Klaviyo Hello World

Overview

Minimal working example: create a profile, track an event, and query the result using the klaviyo-api Node.js SDK against a.klaviyo.com/api/*.

Prerequisites

• Completed klaviyo-install-auth setup
• KLAVIYO_PRIVATE_KEY set in environment
• klaviyo-api package installed

Instructions

Step 1: Create a Profile

// hello-klaviyo.ts
import {
  ApiKeySession,
  ProfilesApi,
  EventsApi,
  ProfileCreateQuery,
  ProfileEnum,
  EventCreateQueryV2,
  EventEnum,
} from 'klaviyo-api';

const session = new ApiKeySession(process.env.KLAVIYO_PRIVATE_KEY!);
const profilesApi = new ProfilesApi(session);
const eventsApi = new EventsApi(session);

// Create or update a profile
// NOTE: SDK uses camelCase (firstName, not first_name)
const profilePayload: ProfileCreateQuery = {
  data: {
    type: ProfileEnum.Profile,
    attributes: {
      email: 'hello@example.com',
      firstName: 'Hello',
      lastName: 'World',
      properties: {
        source: 'hello-world-script',
        signupDate: new Date().toISOString(),
      },
    },
  },
};

const profile = await profilesApi.createProfile(profilePayload);
console.log('Profile created:', profile.body.data.id);

Step 2: Track an Event

// Track a custom event tied to the profile
const eventPayload: EventCreateQueryV2 = {
  data: {
    type: EventEnum.Event,
    attributes: {
      // The metric name -- creates the metric if it doesn't exist
      metric: {
        data: {
          type: 'metric',
          attributes: {
            name: 'Hello World Test',
          },
        },
      },
      // Link to the profile by email
      profile: {
        data: {
          type: ProfileEnum.Profile,
          attributes: {
            email: 'hello@example.com',
          },
        },
      },
      properties: {
        message: 'First event from API!',
        timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
      },
      time: new Date().toISOString(),
      value: 0,
    },
  },
};

await eventsApi.createEvent(eventPayload);
console.log('Event tracked: Hello World Test');

Step 3: Retrieve the Profile

// Fetch profiles filtered by email
const profiles = await profilesApi.getProfiles({
  filter: 'equals(email,"hello@example.com")',
});

const p = profiles.body.data[0];
console.log(`Found: ${p.attributes.firstName} ${p.attributes.lastName}`);
console.log(`ID: ${p.id}`);
console.log(`Created: ${p.attributes.created}`);

Step 4: Complete Script

// hello-klaviyo.ts -- full runnable script
import {
  ApiKeySession,
  ProfilesApi,
  EventsApi,
  ProfileEnum,
} from 'klaviyo-api';

async function main() {
  const session = new ApiKeySession(process.env.KLAVIYO_PRIVATE_KEY!);
  const profilesApi = new ProfilesApi(session);
  const eventsApi = new EventsApi(session);

  // 1. Create profile
  const profile = await profilesApi.createProfile({
    data: {
      type: ProfileEnum.Profile,
      attributes: {
        email: 'hello@example.com',
        firstName: 'Hello',
        lastName: 'World',
      },
    },
  });
  console.log(`Profile created: ${profile.body.data.id}`);

  // 2. Track event
  await eventsApi.createEvent({
    data: {
      type: 'event',
      attributes: {
        metric: { data: { type: 'metric', attributes: { name: 'Hello World Test' } } },
        profile: { data: { type: 'profile', attributes: { email: 'hello@example.com' } } },
        properties: { source: 'hello-world' },
        time: new Date().toISOString(),
      },
    },
  });
  console.log('Event tracked successfully');

  // 3. Query profile back
  const result = await profilesApi.getProfiles({
    filter: 'equals(email,"hello@example.com")',
  });
  console.log(`Verified: ${result.body.data[0]?.attributes.firstName}`);
}

main().catch(console.error);

Run it:

npx tsx hello-klaviyo.ts

Output

Profile created: 01JXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Event tracked successfully
Verified: Hello

Error Handling

Key SDK Conventions

• camelCase properties: The SDK uses firstName, phoneNumber, lastName (not snake_case)
• JSON:API format: All payloads use { data: { type, attributes } } structure
• Response body: Access via response.body.data (not response.data)
• Profile identifiers: Use email, phoneNumber, or externalId to identify profiles

Resources

• Create Profile API
• Create Event API
• Get Profiles API
• klaviyo-api-node Examples

Next Steps

Proceed to klaviyo-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup, or klaviyo-core-workflow-a for profile and list management.