retry-After": 2,
"X-RateLimit-Limit": 20,
"X-RateLimit-Remaining": 7,
"X-RateLimit-Reset" : "Tue Feb 16 2021 09:02:42 GMT+0100 (Central European Standard Time)"
}
```
# Definitions
## Team
A team is the entity of lemlist that can handle users and billing.
## Credits
Credits are the coins a team uses to enrich emails, LinkedIn URLs, etc. via
the enrich route. Each enrichment feature needs a certain amount of credits
to run.
## User
You use a user account to connect to lemlist and send messages via the
connected emails or LinkedIn account.
## Campaign
A campaign is the entity to automate outreach. A campaign has multiple
sequences composed of steps.
## Lead
A lead is a person that you try to contact via a campaign.
## Activity
An activity is the history of all the steps.
## Unsubscribe
An unsubscribe occurs when a person decides they don't want to receive
emails from you anymore.
# Authentication
All API routes use the dedicated subdomain `api.lemlist.com`.
lemlist uses API keys to allow access to the API. You can get your lemlist
API key at our [integration
page](https://app.lemlist.com/settings/integrations).
You need to add the `Authorization` header using the `Basic` authentication
type. `login:password` **where the login is always empty and the password is
the API key**.
⚠️ **Don't forget to add the semicolon (**`:`**) before your API key in curl
command.**
> To authorize, use this code:
``` shell
curl https://api.lemlist.com/api/team \
--user ":YourApiKey"
```
**Make sure to replace** **`YourApiKey`** **with your API key.**
# Give feedback
If you want to report a bug, ask for data, or share with us a use case,
please fill this [form](https://lemlist.typeform.com/to/mfVlkyGf). It will
help us centralize your needs!
servers:
- url: https://api.lemlist.com/api
security:
- basicAuth: []
tags:
- name: Enrichment Providers
description: >-
The data providers lemlist can call to find an email or a phone.
Internal providers are paid with lemlist credits and always available.
External providers run on your own account: connect one by saving its API
key, and it becomes available to your waterfalls. `GET
/enrichments/providers` is the catalog of provider ids accepted by the
waterfall endpoints.
- name: Enrichment Waterfalls
description: >-
Control which data providers lemlist calls when enriching a contact, and
in which order.
A waterfall is an ordered list of providers for one enrichment `type`
(`email` or `phone`). Providers are tried one after the other until one
returns a result.
Every team has exactly one default waterfall per type (`isDefault: true`).
While its `editor` is `lemlist` it follows the lemlist behaviour:
providers you connected with your own API key are tried first, then
internal providers in a random order. Once a team member edits its
provider list, `editor` becomes that user's id and the list is followed as
is; resetting it hands it back to `lemlist`.
Custom waterfalls (`isDefault: false`) carry `conditions` on the contact
being enriched, keyed by contact property; every key present must match.
When a contact is enriched, lemlist runs a single waterfall: the custom
waterfall of the requested type whose conditions match the contact, or the
default waterfall when none does. If several match, the one with the most
condition keys wins, then the most recently updated. Only that waterfall
runs; when it finds nothing, the enrichment ends without falling back to
another one.
paths:
/leads/{leadId}/variables:
parameters:
- name: leadId
in: path
required: true
description: The unique identifier of the lead
example: lea_8xJSc7sV7ggpiVnXe
schema:
type: string
patch:
tags:
- Leads
summary: Update Values of Custom Variables of a Lead
description: >-
Update values of custom variables for a lead. Default variables follow
the Update Lead rules: they are written on the lead's contact and
company as well, and `companyName` alone renames the company the lead is
linked to.
parameters:
- name: customField1
in: query
required: false
description: Example custom variable
example: Lemlist
schema:
type: string
- name: customField2
in: query
required: false
description: Example custom variable
example: Will Rule
schema:
type: string
- name: customField3
in: query
required: false
description: Example custom variable
example: The World
schema:
type: string
responses:
'200':
description: Success
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
ok:
type: boolean
example: true
warnings:
type: array
description: >-
Optional warnings, never a failure — the request went
through. They tell you what happened to the company part:
written, or skipped and why. See `code`.
items:
type: object
properties:
code:
type: string
description: >-
**The company WAS written**:
`company-fields-write-company-record`, the
`company`-prefixed keys you sent went to the company
record the lead is linked to, shared by every lead
linked to it, not to the lead alone. `params.fields`
names them.
**The company was NOT written**:
`invalid-company-domain`,
`invalid-company-linkedin-url`,
`company-linkedin-url-not-company` (malformed
identifier, or a personal profile URL),
`company-duplicate-forbidden` (an identifier already
belongs to another company), `company-update-failed`
(the write failed). The lead itself went through in
every case.
**The company domain was dropped**:
`COMPANY_DOMAIN_IGNORED`, `companyDomain` is a
personal email provider or a platform host shared by
many companies (`gmail.com`, a `facebook.com` page,
a bare `wordpress.com`). The lead and its company
went through without it; `params.companyDomain`
names it.
message:
type: string
params:
type: object
additionalProperties:
anyOf:
- type: string
- type: array
items:
type: string
description: >-
Details: `fields` for
`company-fields-write-company-record`, the keys that
went to the company record.
examples:
written:
summary: Variables updated, no company key sent
value:
ok: true
companyKeys:
summary: 'Company keys sent: the company record was written'
value:
ok: true
warnings:
- code: company-fields-write-company-record
message: >-
These keys update the company record shared by every
lead pointing at it, not the lead. Use POST
/api/companies to edit a company.
params:
fields:
- companyName
'400':
description: >-
Possible errors: Invalid leadId / Variables not found / Invalid
variables: / Variables not found / Invalid email
address [invalid-email] / Invalid LinkedIn URL
[invalid-linkedin-url] / LinkedIn URL is not a personal profile
[linkedin-url-not-contact] / Lead could not be updated
[no-valid-leads]
content:
application/json:
example:
ok: false
status: Variables not found
'401':
description: Unauthorized
'404':
description: >-
Possible errors: Lead not found / Campaign not found / Lead not
found [edit-deleted-lead] / Campaign deleted [campaign-deleted]
content:
text/plain:
example: Lead not found
'409':
description: >-
Possible errors: An identifier (email, linkedinUrl or salesnavUrl)
already belongs to another contact [duplicate-forbidden] / Lead
already in the campaign [already-in]
content:
application/json:
example:
error: >-
An identifier (email, linkedinUrl or salesnavUrl) already
belongs to another contact [duplicate-forbidden]
components:
securitySchemes:
basicAuth:
type: http
scheme: basic
````
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