Papercups

Papercups is an open-source customer-messaging and live-chat platform built on Elixir/Phoenix, positioned as a self-hosted alternative to Intercom. It exposes a REST API for conversations, messages, and customers, a realtime chat surface over Phoenix WebSocket channels, and outbound webhooks. The project is in maintenance mode (community-maintained, no major new features).

Papercups publishes 5 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Realtime Chat API (WebSocket / Phoenix Channels), Conversations API, Customers API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include Customer Messaging, Live Chat, Open-Source, Support, and Intercom Alternative.

The Papercups catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

Papercups’ developer surface includes authentication, documentation, and 8 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

40.5/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 21/100 agent aware saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-09-08 · rubric v0.20.0

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

1 APIs

Customer MessagingLive Chat Open-Source SupportIntercom Alternative

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-09-08 · rubric v0.20.0

Composite quality — 40.5/100 · developing

Contract Quality 12.8 / 23

Developer Ergonomics 5.1 / 18

Access Clarity 5.2 / 18

Operational Transparency 4.0 / 12

Contract Governance 1.2 / 11

Discoverability 6.2 / 9

Create-or-Update Ergonomics 2.8 / 10

Agent readiness — 21/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 6 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Create-or-Update Ergonomics applies to this provider. This API accepts writes, so it carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from the published contracts themselves: whether a caller can create-or-update in one call, whether the write accepts a key the caller already holds, and whether the response says which branch ran. Without that, every write needs a search-and-branch in front of it, and the first time that check is skipped a duplicate record is created. Scored against the observed mean rather than raw — a provider at the catalog average is unchanged by this facet, not penalised by it.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/papercups: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

APIs 7

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Papercups Notifications & Webhooks API

Outbound event subscriptions delivered as webhooks (message:created, conversation:created, conversation:updated, and a webhook:verify challenge handshake) notifying external sys...

Papercups Realtime Chat API (WebSocket / Phoenix Channels)

Bidirectional realtime live chat over Phoenix WebSocket channels. Clients join conversation, conversation-lobby, and account-room channels and exchange shout (message), messages...

Papercups Webhooks

Register external HTTPS endpoints to receive Papercups events as POSTed JSON payloads of shape { event, payload }, with a verify-challenge handshake on registration.

Papercups Conversations API

Threads of messages between customers and agents.

Papercups Customers API

Customer records (users, leads, or contacts).

Papercups Messages API

Individual messages within conversations.

Papercups Users API

Authenticated user and team members.

Scroll for all 7

Open Collections 6

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

API Collection

OPEN COLLECTION

Papercups Conversations API

OPEN COLLECTION

Papercups Conversations Customers API

OPEN COLLECTION

Papercups Conversations Messages API

OPEN COLLECTION

Papercups Conversations Users API

OPEN COLLECTION

Papercups API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Papercups Plans Pricing

2 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Papercups Rate Limits

3 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Papercups Finops

FINOPS

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Papercups Realtime Chat (WebSocket / Phoenix Channels)

AsyncAPI 2.6 description of Papercups' **realtime live chat** surface. Unlike many providers, Papercups exposes a genuine, bidirectional **WebSocket** transport: the chat widget...

ASYNCAPI

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Papercups API Rules

6 rules · 1 errors 5 warnings

SPECTRAL

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Papercups Authentication

http · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Papercups Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Papercups Agentic Access

15 operations · 8 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

FinOps

FinOps

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn

Website

Website

Source (apis.yml)

aid: papercups
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/papercups/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: Papercups
kind: company
description: Papercups is an open-source customer-messaging and live-chat platform built on Elixir/Phoenix, positioned as
  a self-hosted alternative to Intercom. It exposes a REST API for conversations, messages, and customers, a realtime chat
  surface over Phoenix WebSocket channels, and outbound webhooks. The project is in maintenance mode (community-maintained,
  no major new features).
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: false
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-09-03'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/papercups.png
tags:
- Customer Messaging
- Live Chat
- Open-Source
- Support
- Intercom Alternative
tags_raw:
- Customer Messaging
- Live Chat
- Open Source
- Support
- Intercom Alternative
created: '2026-06-20'
modified: '2026-06-20'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: papercups:notifications
  name: Papercups Notifications & Webhooks API
  tags:
  - Webhook
  - Notification
  - Event
  tags_raw:
  - Webhooks
  - Notifications
  - Events
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/webhook-events
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  properties:
  - url: https://docs.papercups.io/webhook-events
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups/wiki/Event-Subscriptions-with-Webhooks
    type: APIReference
  - url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
    type: GitHub
  description: Outbound event subscriptions delivered as webhooks (message:created, conversation:created, conversation:updated,
    and a webhook:verify challenge handshake) notifying external systems of activity.
- aid: papercups:realtime-chat
  name: Papercups Realtime Chat API (WebSocket / Phoenix Channels)
  tags:
  - Real-Time
  - WebSocket
  - Phoenix Channels
  tags_raw:
  - Realtime
  - WebSocket
  - Phoenix Channels
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/chat
  baseURL: wss://app.papercups.io/socket/websocket
  properties:
  - url: https://docs.papercups.io/chat
    type: Documentation
  - url: asyncapi/papercups-asyncapi.yml
    type: AsyncAPI
  - url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
    type: GitHub
  description: Bidirectional realtime live chat over Phoenix WebSocket channels. Clients join conversation, conversation-lobby,
    and account-room channels and exchange shout (message), messages:seen, and presence events for two-way messaging.
- aid: papercups:webhooks
  name: Papercups Webhooks
  tags:
  - Webhook
  - Event
  - Integration
  tags_raw:
  - Webhooks
  - Events
  - Integrations
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups/wiki/Event-Subscriptions-with-Webhooks
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  properties:
  - url: https://docs.papercups.io/webhook-events
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups/wiki/Event-Subscriptions-with-Webhooks
    type: APIReference
  - url: https://github.com/papercups-io/webhooks-demo
    type: GitHub
  description: Register external HTTPS endpoints to receive Papercups events as POSTed JSON payloads of shape { event, payload
    }, with a verify-challenge handshake on registration.
- aid: papercups:papercups-conversations-api
  name: Papercups Conversations API
  description: Threads of messages between customers and agents.
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Conversations
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/papercups-conversations-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
- aid: papercups:papercups-customers-api
  name: Papercups Customers API
  description: Customer records (users, leads, or contacts).
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Customers
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/papercups-customers-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
- aid: papercups:papercups-messages-api
  name: Papercups Messages API
  description: Individual messages within conversations.
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Message
  tags_raw:
  - Messages
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/papercups-messages-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
- aid: papercups:papercups-users-api
  name: Papercups Users API
  description: Authenticated user and team members.
  humanURL: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  baseURL: https://app.papercups.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - User
  tags_raw:
  - Users
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/papercups-users-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.papercups.io/api-endpoints
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/papercups-io/papercups
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/papercups-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/papercups-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/papercups-authentication.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/papercups-io
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/papercups
- type: Website
  url: https://papercups.io
- type: Documentation
  url: https://docs.papercups.io
- type: Plans
  url: plans/papercups-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/papercups-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/papercups-finops.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

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