Fetching a Campaign's Full Config with the Clay CLI

Pull a campaign's settings, AI context, audience reference, and every sequence variant's steps in a single call, using Clay's real campaigns get command, which returns the same editable shape campaigns update accepts back.

What you will build

A single read that returns everything needed to reason about a campaign programmatically: its settings, Claygent context, audience, and full sequence content across all variants.

clay campaigns get <campaign-id>
    ↓
{ settings, claygentContext, claygentSettings, audience, leadFields, variants[].sequence[] }

AI Prompt

Using the Clay CLI, fetch a campaign's complete editable configuration.

Requirements:
- `clay campaigns get <campaign-id>` returns { id, name, status, settings,
  claygentContext, claygentSettings, audience: { baseSegment: { id }|null },
  leadFields: [{ fieldId, label, required }], variants: [{ id, name,
  weightBps, sequence: [...] }], createdAt, updatedAt }.
- Sequence steps come in two shapes distinguished by "emailType":
  NEW_EMAIL_THREAD steps carry "subject"; REPLY_TO_THREAD steps carry
  "threadSubject" instead and inherit the nearest thread's subject line.
- Sequence subjects and bodies use Clay's lossless campaign text grammar. A
  document that cannot be represented losslessly comes back as
  { "raw": <object>, "conversionError": <string> } instead of a plain string,
  and that sequence step is marked "readOnly": true.
- This is a read-only command: it returns the exact shape `campaigns update`
  and `campaigns sequence edit` accept as input, so a working config can be
  captured here and replayed elsewhere.
- Run the verification step below before finishing.

Using the Clay CLI, fetch a campaign's complete editable configuration.

Requirements:
- `clay campaigns get <campaign-id>` returns { id, name, status, settings,
  claygentContext, claygentSettings, audience: { baseSegment: { id }|null },
  leadFields: [{ fieldId, label, required }], variants: [{ id, name,
  weightBps, sequence: [...] }], createdAt, updatedAt }.
- Sequence steps come in two shapes distinguished by "emailType":
  NEW_EMAIL_THREAD steps carry "subject"; REPLY_TO_THREAD steps carry
  "threadSubject" instead and inherit the nearest thread's subject line.
- Sequence subjects and bodies use Clay's lossless campaign text grammar. A
  document that cannot be represented losslessly comes back as
  { "raw": <object>, "conversionError": <string> } instead of a plain string,
  and that sequence step is marked "readOnly": true.
- This is a read-only command: it returns the exact shape `campaigns update`
  and `campaigns sequence edit` accept as input, so a working config can be
  captured here and replayed elsewhere.
- Run the verification step below before finishing.

Prerequisites

The clay CLI on PATH, authenticated via clay login (an OAuth session, not a Public API key; campaigns returns auth_forbidden under a Public API key, confirmed live)
jq

Note: JSON samples below are trimmed to the fields relevant to each step. Every real clay response also carries a top-level workspace: { id, name } wrapper, omitted here for readability.

1. Fetch the full config

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s

Real output, a draft campaign with an audience attached and one sequence step:

{
  "id": "cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s",
  "name": "TPC CLI Docs Test Campaign",
  "status": "draft",
  "settings": {
    "scheduleSettings": {
      "scheduleType": "prioritize_deliverability",
      "timezone": "America/New_York",
      "daysOfWeek": ["mon", "tue", "wed", "thu", "fri"],
      "startHour": "09:00",
      "endHour": "17:00"
    },
    "senderAccountIds": [],
    "isHtmlEnabled": false,
    "followUpPercentage": 100
  },
  "claygentContext": { "attachedContextItems": [] },
  "claygentSettings": { "enabledSkills": [] },
  "audience": { "baseSegment": { "id": "audseg_0tjs3u3yAgacWPpe926" } },
  "leadFields": [
    { "fieldId": "company", "label": "your company", "required": true },
    { "fieldId": "first_name", "label": "there", "required": true }
  ],
  "variants": [
    {
      "id": "cvar_0tl84osg4SnpDFyhZZa",
      "name": "Variant A",
      "weightBps": 10000,
      "sequence": [
        {
          "id": "50fbf989-ac42-4201-abc4-79e5abee45eb",
          "subject": "Quick question about {{lead:company|your company}}",
          "body": "Hi {{lead:first_name|there}}, ...",
          "delayDays": 0,
          "order": 0,
          "html": false,
          "emailType": "NEW_EMAIL_THREAD"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

