Track your beehiiv newsletter's subscribers, opens and clicks each week

SKILL.md---
name: beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats
description: "Every Monday: beehiiv subscriber growth for last week, open and click rates for each issue you sent, the top post and where new readers came from. Use when the user asks for this, or when it runs on a schedule."
---

# Beehiiv weekly newsletter stats

Every Monday: beehiiv subscriber growth for last week, open and click rates for each issue you sent, the top post and where new readers came from.

The beehiiv dashboard is good at the publication view and at one post at a time. The weekly question a writer has, did the list grow and did this week's issues land better than usual, takes a few screens and some mental math.

The agent reads the publication's stats, the posts sent last week with their open and click rates, and the subscribers who joined, grouped by where they came from. It compares each issue with your average, so a 52% open rate reads as good or bad for your list, not in general.

## Two ways to get the data

Use the API or MCP route when you have an MCP server, a CLI or an API token for the app. Otherwise, if you can drive a browser the user is signed in to (Claude in Chrome, a Playwright or Chrome DevTools MCP server), use the browser route. Say which one you used.

## Route A: API or MCP server

### What you need

- A beehiiv API key with read access to publications, posts and subscriptions in `BEEHIIV_API_KEY`, and the publication ID (it starts with `pub_`).
- A small file to keep last week's active subscriber count, for the net change.

If something is missing, say what and stop; do not invent numbers.

### Steps

1. **Read publication stats** (beehiiv): `GET https://api.beehiiv.com/v2/publications/{publicationId}?expand[]=stats` returns `active_subscriptions`, `average_open_rate` and `average_click_rate`. Keep this week's active count to compare with next week's.
2. **Count new subscribers** (beehiiv): `GET /v2/publications/{publicationId}/subscriptions?order_by=created&direction=desc&limit=100`, following `next_cursor` until `created` is older than last Monday. Group the new ones by `utm_source` (or `referring_site` when it is empty).
3. **Read last week's posts** (beehiiv): `GET /v2/publications/{publicationId}/posts?status=confirmed&order_by=publish_date&direction=desc&expand[]=stats&limit=10` and keep posts with `publish_date` in last week. From `stats.email` take `recipients`, `open_rate`, `click_rate`, `unique_clicks` and `unsubscribes`.
4. **Compare and report**: Net change in active subscribers, new subscribers by source, each post's open and click rate against the publication average, and the top post by click rate with its most clicked link from `stats.clicks`.

## Route B: the browser

### What you need

- Signed in to beehiiv as the publication owner or a workspace member with analytics access (Admin or Contributor with analytics permission). The person picks the publication first.

If something is missing, say what and stop; do not invent numbers.

### Steps

Start at https://app.beehiiv.com/. The user is signed in already; never type passwords or codes, and ask if a sign-in page appears.

1. **Read the subscriber numbers**: Pick the publication in the top-left switcher. Open **Analytics** in the sidebar and the **Subscribers** report with the date range set to the last 7 days: active subscribers today, new subscribers and unsubscribes for the week, and the **Acquisition sources** breakdown of where new readers came from.
2. **Read last week's posts**: Open **Posts** and filter to **Published**. For each post sent last week open its **Analytics** tab and read recipients, open rate, click rate and unsubscribes, plus the **Clicks** table for the most clicked link.
3. **Get your averages**: On **Analytics** > **Posts** (or the publication dashboard), read the average open rate and click rate across all sends so each issue can be compared with your own list rather than a general benchmark.
4. **Report**: Active subscribers and the net change, new subscribers by source, each post against your average rates, the top post by click rate with its top link, and one line on what to repeat.

Note: Report names and tabs in the beehiiv dashboard change a few times a year; look for the Subscribers and Posts reports under Analytics if a label differs. The acquisition breakdown groups small sources into Other.

## The report

- **Active subscribers** and the net change.
- **New subscribers** by source.
- **Each issue sent** last week: recipients, open rate, click rate, unsubscribes, against your average.
- **Top post** by click rate.
- One line on what to repeat.

## Post it to Briefkin

When `BRIEFKIN_TOKEN` is set, or `~/.config/briefkin/env` exists (the installer from https://briefkin.dev/docs writes it), also send the result to the user's Briefkin board as one card. Keep the `item_key` the same on every run so the card updates in place, use a new `event_id` per run, and put today's real numbers in place of the example ones. If the request fails, say so once and carry on.

```bash
[ -n "${BRIEFKIN_TOKEN:-}" ] || . ~/.config/briefkin/env
curl -sS -X POST "${BRIEFKIN_URL:-https://briefkin.dev}/v1/events" \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $BRIEFKIN_TOKEN" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d @- <<'JSON'
{
  "v": 1,
  "event_id": "beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats/<date of this run, e.g. 2026-10-16>",
  "item_key": "beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats",
  "project": "Acme Weekly",
  "source": "Beehiiv weekly newsletter stats skill",
  "kind": "update",
  "title": "+214 subscribers, Tuesday's issue opened by 52%",
  "summary": "**12,486** active subscribers, up **214** (1.7%) after unsubscribes. Tuesday's issue beat your average open rate by 3 points and click rate by 2.",
  "widget": [
    {
      "type": "Grid",
      "props": {
        "columns": 3
      },
      "children": [
        {
          "type": "Stat",
          "props": {
            "label": "Active subscribers",
            "value": 12486,
            "delta": 1.7
          }
        },
        {
          "type": "Stat",
          "props": {
            "label": "Average open rate",
            "value": 49,
            "unit": "%"
          }
        },
        {
          "type": "Stat",
          "props": {
            "label": "Average click rate",
            "value": 6.2,
            "unit": "%"
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Table",
      "props": {
        "columns": [
          "Post",
          "Recipients",
          "Opens",
          "Clicks",
          "Unsubs"
        ],
        "align": [
          "left",
          "right",
          "right",
          "right",
          "right"
        ],
        "rows": [
          [
            "Tuesday: The pricing page teardown",
            "12,301",
            "52%",
            "8.2%",
            14
          ],
          [
            "Friday: Five tools I stopped paying for",
            "12,388",
            "47%",
            "5.1%",
            21
          ]
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Bars",
      "props": {
        "unit": "new subscribers",
        "items": [
          {
            "label": "Recommendations",
            "value": 118
          },
          {
            "label": "twitter",
            "value": 71
          },
          {
            "label": "Website form",
            "value": 49
          },
          {
            "label": "Referral program",
            "value": 11
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
JSON
```

Widgets come from the Briefkin catalog (https://briefkin.dev/v1/catalog). Without a token, just give the user the report.

## Run it on a schedule

Suggested: Mondays at 9:00 (`0 9 * * 1`). From cron, with the agent signed in on that machine:

```bash
0 9 * * 1 claude -p "Run the beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats skill"
# Codex: codex exec, Gemini CLI: gemini -p, Copilot CLI: copilot -p, OpenCode: opencode run
```

Or use the agent's own scheduler (Claude Code routines, Codex automations, Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks): https://briefkin.dev/skills/beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats#schedule

Source: https://briefkin.dev/skills/beehiiv-weekly-newsletter-stats