ActiveCampaign

Lightweight, dependency-free, in-memory fake of the ActiveCampaign v3 HTTP REST API for testing application code that talks to ActiveCampaign directly with the axios HTTP client (the documented integration path). Speaks the exact wire protocol the real service uses — singular-keyed request/response bodies, Api-Token auth, plural-keyed list envelopes with meta.total, and HTTP 422 validation errors — with zero cost and zero side effects. State is in-memory, ephemeral, and resettable.

Default port: 4659

Quick start

Start the server:

import { ActivecampaignServer } from "./services/activecampaign/src/server.js";

const server = new ActivecampaignServer(4659);
await server.start();
// ... run your app / tests ...
await server.stop();

Point the real axios client at it. The v3 API lives under /api/3 and authenticates with an Api-Token request header:

import axios from "axios";

const ac = axios.create({
  baseURL: "http://127.0.0.1:4659/api/3", // point at the parlel fake
  headers: {
    "Api-Token": process.env.ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_TOKEN,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
});

// Create a contact (singular-keyed body)
const { data } = await ac.post("/contacts", {
  contact: { email: "ada@parlel.test", firstName: "Ada", lastName: "Lovelace" },
});
// data.contact.id => a generated contact id (string)

// Upsert a contact by email (always responds 201, create or update — and the
// response wraps a top-level `fieldValues` array alongside `contact`)
await ac.post("/contact/sync", {
  contact: { email: "ada@parlel.test", firstName: "Ada B.", fieldValues: [{ field: "1", value: "VIP" }] },
});

// Create a tag and apply it to the contact
const { data: tag } = await ac.post("/tags", { tag: { tag: "VIP", tagType: "contact" } });
await ac.post("/contactTags", { contactTag: { contact: data.contact.id, tag: tag.tag.id } });

// Subscribe the contact to a list (status "1" = subscribe, "2" = unsubscribe)
const { data: list } = await ac.post("/lists", { list: { name: "Newsletter" } });
await ac.post("/contactLists", {
  contactList: { list: list.list.id, contact: data.contact.id, status: "1" },
});

// List contacts (plural-keyed envelope + meta.total)
const { data: page } = await ac.get("/contacts?limit=20&offset=0");
// page.contacts => [...], page.meta.total => "N"

Errors raise HTTP status codes (axios throws on >= 400); inspect error.response.status and error.response.data.errors for validation failures.

Wire conventions

• Base path: /api/3
• Auth: Api-Token: <token> header. Any non-empty token is accepted by the fake. A missing token returns HTTP 403 with { "message": "..." }.
• Create / update bodies wrap the resource under its singular key, e.g. { "contact": { ... } }, { "tag": { ... } }, { "deal": { ... } }.
• Single-resource responses wrap under the singular key: { "contact": { ... } }.
• Collection responses wrap under the plural key plus a meta block: { "contacts": [ ... ], "meta": { "total": "N" } }.
• IDs are returned as strings (matching ActiveCampaign's serialisation).
• Pagination: ?limit= (default 20, max 100) and ?offset= (default 0).
• Validation errors use HTTP 422 with the real ActiveCampaign envelope — an errors array of { title, detail, code }. The v3 API does not use the JSON:API source.pointer convention, so the emulator never emits a source key:

  { "errors": [ { "title": "...", "detail": "...", "code": "duplicate" } ] }
  

Implemented operations

Contacts

Tags

Contact Tags

Lists & Contact Lists

Custom Fields & Field Values

Deals, Pipelines (Deal Groups) & Stages

Notes

Accounts (CRM)

Contact Automations

Webhooks

Read-only resources (seeded)

Infrastructure / control (parlel-specific)

Surface coverage

This emulator faithfully replicates the API surface most application code and agents exercise. Anything below the supported lines is either an intentional design choice for a fast, zero-cost local emulator (✓ By design) or a candidate for a future release (⟳ Roadmap) — never a silent inaccuracy.

Legend: ✅ fully supported · ◐ accepted (stored, not strictly enforced) · ✓ by design · ⟳ on the roadmap.

Error codes / shapes

Environment variables

Configuration — test.env

Copy these into your test.env (used by the bridge sidecar flow). Tokens are Parlel's seeded test credentials — any non-empty value is accepted by the emulator, so you rarely need to change them. Swap in real credentials only when pointing at the live service in prod.env.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_URL=http://parlel-bridge:4659
ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_TOKEN=parlel-test-api-token
ACTIVECAMPAIGN_ACCOUNT=parlel-test