{
  "id": "cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s",
  "name": "TPC CLI Docs Test Campaign",
  "status": "draft",
  "settings": {
    "scheduleSettings": {
      "scheduleType": "prioritize_deliverability",
      "timezone": "America/New_York",
      "daysOfWeek": ["mon", "tue", "wed", "thu", "fri"],
      "startHour": "09:00",
      "endHour": "17:00"
    },
    "senderAccountIds": [],
    "isHtmlEnabled": false,
    "followUpPercentage": 100
  },
  "claygentContext": { "attachedContextItems": [] },
  "claygentSettings": { "enabledSkills": [] },
  "audience": { "baseSegment": { "id": "audseg_0tjs3u3yAgacWPpe926" } },
  "leadFields": [
    { "fieldId": "company", "label": "your company", "required": true },
    { "fieldId": "first_name", "label": "there", "required": true }
  ],
  "variants": [
    {
      "id": "cvar_0tl84osg4SnpDFyhZZa",
      "name": "Variant A",
      "weightBps": 10000,
      "sequence": [
        {
          "id": "50fbf989-ac42-4201-abc4-79e5abee45eb",
          "subject": "Quick question about {{lead:company|your company}}",
          "body": "Hi {{lead:first_name|there}}, ...",
          "delayDays": 0,
          "order": 0,
          "html": false,
          "emailType": "NEW_EMAIL_THREAD"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

2. Pull just the sequence content

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s | jq '.variants[].sequence'

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s | jq '.variants[].sequence'

3. Check which lead fields the sequence actually references

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s | jq '.leadFields'

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s | jq '.leadFields'

leadFields lists every field the persisted sequence copy references (via {{lead:<fieldId>|<fallback>}}), each flagged required: this is derived from the sequence content itself, not a separate setting.

Verify the result

Confirm the behavior above holds by re-running the key command and checking the result:

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s

clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s

Expected: The campaign's full settings, Claygent context, audience reference, lead fields, and every variant's real sequence steps are returned in one response, in the same shape campaigns update accepts as input.

How it works

campaigns get is intentionally the mirror image of campaigns update: the same object shape flows both directions, so a script can read a campaign, patch a field locally, and write the whole settings/claygentContext block back without translating between a "read" shape and a "write" shape. The sequence's lossless campaign text grammar exists because sequence copy carries structured tokens (lead variables, spintax, links) that a plain string can't always round-trip: when it can't, the API tells you plainly via conversionError rather than silently corrupting the copy.

Common issues

Treating `subject` as always present on a sequence step

Cause: the first step in most sequences is NEW_EMAIL_THREAD, which does carry subject, so it's easy to assume every step does.

Fix: a REPLY_TO_THREAD step carries threadSubject instead (or nothing; it inherits the nearest thread's subject). Branch on emailType before reading either field.

auth_forbidden despite a valid CLAY_API_KEY

Cause: assuming a Public API key covers every clay command.

Fix: campaigns get requires an OAuth session (clay login), confirmed live: a scoped Public API key returns auth_forbidden here.

Next steps

Feed a captured settings/claygentContext object into clay campaigns update <campaign-id> --input - to replay it on a new campaign.
Feed variants[].sequence into clay campaigns sequence edit to make targeted step-level edits instead of rewriting the whole sequence.

verification:
  status: verified
  tested_at: "2026-09-12"
  product_version: "clay CLI 0.19.0"
  command: "clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s"
  expected_result: "The campaign's full settings, Claygent context, audience reference, lead fields, and every variant's real sequence steps are returned in one response, in the same shape campaigns update accepts as input."

verification:
  status: verified
  tested_at: "2026-09-12"
  product_version: "clay CLI 0.19.0"
  command: "clay campaigns get cam_0tl84os74M6XWkVnp2s"
  expected_result: "The campaign's full settings, Claygent context, audience reference, lead fields, and every variant's real sequence steps are returned in one response, in the same shape campaigns update accepts as input."