--- title: Attentive slug: u7YL-attentive createdAt: 2026-08-04T18:42:39.174Z --- Attentive is a mobile messaging platform for SMS and email campaigns. Connecting it to Chord brings your subscribers, message sends, and engagement events into your warehouse, so SMS and email performance sits next to your orders, sessions, and other paid channels. To connect, you create an app in Attentive, generate an API key, and share the key with Chord. The steps below cover all three. ## Attentive is webhook-only Attentive does not offer an API to read your message history. It only pushes events out as they happen, through webhooks. That has one consequence worth planning around: Chord can only capture Attentive events from the day your webhook is registered forward. Sends, clicks, and opt-ins from before that date are not retrievable through the API and will not appear in your warehouse. If you need historical subscriber data, Attentive can export subscriber details for a segment from its own UI as a one-time file. Ask your Chord contact if you want that loaded alongside the live event feed. ## Generate an Attentive API key You need an Attentive user with access to the integrations page. If you cannot see it, ask your Attentive account admin. 1. Log in to Attentive. 2. Go to **Integrations**. 3. Click **+ Create App** in the top right. 4. Set **App name** to `Chord`. 5. Set **Contact email** to your own email address. 6. Under **Permissions**, every API starts at **No Access**. Set **Webhooks** to **Write** and leave the rest at **No Access**. 7. Click **Create**. The **Copy API key** modal appears. 8. Click **Copy**, then paste the key somewhere safe before you close the modal. Attentive shows the API key **only once**. Attentive's own wording: "This is the only time you will be able to copy this API key." If you close the modal without copying it, regenerate the key from the app on the integrations page and copy the new one. Attentive offers only **No Access** or **Write** for each API. There is no read-only level, so **Write** on Webhooks is the minimum that works. ## Turn on event webhooks The key alone is not enough. The app also has to be allowed to send events. 1. On the integrations page, select the app you just created. 2. Open the **Settings** tab, then the **Webhooks** tab. 3. Set **Event Webhook Status** to **ON**. 4. Under **Subscribe to event notifications**, select **Subscription webhook**. Chord registers the specific events it needs once it has your key. You do not pick events yourself. ## Share the key with Chord Send the key to your Chord contact or to [help@chord.co](mailto\:help@chord.co) over your agreed secure channel. Do not put it in a plain email or a public Slack channel. Treat it like a password. Anyone holding it can send messages from your Attentive account. Chord verifies the key with a single authenticated call to Attentive, registers the webhook, and confirms back to you. Events start arriving from that point. The key is encrypted at rest and is never shown again in the Chord UI. ## What Chord receives Once the webhook is live, Chord captures these events as they happen: - **Subscriptions.** SMS and email opt-ins and opt-outs. - **Sends.** SMS and email messages sent, with message and campaign identifiers. - **Engagement.** Email opens, and link clicks on both SMS and email. - **Inbound.** Replies your subscribers send back over SMS. - **Attributes.** Custom subscriber attributes as they are set. ## Troubleshooting **Chord says the key is invalid.** Confirm you copied the full value from the modal with no missing characters and no trailing space. If you regenerated the key in Attentive after sending it, send the new one. **The key works but no events arrive.** Check the app on Attentive's integrations page. **Webhooks** must be **Write**, and **Event Webhook Status** must be **ON** under Settings then Webhooks. Changing either takes effect without a new key. **I connected today. Where is last quarter's data?** It does not exist to fetch. See the webhook-only section above. Nothing before your webhook registration date is available through the Attentive API. **Do Attentive API keys expire?** No. A key stays valid until you regenerate it or delete the app. **How do I rotate the key?** Regenerate it on the app on Attentive's integrations page, copy the new value, and send it to Chord. The old key stops working the moment you regenerate, so events pause until Chord has the new one. Tell your Chord contact before you rotate so the gap stays short. **My Attentive plan has no integrations page.** API access is not enabled on every Attentive plan. Contact Attentive support to turn it on, then start at step 1. *** Stuck on a step? Email [help@chord.co](mailto\:help@chord.co) with the exact error text and we will trace it.