canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/launchnotes.com/launchnotes

# LaunchNotes API

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for LaunchNotes API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The LaunchNotes API exposes embedded announcement feeds so product teams can surface release notes, changelogs, and feature updates inside their own apps. It returns lists of published announcements, the unread count for a given user, and accepts open-tracking events so engagement on each announcement can be measured. The surface is small and read-focused, intended for in-app what's-new widgets rather than full content authoring.

## For AI agents

Fetch published LaunchNotes announcements, read unread counts for end users, and record announcement opens so an agent can drive an in-app changelog or release-notes feed.

## Scope

Does not handle authoring announcements, managing subscribers, or publishing to public RSS - use for fetching and tracking already-published announcements only.

## Capabilities

- Fetch the list of published announcements for embedding in an in-app what's-new feed
- Retrieve the unread announcement count for a specific end user to drive notification badges
- Record an announcement open event so engagement and view-through can be tracked per recipient
- Filter the announcement list by audience or project token to scope content per product line
- Sync release-note content into a downstream notification system without scraping the marketing site

## Use cases

### In-App What's-New Widget

Drive an embedded changelog or what's-new badge inside a SaaS product. The agent calls the announcement-list endpoint to render published release notes and the unread-count endpoint to display a notification badge, then posts open events back to LaunchNotes so per-user engagement is captured. Setup is a single API token and three calls.

Example prompt: Fetch the latest 10 announcements from `/embed/announcement_list`, render them in a panel, and POST a track_open event when the user clicks an entry.

### Release-Note Distribution to Slack or Email

Repurpose published LaunchNotes content for outbound channels. An agent polls the announcement list on a schedule, formats each new entry as a Slack block or email summary, and forwards it to the team. Removes the need to copy release notes manually between systems and keeps internal channels in sync with the public changelog.

Example prompt: Poll `/embed/announcement_list` every 6 hours, diff against the last seen ID, and post any new entries to a Slack webhook with title and body.

### Unread Indicator for Logged-In Users

Show an unread announcement count on a user avatar or notification icon. The agent calls the unread-count endpoint with the authenticated user's identifier on page load and refreshes after each open event so the badge clears in real time. Requires only the embed token and the user identifier.

Example prompt: Call `/embed/unread` for the current user on page load and decrement the displayed count after each track_open POST.

### AI Agent Release-Note Briefing

An AI agent uses Jentic to discover the LaunchNotes operations and assembles a personalised briefing: it pulls the latest announcements, filters them by tag or audience, and summarises them for a user. Tracking the open back to LaunchNotes lets the product team see which agent-delivered briefings are actually being read.

Example prompt: Through Jentic, search 'fetch launchnotes announcements', load the schema, call the list endpoint, summarise the top 3 items, and post a track_open when the user reads the summary.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/embed/announcement_list` | Fetch published announcements for embedding |
| GET | `/embed/unread` | Get unread announcement count for a user |
| POST | `/embed/announcements/track_open` | Record an announcement open event |

## Key resources

- **Announcements** — List published release notes and changelog entries via the embed feed
- **Unread Count** — Per-user count of announcements not yet opened, used for badge indicators
- **Open Tracking** — Record that an announcement was viewed by a specific user for engagement metrics

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the LaunchNotes API by hand means passing its token as a query parameter, targeting the app.launchnotes.io host, and handling the embed endpoints yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the LaunchNotes API from the API Directory, store the token once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** You choose which LaunchNotes operations the agent may call, so you can limit it to the ones it needs, such as listing announcements and checking the unread count. Allowing those reads lets the agent surface announcements without being able to record open events unless you add that operation.
- **Credential handling:** Your LaunchNotes token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'fetch LaunchNotes announcements' or 'track an announcement open', and Jentic returns the matching LaunchNotes operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the developer site.

## Related APIs

- **Canny API** — Canny covers product feedback, roadmap voting, and changelog entries; LaunchNotes is changelog-and-announcement focused.
- **Beamer API** — Beamer provides an embedded changelog and notification centre similar to LaunchNotes.
- **Statuspage API** — Statuspage publishes incident and uptime updates while LaunchNotes publishes feature announcements.

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for LaunchNotes API?

LaunchNotes does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call LaunchNotes API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the LaunchNotes API use?

The LaunchNotes embed API uses an API key passed as a `token` query parameter on each request. Through Jentic, the token is stored encrypted in the credential vault and injected at execution time, so the raw token never enters the agent's context.

### Can I track per-user announcement opens with the LaunchNotes API?

Yes. POST to `/embed/announcements/track_open` with the announcement identifier and a user identifier to record the open. Combine that with `/embed/unread` to drive an unread badge that decrements as the user reads each entry.

### What are the rate limits for the LaunchNotes API?

Rate limits are not declared in the spec. The embed endpoints are designed for in-app polling, so keep refresh intervals to a few minutes or longer and cache the announcement list client-side to avoid unnecessary calls.

### How do I fetch the latest announcements through Jentic?

Run `pip install jentic`, then through the Jentic SDK search for 'fetch launchnotes announcements', load the schema for GET `/embed/announcement_list`, and execute it with your project token. The response is the announcement feed ready to render.

### Is the LaunchNotes API free?

The embed API is bundled with LaunchNotes paid plans rather than sold separately. Check launchnotes.com pricing for the plan tier that includes embedded announcement access for your project.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the LaunchNotes API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which LaunchNotes operations the agent may call, so you can restrict it to just the reads it needs, such as listing announcements from `/embed/announcement_list` and checking the unread count from `/embed/unread.` Allowing only those reads lets the agent surface release notes and drive an unread badge without being able to record open events. If you want engagement tracking too, you add the POST `/embed/announcements/track_open` operation to what the agent is permitted to use. The token that authorises those calls is held by your own instance and injected at execution time, so the agent only ever exercises the operations you approve.