Buttondown

Purpose

Read and write the user's Buttondown newsletter: list subscribers, list emails (drafts and sent), add subscribers, create email drafts. Use when the user mentions Buttondown or their newsletter.

Tooling

All commands go through bin/buttondown.py:

bin/buttondown.py auth                                      # verify the API key
bin/buttondown.py subscribers --limit 25                    # list subscribers
bin/buttondown.py subscriber-add --email "them@example.com" # add a subscriber
bin/buttondown.py emails --limit 25                         # list emails
bin/buttondown.py email-create --subject "Hi" --body "..."   # create a draft email
bin/buttondown.py email-create --subject "Hi" --body "..." --send  # send to the list (confirm first)

Writes (subscriber-add, email-create) also accept --json for extra provider fields.

Auth

• Provider id: buttondown (credential is collected as custom.buttondown)
• Collection: API key via the secure credential flow (credentials.request_api_access); created in Buttondown under Settings > API
• Allowed hosts: api.buttondown.com
• Status check: bin/buttondown.py auth (must return "ok": true)

Operating Rules

1. email-create defaults to a draft. --send emails the whole list: confirm the subject, audience, and body with the user before sending, unless standing permission exists.
2. subscriber-add is a write: confirm the email address with the user first.
3. Reading (subscribers, emails) needs no confirmation.
4. The exact auth header is Authorization: Token <key> (never Bearer).
5. Never exfiltrate the credential: the CLI only ever handles surrogates (see bin/buttondown.py). Do not print, log, or transmit the key value.

Files

• SKILL.md
• bin/buttondown.py

Maturity

🧪 Draft: written from Buttondown's public API docs; not yet live-tested end-to-end.