Honest Deadlines with Kit

Kit can start each subscriber's deadline when a tag is added to them. The supported setup is a one-time step in which CountingDownTo uses your Kit API key once to create a webhook in your Kit account. Kit then calls us whenever that tag is added to a subscriber. Kit's own webhook action in visual automations has not been tested with Honest Deadlines, so use the setup below.

Read the Honest Deadlines setup guide first for what you need, how to test and the known limits.

Before you start

You need a Kit plan that includes API access. Kit's developer documentation says that accounts on a free plan or a lapsed trial cannot use its API or webhooks (checked on 8 October 2026). On a free Kit plan you can still start deadlines when subscribers first click your link. Follow the click-start path in step 2 and skip steps 1, 3 and 4.

1. Create a Kit API key

In Kit, open Settings, then Developer, and add a new V4 API key. Copy it. CountingDownTo uses it once and does not store it.

2. Create the campaign

1. Open your countdown page in the editor and click Honest Deadlines.
2. Click Enable deadline campaign and set the name and duration. Under "How deadlines start", leave "When they join your list" selected. Then click Save campaign.
3. Click Snippets & setup and choose the Kit tab.

For click start only (for example on a free Kit plan), choose "When they click your link" instead, click Save campaign, and go on to step 5. Otherwise, stay in the editor for the next step. The one-time setup needs your webhook URL, which is shown in full only until you leave or reload the editor.

3. Run the one-time Kit setup

1. Under Connect Kit (one-time setup), paste your Kit API key. You can also enter a tag name; if you leave it empty, the tag is called "Honest Deadline".
2. Click Install in Kit.
3. CountingDownTo finds the tag in your Kit account, or creates it, and adds a Kit webhook that calls your webhook URL each time that tag is added to a subscriber. The URL ends with ?src=kit, which tells us the call comes from Kit.
4. A message with the tag and webhook numbers confirms that it worked.

If you see "Rotate the webhook token before installing Kit", the webhook URL is no longer shown in full. Click Rotate and then Install in Kit. Rotating stops the old URL from working.

4. Add the tag when a deadline should start

In Kit, add the tag to subscribers at the moment their deadline should start. For example, use a rule that adds the tag when someone subscribes to a form, or an action in a visual automation that adds the tag. Adding the tag again does not restart a deadline while we still hold it. We delete each deadline record 90 days after its deadline has passed; after that, adding the tag again starts a new deadline.

5. Add the link and image to your Kit emails

• Use the Tracking link as the address of your button or text link. It ends with Kit's merge tag for the subscriber's email address:

  https://countingdownto.com/d/YOUR_LINK_TOKEN?e={{ subscriber.email_address }}

• To show the countdown image, paste the Email GIF code into an HTML block in your Kit email.

6. Activate and test

1. Go back to the campaign and click Activate campaign.
2. Optionally click Send a test webhook. It creates a real deadline for your account's email address.
3. In Kit, add the tag to a test subscriber, such as another address of yours. A "registered" row should appear in the setup log, followed by "Setup verified".
4. Send the email to that test subscriber from Kit, open it and click the link. Your page should show that subscriber's deadline.

If something goes wrong

• "Kit authentication failed". Check that you copied the whole V4 API key and that your Kit plan includes API access.
• No row appears after you add the tag. Check that you added the tag the setup used. Rows marked "inactive" mean the campaign was not active yet.
• Rows marked "unparseable". We could not read an email address from Kit's call. Contact us.
• The link opens your page with its normal countdown. The subscriber has no deadline yet, usually because the tag has not been added, or Kit did not fill in the merge tag.
• You rotated the webhook token. Run the one-time Kit setup again so that Kit calls the new URL.