> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.tryspecter.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Reverse email lookup

> Resolves an email address to the most probable Specter person, returning their person ID, core profile fields, and a match confidence score. Use `person_id` with [Get person info by ID](/api-reference/people/get-person-info-by-id), or `company_id` with [Get company by ID](/api-reference/companies/get-company-by-id).

<Note> Costs 1 credit per request. </Note>

## Behaviour

- `score` ranges from 1 to 10. A score of 7 or higher is generally a reliable match; treat lower scores with increasing caution.
- Returns `204` if the email can't be matched to a person.




## OpenAPI

````yaml /api-ref/bundle_api.yaml post /people/by-email
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: Specter API
  termsOfService: https://tryspecter.com/terms/
  contact:
    name: API support
    email: api-support@tryspecter.com
  version: 1.0.0
servers:
  - description: Production
    url: https://app.tryspecter.com/api/v1
security:
  - ApiKeyAuth: []
tags:
  - name: Enrichment
    description: >
      Endpoints which can be used to query for data and, if the data is not
      found request that it be retrieved by Specter systems.
  - name: Companies
    description: >
      Endpoints that provide the most up to date information about all the
      companies in our data set. Giving the ability to query by a specific
      company id, or using a keyword such as the domain.


      This also allows us to enrich the data about a company if we either do not
      have it or it is older than expected, which means you always have the most
      up-to-date information possible.
  - name: People
    description: >
      Endpoints that expose Specter people records — profile data and contact
      details — for a known person ID.
  - name: Investors
    description: >
      Endpoints that expose Specter investor records — profile, activity,
      targeting, funds, portfolio companies, and the funding rounds they have
      participated in — for a known investor ID.
  - name: Talent and Interest Signals
    description: >
      Endpoints for retrieving Specter Talent Signals and Investor Interest
      Signals by ID.
  - name: News Signals
    description: >
      Company-level news signals generated from articles monitored by Specter.
      Each signal represents a single classified company mention within an
      article and includes a summary of the newsworthy update (such as funding,
      deals, revenue, profitability, or traction) along with an assigned
      importance score.
  - name: Revenue Signals
    description: >
      Revenue and profitability observations for companies, derived from news
      coverage and public filings. Each signal captures one data point — the
      revenue or profitability metric, the year it refers to, the source, and
      the company it is attributed to.
  - name: Transactions
    description: >
      Endpoints that expose transaction detail — funding rounds, acquisitions,
      and IPOs — by ID.
  - name: Company Lists
    description: >
      Create, query and maintain lists of companies that are of particular
      interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
      lists using a programmatic interface.
  - name: People Lists
    description: >
      Create, query and maintain lists of people that are of particular
      interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
      lists using a programmatic interface.
  - name: Investor Lists
    description: >
      Create, query and maintain lists of investors that are of particular
      interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
      lists using a programmatic interface.
  - name: Network
    description: >
      Endpoints for accessing your team's LinkedIn network - the people and
      companies your teammates are connected to.
  - name: Saved Searches
    description: >
      Manage searches that have been saved via `tryspecter.com`. These endpoints
      are useful to programmatically list and delete saved searches. To update a
      search the UI should be used at `tryspecter.com`.
  - name: Company Saved Searches
    description: >
      Query and get results for company searches that have been saved via
      `tryspecter.com`. These endpoints are useful to programmatically get
      results and information for a search. To update a search the UI should be
      used at `tryspecter.com`.
  - name: People Saved Searches
    description: >
      Query and get results for people searches that have been saved via
      `tryspecter.com` or via the API. These endpoints are useful to
      programmatically get results and information for a search. To update a
      search the UI should be used at `tryspecter.com`.
  - name: Investor Saved Searches
    description: >
      Query and inspect saved investor searches — metadata (name, match counts)
      and paginated results — from searches saved via `tryspecter.com` or shared
      with the API.
  - name: Talent Signals Saved Searches
    description: >
      Query and get results for Talent Signals searches that have been saved via
      `tryspecter.com`.
  - name: Investor Interest Saved Searches
    description: >
      Query and get results for Investor Interest Signals searches that have
      been saved via `tryspecter.com`.
  - name: Organization
    description: >
      Endpoints for accessing your organization's members and org-level
      resources.
  - name: Customer Data
    description: >
      Retrieve a log of API calls made by your organization. Useful for auditing
      usage, debugging integrations, and monitoring activity.
paths:
  /people/by-email:
    post:
      tags:
        - Enrichment
      summary: Reverse email lookup
      description: >
        Resolves an email address to the most probable Specter person, returning
        their person ID, core profile fields, and a match confidence score. Use
        `person_id` with [Get person info by
        ID](/api-reference/people/get-person-info-by-id), or `company_id` with
        [Get company by ID](/api-reference/companies/get-company-by-id).


        <Note> Costs 1 credit per request. </Note>


        ## Behaviour


        - `score` ranges from 1 to 10. A score of 7 or higher is generally a
