Instantly Common Errors

Instantly Common Errors

Overview

Diagnostic reference for Instantly API v2 errors. Covers HTTP status codes, campaign state errors, account health issues, lead operation failures, and webhook delivery problems.

Prerequisites

• Completed instantly-install-auth setup
• Access to Instantly dashboard for verification
• API key with appropriate scopes

HTTP Status Codes

Campaign Errors

Campaign Won't Activate (Stuck in Draft)

// Diagnosis: check campaign requirements
async function diagnoseCampaign(campaignId: string) {
  const campaign = await instantly<Campaign>(`/campaigns/${campaignId}`);

  const issues: string[] = [];

  // Check sequences
  if (!campaign.sequences?.length || !campaign.sequences[0]?.steps?.length) {
    issues.push("No email sequences — add at least one step with subject + body");
  }

  // Check schedule
  if (!campaign.campaign_schedule?.schedules?.length) {
    issues.push("No sending schedule — add schedule with timing and days");
  }

  // Check sending accounts
  const mappings = await instantly(`/account-campaign-mappings/${campaignId}`);
  if (!Array.isArray(mappings) || mappings.length === 0) {
    issues.push("No sending accounts assigned — add via PATCH /campaigns/{id} with email_list");
  }

  // Check for leads
  const leads = await instantly<Lead[]>("/leads/list", {
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify({ campaign: campaignId, limit: 1 }),
  });
  if (leads.length === 0) {
    issues.push("No leads — add leads via POST /leads");
  }

  if (issues.length === 0) {
    console.log("Campaign looks ready to activate");
  } else {
    console.log("Issues preventing activation:");
    issues.forEach((i) => console.log(`  - ${i}`));
  }
}

Campaign Status Codes

Fix: Accounts Unhealthy (-1)

async function fixUnhealthyAccounts(campaignId: string) {
  // 1. Get accounts assigned to campaign
  const accounts = await instantly<Account[]>("/accounts?limit=100");

  // 2. Test vitals for each
  const vitals = await instantly("/accounts/test/vitals", {
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify({ accounts: accounts.map((a) => a.email) }),
  });

  // 3. Identify and fix broken accounts
  for (const v of vitals as any[]) {
    if (v.smtp_status !== "ok" || v.imap_status !== "ok") {
      console.log(`BROKEN: ${v.email} — SMTP=${v.smtp_status}, IMAP=${v.imap_status}`);
      // Pause the broken account
      await instantly(`/accounts/${encodeURIComponent(v.email)}/pause`, { method: "POST" });
      console.log(`  Paused ${v.email}. Fix credentials, then resume.`);
    }
  }
}

Lead Errors

Duplicate Lead (422)

// Prevent duplicates by setting skip flags
await instantly("/leads", {
  method: "POST",
  body: JSON.stringify({
    campaign: campaignId,
    email: "user@example.com",
    first_name: "Jane",
    skip_if_in_workspace: true,   // skip if email exists anywhere in workspace
    skip_if_in_campaign: true,    // skip if already in this campaign
  }),
});

Lead Status Reference

Rate Limit Handling

async function withBackoff<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
  maxRetries = 5
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await operation();
    } catch (err: any) {
      if (err.status === 429 && attempt < maxRetries) {
        const wait = Math.pow(2, attempt) * 1000;
        console.warn(`429 Rate Limited. Waiting ${wait}ms (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries})`);
        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, wait));
        continue;
      }
      throw err;
    }
  }
  throw new Error("Unreachable");
}

Webhook Errors

Quick Diagnostic Script

set -euo pipefail
echo "=== Instantly Health Check ==="

# Test auth
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "Auth: HTTP %{http_code}\n" \
  https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/campaigns?limit=1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INSTANTLY_API_KEY"

# Count campaigns by status
curl -s https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/campaigns?limit=100 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INSTANTLY_API_KEY" | \
  jq 'group_by(.status) | map({status: .[0].status, count: length})'

# Check account health
curl -s https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/accounts?limit=100 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INSTANTLY_API_KEY" | \
  jq '[.[] | {email, status, warmup_status}] | .[:5]'

Error Handling

Instructions

1. Classify identity, sender, consent, suppression, recipient validation, quota, schedule, delivery, and webhook errors before changing configuration.
2. Reproduce once with synthetic recipients and a draft-only campaign, capturing only status, latency, quota, and opaque IDs.
3. Check sender scope, consent, suppression, campaign state, and quota in that order.
4. Apply one reversible change at a time and escalate a redacted bundle when the error persists.

Output

Return error class, correlation ID, campaign scope, consent/suppression state, probe outcome, remediation attempted, and next owner. Do not include addresses, copy, sender details, or credentials.

Examples

status=429; campaign=sandbox-only; correlation=send-opaque-11; action=bounded-backoff; consent=pass; suppression=pass; sends=0 supports a safe handoff.

Resources

• Instantly API v2 Docs
• Instantly Help Center
• API Schemas

Next Steps

For structured debugging, see instantly-debug-bundle.