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AlpacaRelay connects to the platforms you already run on, in two directions: it exchanges designs with the email service provider you send from, and it pulls customer and booking data in from Square.

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Send through your ESP

AlpacaRelay is where you design emails. Your ESP is where you send them. An integration connects the two, so a design never has to travel as a copied-and-pasted blob of HTML. Designs move both ways:

Import

Pull a template that already lives in your ESP into AlpacaRelay, then edit it like any other email.

Export

Push a finished AlpacaRelay email into your ESP as a template, and re-sync it whenever you change the design.

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Supported providers

Mailchimp

Connects with OAuth. Exports a saved template.

Klaviyo

Connects with OAuth. Exports an HTML template.

SendGrid

Connects with an API key. Exports a dynamic template.

Postmark

Connects with a server token. Exports a standard template.
You keep your own ESP account and your own sending. AlpacaRelay never sends your campaigns through your ESP — it reads and writes templates, nothing else.

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Connect a provider

Connections belong to the workspace, not to you personally. Once someone connects Mailchimp, everyone in the workspace can push emails to it.
1

Open Connected apps

Click your workspace name, then Settings → Connected apps.
2

Pick a provider

Click Connect app and choose your provider.
3

Authorize

Mailchimp and Klaviyo open their own sign-in page, where you approve access. SendGrid and Postmark ask for an API key instead — the provider pages explain which key to create and where to find it.
4

Confirm it worked

The provider appears in your connected apps list with a Connected badge and the account name it resolved.
Connected apps is limited to workspace owners. If you don’t see it in Settings, ask an owner to connect the provider for you — you’ll still be able to import and export once they have.
You can connect all four providers at once, but only one account per provider per workspace. To point AlpacaRelay at a different Mailchimp account, disconnect the current one first.

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Export an email to your ESP

1

Save your email

Export pushes the last saved version of a design, not unsaved edits in the editor. Save before you push.
2

Open Send to app

In the editor, open the dropdown next to the email’s name and choose Send to app. From the emails list, use the ⋯ menu on the email’s card.
3

Create the template

Each connected provider gets a row. Click Create template to push the design.
4

Re-sync after changes

Come back to Send to app and click Re-sync. The same template in your ESP is updated in place — the template ID never changes, so campaigns and automations already pointing at it pick up the new design.
The first export creates a link between one AlpacaRelay email and one template in that provider. That link is what makes Re-sync update instead of duplicate.
Deleting an AlpacaRelay email removes its links. Nothing is deleted in your ESP.
The next Re-sync notices it’s gone, drops the stale link, and creates a fresh template instead of failing permanently.

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Export status on email cards

Cards in your emails list carry a small badge so you can see sync state without opening anything:

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Import a template from your ESP

1

Start a new email

From the emails list or the new-email screen, click Import.
2

Choose a provider

Your connected providers are listed under Integrations in the modal’s sidebar, alongside Upload file and Paste code.
3

Pick a template

Browse the templates in that account and select one. Some providers group templates into views — use the view switcher to move between them.
4

Import and edit

The template’s HTML is converted into an editable AlpacaRelay email. From there it behaves like anything else you’ve designed.
Not every template can be imported. Templates that don’t expose usable HTML — layouts, wrappers, and drag-and-drop templates the provider only renders internally — appear greyed out with the reason on hover. Turn on Hide unavailable templates to filter them out.
Imported templates keep the provider’s own placeholder syntax as literal text. AlpacaRelay doesn’t interpret {{ first_name }} or similar tags, so they survive the round trip unchanged.

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Connection states

Reconnecting is the same flow as connecting. Your existing email-to-template links survive it, so Re-sync keeps updating the same templates afterwards. Disconnecting revokes AlpacaRelay’s access to that account. It does not touch any template already in your ESP.

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Troubleshooting ESP connections

The email has never been saved with content. Add something to the design, save, then push.
It hasn’t been connected for this workspace yet. An owner needs to add it under Settings → Connected apps.
Access was probably revoked on the provider’s side — a rotated API key, or a removed OAuth app. The connection flips to Needs attention; reconnect and try again.
The linked template was deleted in your ESP, so AlpacaRelay made a new one. Repoint any campaign that referenced the old template.

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Bring in your customer data

Square is a different kind of integration: data flows in, not out. Connecting it syncs your customers, orders, payments, refunds, and appointments into AlpacaRelay, so you can see your business at a glance and email the people in it.

Square

Sync customers, appointments, and purchase activity — then import your customers as contacts.
Square never receives your designs and never sends your email. It’s a source of people and activity to send to.