        reliable match; treat lower scores with increasing caution.

        - Returns `204` if the email can't be matched to a person.
      operationId: PeopleByEmail
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              description: Request to resolve an email address to a person.
              type: object
              properties:
                email:
                  type: string
                  description: Email of the person to look up.
                  example: barney@example.com
              additionalProperties: false
              required:
                - email
      responses:
        '200':
          description: >-
            Successful match response containing person details and confidence
            score.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                required:
                  - email
                  - person_id
                  - score
                properties:
                  email:
                    type: string
                    description: The email address that was looked up, echoed back.
                    example: barney@example.com
                  person_id:
                    type: string
                    description: The matched person's Specter ID.
                    example: per_310bf5c3fda24292309031e0
                  first_name:
                    type: string
                    description: The person's first name.
                    example: Barney
                  last_name:
                    type: string
                    description: The person's last name.
                    example: Kelly-Wyatt
                  linkedin_url:
                    type: string
                    description: URL for the person's LinkedIn account.
                    example: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barney-kelly-wyatt
                  company_id:
                    type: string
                    description: Specter company ID of the person's current company.
                    example: 5e3a7f2b0aa7a3270a55f2a7
                  score:
                    type: number
                    format: float
                    description: Confidence score for the match (1–10).
                    example: 8
        '204':
          description: |
            Unable to match the email to an individual in the database.
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '402':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/OutOfCredits'
        '403':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimits'
components:
  responses:
    Unauthorized:
      description: Unauthorized
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            oneOf:
              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiKeyMissing'
              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiKeyNotValid'
    OutOfCredits:
      description: Out of credits - API credit limit exceeded
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
              - errorCode
              - message
            properties:
              errorCode:
                type: string
                enum:
                  - OUT_OF_CREDITS
              message:
                type: string
                description: |
                  There are no more credits available to complete the request.
      headers:
        X-CreditLimit-Limit:
          schema:
            type: integer
          description: The total number of credits allocated for the current period
        X-CreditLimit-Remaining:
          schema:
            type: integer
          description: The number of credits remaining for the current period
        X-CreditLimit-Reset:
          schema:
            type: number
            format: float
          description: The number of seconds until the credit limit resets
    Forbidden:
      description: Forbidden - There is no permissions to use the endpoint
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            properties:
              errorCode:
                description: NOT_PERMITTED
                type: string
                example: NOT_PERMITTED
              message:
                type: string
                description: You do not have permission to access this resource.
                example: You do not have permission to access this resource.
            required:
              - errorCode
              - message
    NotFound:
      description: Not Found
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
              - errorCode
              - message
            properties:
              errorCode:
                type: string
                description: NOT_FOUND
              message:
                type: string
                description: Not Found
    RateLimits:
      description: Too Many Requests - API Rate limit exceeded
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
              - errorCode
              - message
            properties:
              errorCode:
                type: string
                description: RATE_LIMITED
              message:
                type: string
                description: You have been rate-limited
      headers:
        X-RateLimit-Limit:
          schema:
            type: integer
          description: The total rate limit allowed for this endpoint
        X-RateLimit-Remaining:
          schema:
            type: integer
          description: The number of requests remaining
        X-RateLimit-Reset:
          schema:
            type: number
            format: float
          description: The number of seconds until the rate limit resets
  schemas:
    ApiKeyMissing:
      properties:
        errorCode:
          description: API_KEY_MISSING
          example: API_KEY_MISSING
          type: string
        message:
          description: No API Key was presented on the header X-API-KEY
          example: No API Key was presented on the header X-API-KEY
          type: string
    ApiKeyNotValid:
      properties:
        errorCode:
          description: API_KEY_NOT_VALID
          example: API_KEY_NOT_VALID
          type: string
        message:
          description: API key present, but not valid
          example: API key present, but not valid
          type: string
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: X-API-Key

````