What permissions does the SendGrid API key need?

Read access to Marketing. Renta reads contact lists, segments, and contact exports with this key. A Full Access key works as well. Renta requests the list of contact lists when you click **Save**, so a key without Marketing access fails right there.

Where do I create the key, and what if I lost it?

Create it in SendGrid under **Settings** > **API Keys** > **Create API Key**. SendGrid shows the value once, right after creation. If it is lost, create a new key and paste it into the **API key** field of the source in the **Sources** section.

Will contacts that do not belong to any list be exported?

No. Renta exports contacts list by list, so a contact outside every list stays out of the destination table. Add such contacts to a list in SendGrid to load them.

A contact belongs to two lists. How many rows will it produce?

Two, one per list. Add the List ID parameter to tell the rows apart and to count unique contacts by email in SQL.

Do custom contact fields reach the destination table?

Yes. The parameter list of the Contacts report repeats the field definitions of your SendGrid account, both reserved and custom ones.

Does the pipeline load only the contacts changed since the previous run?

No. Every run reads the object in full and replaces the destination table, so the table matches SendGrid at the time of the run.

SendGrid

Renta exports three SendGrid objects to your data warehouse: marketing contacts, contact lists, and segments.

A contact row holds the reserved fields of the profile together with every custom field defined in your SendGrid account. Lists and segments arrive as metadata rows: identifier, name, and the number of contacts each one holds.

Authentication

Renta connects to SendGrid with an API key that has read access to Marketing. Renta reads contact lists, segments, and contact exports with it.

Create the key in SendGrid under Settings > API Keys > Create API Key. Pick Restricted Access and give the Marketing section read access, or use a Full Access key. SendGrid shows the key once, right after creation, so copy it before closing the page.

When you save the connection, Renta requests the contact lists of the account, so a mistyped key or a key without Marketing access returns an error immediately instead of failing on the first pipeline run.

Connect SendGrid source

Follow these steps to add SendGrid as a source in Renta using an API key.

Go to the CatalogStep 1

Navigate to the Connections > Catalog section in the left sidebar.
Open the Email marketing category and click the SendGrid card marked Source. The SendGrid card marked Destination belongs to Reverse ETL and writes data back into SendGrid instead of loading it into a warehouse.

SendGrid Source card in the Email marketing category of the Renta connection catalog

Open the connection formStep 2

Source name.
A name for this data source. It is used exclusively in the Renta interface.
API key.
The SendGrid API key with read access to Marketing.

Add a new SendGrid connection page with the source name and API key fields

Fill in the fields and saveStep 3

Fill in both fields and click Save. Renta checks the key against SendGrid before creating the connection.

SendGrid connection form with the source name and the API key filled in and the Save button below

Source createdStep 4

The new source appears in the Sources list with the Active status. You can now use it in pipelines.

Sources list with the new SendGrid source in the Active status

Create a pipeline

Once the source is connected, create a pipeline to sync your SendGrid data into your destination.

Create a SendGrid pipeline

Link your SendGrid source to a destination and configure the pipeline.

Select SendGrid as the sourceStep 1

In the left sidebar, click New pipeline. On the Source step, select SendGrid under Already connected and click Next step.

Select a source step with SendGrid under Already connected

Select your SendGrid connectionStep 2

Choose the SendGrid connection you created earlier and click Next step. If your account has several API keys in use, the creation date on the card helps you pick the right connection.

Select your SendGrid connection step with the connection card and its creation date

Select a destinationStep 3

On the Destination step, select your destination (for example, Google BigQuery) and click Next step.

Select a destination step with Google BigQuery under Already connected

Select the destination connectionStep 4

Choose the destination connection you want to load data into and click Next step. The card shows the dataset and project the data will land in.

Select your Google BigQuery connection step with the dataset and project identifiers on the card

Pipeline configuration

On the final step, choose the report, pick its fields, and set the schedule.

Report type

In the Report type dropdown, choose which SendGrid object the pipeline exports. One pipeline loads one report type, so create a separate pipeline for each object you need.

Report type	Description
Contacts	The contacts of the selected list with the reserved fields of their profiles and the custom fields of your account.
Lists metadata	The contact lists of the account: identifier, name, and the number of contacts in the list.
Segments metadata	The segments of the account: identifier, name, parent list, number of contacts, query version, the dates the segment was created and updated, and the times its sample was refreshed and is due to refresh next.

Contact list

The Contacts report loads one list at a time. In the Contact list dropdown, pick All lists or a single list of the account.

Renta orders a separate contact export from SendGrid for every list. A contact that belongs to several lists therefore arrives as several rows, one per list, and the List ID parameter tells them apart. A contact that belongs to no list never reaches the table.

With All lists the run covers every list of the account in turn, so the more lists there are, the longer the run takes.

You cannot filter contacts by segment here. The Segments metadata report loads segment definitions, not the contacts inside them.

Parameters

Check the SendGrid fields to load into the destination table.

Under each field the picker shows the name of its future column. Select All checks the whole list at once, and the Selected Parameters list below the picker removes what you no longer need.

For the Contacts report Renta reads the field definitions from your account when you open the picker, so the list repeats the reserved and custom fields you have in SendGrid, plus the List ID of the list a row came from. Columns keep the type SendGrid assigns to the field, and alternate_emails loads as a list of values inside one column.

The Lists metadata and Segments metadata reports have a fixed field set that does not depend on the account.

Table name

Name the pipeline and the destination table.

Integration name.
The name of the pipeline. It is used exclusively in the Renta interface.
Table name.
The destination table name. You can keep the auto-generated name or enter your own.

Schedule

Choose how often the pipeline runs.

Schedule type	Description
Manual	The pipeline runs only when triggered manually through the interface or via API.
Daily	The pipeline runs once a day at the specified update time.
Interval	The pipeline runs at specified time intervals.
Cron Expression	The pipeline runs on a schedule defined by a cron expression.

For Daily schedules, set the Update time, the exact time each run starts, then click Create pipeline.

Update time selection and the Create pipeline button

Renta also supports API triggers and integration with external orchestrators such as Apache Airflow, Dagster, and Prefect. See the full scheduling documentation for details.

The new pipeline appears in the Pipelines section under the ETL tab, where you can track its runs, progress, and the destination table name.

Pipelines list with the new SendGrid integration in the Completed status

Sync strategy

Renta synchronizes every SendGrid report type the same way.

Strategy	Supported report types	Description
Full reload	Contacts, Lists metadata, Segments metadata	Renta reads the object in full on every run and replaces the contents of the destination table. The table matches SendGrid at the time of the run, so a record you delete in SendGrid, or a contact you remove from a list, disappears from the table on the next run.

Because every run reads the object in full, the pipeline has no date range or overwrite period settings, and destination tables stay unpartitioned.

Frequently asked questions

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