Add Contacts

Bring contacts into Brew via CSV upload, manual entry, integrations, or the API.

There are four ways to add contacts to Brew. Use whichever fits your workflow.

Method	Best for
CSV upload	One-time imports, migration from another platform, bulk additions
Add manually	A handful of contacts you want to add by hand
Sync from integrations	Continuous sync from HubSpot, Stripe, or other connected sources
API	Programmatic add/update from your backend

Open the Audience tab in the sidebar, then click Add contacts in the top right to choose a method.

CSV Upload

The fastest way to import a lot of contacts at once. Brew handles deduplication and partial updates automatically, and can validate every address as it’s imported if you opt in.

1. Prepare your CSV

   Required column:

   • Email, the contact’s email address

   Recommended:

   • First Name
   • Last Name

   Optional:

   • Subscribed. true or false. Defaults to true if missing.
   • Any custom property you’ve created in Brew

   Download our example CSV template to get the format right.

2. Open the import screen

   Audience → Add contacts → CSV Upload.

3. Upload your CSV

   Drag and drop, or click to browse. Wait for it to process.

4. Map columns to Brew properties

   For each CSV column, confirm the mapping is right. Unrecognized columns will be created as new custom properties.

5. Review and import

   To deliverability-check every address as it’s ingested, tick the validation checkbox (2 credits per address). Then click Complete Import. Contacts process in the background. You can navigate away.

Updating Existing Contacts

CSV upload also updates contacts that already exist.

Matching

Brew matches on email address. If the email exists, the row updates the existing contact. If not, a new contact is created.

Partial updates

Empty cells don’t overwrite existing data. Only cells with values update the corresponding property.

Subscription status

• If the Subscribed column is missing, new contacts are subscribed by default
• To import unsubscribed contacts, include Subscribed with false
• The importer never re-subscribes contacts who have previously unsubscribed

Common Issues

Duplicate contacts

If your CSV has duplicate emails, Brew processes them in order, the last row wins. Deduplicate before uploading to avoid surprises.

Invalid email formats

Emails must be in a valid format (e.g. [e-mail]). Invalid emails are flagged at the review step and skipped.

Encoding issues

Make sure your CSV is UTF-8 encoded. Garbled characters in the column-mapping screen mean the file isn’t UTF-8, re-export.

Large files

Very large CSVs can take several minutes. Split huge files into smaller batches if you want easier tracking.

Import History

Past imports appear below the upload area on the CSV Upload page, date, count, and any errors.

Add Manually

For a few contacts at a time. Audience → Add contacts → Add manually, then enter the email and optional properties. The form has the same validation checkbox as the CSV import; tick it and the address is checked as it’s saved.

Sync from Integrations

Connecting an event-source integration keeps contacts flowing into Brew automatically. Every webhook the provider sends does two things at once, fires every Published automation whose trigger matches the event, and upserts the contact into your audience with provider-namespaced custom fields you can use in filters and merge tags.

Integration	What gets synced
Clerk	clerk_user_id, clerk_organization_id, clerk_subscription_status, clerk_plan_name, clerk_is_trialing, clerk_signed_up_at, clerk_last_sign_in_at, clerk_waitlist_status
Stripe	stripe_customer_id, stripe_subscription_status, stripe_subscription_plan, stripe_lifetime_value_cents, stripe_renews_at, stripe_trial_end, stripe_delinquent, plus one-click backfill of every historic customer
Stytch	stytch_project (Consumer or B2B), stytch_user_id, stytch_member_id, stytch_organization_id, stytch_org_role, stytch_account_status
Supabase	supabase_user_id, supabase_phone, supabase_role, supabase_account_status, supabase_email_verified_at, supabase_phone_verified_at, supabase_last_sign_in_at
WorkOS	workos_user_id, workos_email_verified, workos_organization_id, workos_org_role, workos_directory_user_id, workos_directory_id, workos_account_status
Shopify	shopify_customer_id, shopify_shop_domain, shopify_tags, shopify_account_status, shopify_last_order_id, shopify_last_order_total, shopify_last_order_at, shopify_last_fulfillment_status
RevenueCat	revenuecat_app_user_id, revenuecat_store, revenuecat_environment, revenuecat_subscription_status, revenuecat_product_id, revenuecat_last_purchase_at

Custom field definitions are auto-created on first write, so new fields show up filterable in the audience UI without any extra setup.

API

Programmatically create, update, or delete contacts from your backend. POST /v1/contacts and POST /v1/contacts/import-csv take an optional validate: true to check each address as it’s ingested.

View API documentation

Endpoints, authentication, and code examples

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