Integration
MCP for Iterable: run it from Claude.
You ask Claude to look over your Iterable account — audit the templates, flag the campaigns that have gone quiet, pull last month's numbers. Without a connection it can't see any of it; it reasons from whatever you paste and hopes it's current. An MCP for Iterable — an MCP being the Model Context Protocol, Anthropic's open standard for handing Claude real tools instead of generic knowledge — closes that gap. Claude reads your templates, campaigns, and lists over Iterable's API, writes templates back, and sends a proof to a test address. It stops describing your program and starts operating on it.
What Orbit does with Iterable today.
No hand-waving. Every row below is either live over Iterable's API or live with a named caveat. There's a third and fourth state Orbit uses on other ESP pages — not possible via the ESP's public API, and not built yet, kept as separate rows because they're different kinds of honest. Iterable's core email loop hits neither. The two caveats you see are Iterable's own API limits, not gaps in Orbit.
| Operation | Status |
|---|---|
Read templates List every email template and pull any one in full, HTML and all. | Live |
Write templates Create or update a template — Iterable's upsert, so a re-push overwrites cleanly. | Live |
Read campaigns and flows Inventory campaigns and their status straight from the API. | Live |
Read lists Iterable's lists are its audiences — Orbit reads the full inventory. The list endpoint doesn't return member counts, so you won't see sizes here. | Live |
Send a test Fire a templated email to a designated test address as a proof send. | Live |
Auth check Iterable has no ping endpoint, so the check runs a cheap list read instead. | Live, with a caveat |
Campaign metrics Metrics arrive as CSV and are capped at 10 requests per minute per project; Orbit parses and paces them. | Live, with a caveat |
How to connect it.
Two fields in Orbit's MCP settings and you're running. No OAuth flow, no separate app.
- API key — in Iterable, go to Settings → API Keys and create a server-side key. Paste it into Orbit's MCP settings. Iterable authenticates on the
Api-Keyheader — a server-side key is the one that carries read and write scope. - Endpoint — leave it on the default
https://api.iterable.comfor US projects. EU-hosted projects set it tohttps://api.eu.iterable.com— the wrong region is the one setup mistake worth double-checking.
What stays Braze-only.
Orbit works with every ESP, and it's deepest on Braze. A handful of tools are Braze concepts with no Iterable equivalent — Canvas journeys, content blocks, the Braze media library. Those stay behind Braze-named tools rather than pretending to port. It's the honest line, not a roadmap gap: an Iterable list isn't a Braze segment, and a Handlebars snippet isn't a content block.
The full side-by-side is on the compare page →
Beyond the API.
The API connection is half of it. The other half is the 66 skills and 99tools that don't care which ESP you run. Claude composes the copy, generates MJML that compiles to clean HTML, runs the render and QA gates, and does the sample-size and holdout maths for a real test — then pushes the finished template into Iterable. That layer is platform-neutral by design.
One caveat worth naming up front: Iterable templates are Handlebars, not Liquid. Orbit's Liquid validator isn't an Iterable gate — pointing it at Handlebars markup would flag valid syntax as broken. The render and QA gates still run; the Liquid-specific one simply sits out.
Try it.
Orbit is a one-off purchase — $124.50 during the launch window, $249 after. One payment, every skill and tool included, no seats and no subscription. Paste an Iterable server-side key and Claude goes from advisor to operations layer the same afternoon.
Frequently asked.
What can Orbit actually do with Iterable?
Over Iterable's API, Claude reads your templates, campaigns, and lists, creates or updates email templates, and sends a test to a designated address. Two things come with a caveat, both Iterable's own: campaign metrics arrive as CSV and are capped at 10 requests per minute, and there's no auth-ping endpoint so the check runs a cheap list read instead. Nothing in the core email loop is blocked.
How do I connect Iterable to Orbit?
Create a server-side API key in Iterable under Settings → API Keys, and paste it into Orbit's MCP settings. EU-hosted projects also set the endpoint to https://api.eu.iterable.com. That's it — no OAuth dance, no separate app to install.
Does Orbit use Liquid with Iterable?
No. Iterable templates are Handlebars, not Liquid, so Orbit's Liquid validator is not an Iterable gate — running it against Iterable markup would flag valid syntax as broken. Orbit's render and QA gates still apply; the Liquid-specific check simply doesn't.
Why are campaign metrics slower than the other reads?
Iterable's metrics endpoint returns CSV and is rate-limited to 10 requests per minute per project. Orbit parses the CSV into normalised JSON and paces its calls to stay under the limit. It's a constraint of Iterable's API, not of Orbit — and the numbers never get zero-filled where a stat is missing.
When is Iterable the right ESP to run this way?
Iterable is the strong pick for teams under roughly 200k monthly active users who want a UI their lifecycle lead can drive from day one. For lifecycle-heavy programs above 500k MAU with deep segmentation and Canvas-style journeys, Braze is the deeper integration and the better fit. Orbit runs both; it's deepest on Braze.