Build a targeted contact segment by filtering on lifecycle, engagement, jobtitle, geography, or firmographics — then export it as JSONL for a campaign or downstream tool.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/hubspot/agent-cli-skills --skill audience-targetingFoundation
Read bulk-operations/SKILL.md first — pagination, JSONL piping, destructive-op safety. Reshape recipes in bulk-operations/resources/json-patterns.md. Resource: resources/contact-segmentation-filters.md is the filter-expression cookbook (lifecycle, lead status, email engagement, activity, deals, owner).
Filter syntax cheat sheet
Source of truth: hubspot objects search --help.
- One
--filterflag = one AND group:--filter "lifecyclestage=lead AND !hubspot_owner_id". - Multiple
--filterflags are OR'd. Use for enum-OR-enum. - Operators:
=,!=,>,>=,<,<=,~(CONTAINS_TOKEN — whole-word, NOT substring),@=(IN),@!=(NOT_IN). - HAS_PROPERTY: bare
nameorname?. NOT_HAS_PROPERTY:!name. Dates:YYYY-MM-DD. - Limits (CRM search API): max 5
--filterflags, max 6 conditions per flag, max 18 conditions total. Prefer@=/@!=for enum lists —lifecyclestage@=lead,customeris one condition,--filter "lifecyclestage=lead" --filter "lifecyclestage=customer"is two groups. - "None of these, or empty" needs two groups —
@!=skips records where the property is unset, so OR in a!namegroup and repeat the shared conditions in both:--filter "hubspot_owner_id=123 AND lifecyclestage@!=customer,evangelist" --filter "hubspot_owner_id=123 AND !lifecyclestage"
~ gotcha: jobtitle~director matches the token "director", not arbitrary substrings. No regex operator — search broadly, post-filter with jq.
Properties this skill turns on
Full live list: hubspot properties list --type contacts. Enum options aren't exposed by properties get; discover with hubspot objects list --type contacts --properties <name> --limit 100 --format json | jq -r '.data[].properties.<name> // empty' | sort -u.
Core fields used here: lifecyclestage, hubspot_owner_id (bare/! for owned/unowned; hubspot owners list for IDs), hs_email_optout (!=true excludes opted-out), hs_email_last_open_date / notes_last_contacted (recency), jobtitle / country / city (string = or ~), num_associated_deals (0 net-new, >=1 has-pipeline).
Firmographics (industry, numberofemployees, annualrevenue) live on companies — see cross-object section.
Common segments
# Recent leads (this quarter, not yet owned)
hubspot objects search --type contacts \
--filter "lifecyclestage=lead AND createdate>2026-01-01 AND !hubspot_owner_id" \
--properties email,firstname,lastname,createdate
# Decision-makers by jobtitle (OR across tokens)
hubspot objects search --type contacts \
--filter "jobtitle~director" --filter "jobtitle~vp" --filter "jobtitle~chief" \
--properties email,jobtitle,company
# Engaged but not yet MQL (opened recently, still lead, opted in)
hubspot objects search --type contacts \
--filter "lifecyclestage=lead AND hs_email_last_open_date>2026-04-01 AND hs_email_optout!=true" \
--properties email,firstname,hs_email_last_open_date
# Geographic — US contacts opted in
hubspot objects search --type contacts \
--filter "country=United States AND hs_email_optout!=true" \
--properties email,state,city
More patterns (lead status, deals, owners, combined AND/OR) in resources/contact-segmentation-filters.md.
Cross-object: companies-in-industry → their contacts
industry/numberofemployees/annualrevenue live on the company. Build the company set, then traverse — never xargs -I{} hubspot objects get per company. associations list emits {"id":"...","type":"company_to_contact"}, feeding directly into a single batched objects get.
# Step 1: target companies. Industry options are portal-specific — discover with:
# hubspot objects list --type companies --properties industry --limit 100 --format json \
# | jq -r '.data[].properties.industry // empty' | sort -u
hubspot objects search --type companies \
--filter "industry=SOFTWARE AND numberofemployees>=100" \
--properties name,industry,numberofemployees \
> target_companies.jsonl
# Step 2: gather association IDs (associations list has no batch --from), then ONE batched
# objects get for all contacts.
while read -r cid; do hubspot associations list --from "companies:$cid" --to contacts; done \
< <(jq -r '.id' target_companies.jsonl) \
| jq -c '{id}' | sort -u \
| hubspot objects get --type contacts --properties email,firstname,jobtitle,hs_email_optout \
> target_contacts.jsonl
# Optional: drop opted-out
jq -c 'select(.properties.hs_email_optout != "true")' target_contacts.jsonl > campaign_audience.jsonl
Saving and reusing a segment
A segment is a JSONL file. Re-use for updates, exports, or re-fetches:
# Save
hubspot objects search --type contacts \
--filter "lifecyclestage=lead AND hs_email_optout!=true" \
--properties email,firstname,lastname,jobtitle \
> segments/opted_in_leads.jsonl
# Assign owner (dry-run first per bulk-operations/SKILL.md)
jq -c '{id, properties:{hubspot_owner_id:"12345"}}' segments/opted_in_leads.jsonl \
| hubspot objects update --type contacts --dry-run
# Re-fetch with different properties later
jq -c '{id}' segments/opted_in_leads.jsonl \
| hubspot objects get --type contacts --properties email,lifecyclestage,hs_lead_status
Destructive ops on a saved segment follow the dry-run → digest → confirm flow in bulk-operations/SKILL.md.
Save as a HubSpot list or view
A JSONL segment is portable, but you can also persist an audience in HubSpot:
- List —
hubspot segments createsaves a list;segments get/listinspect it;segments members-listreads members;segments members-add/members-removemanage membership. Usesegments update-filtersto set a dynamic list's filter criteria. - View —
hubspot views create --type <t> --name "..." --columns a,b [--filters-file filters.json] [--sort prop:asc]saves a filter set as a reusable object view;views list/get/update/replace-field/deletemanage it. - Size it first —
hubspot objects count --type contacts --filter "..."returns{"object_type":"contacts","total":N}without paging, so you can size an audience before saving or exporting it.
Known limits
~is token-match, not substring. No regex operator.properties getdoes not return enum options — discover viaobjects list+jq.associations listhas no batch--from. Loop to gather IDs, batch the downstreamobjects get.- For >100 results, use the pagination loop in
bulk-operations/SKILL.md.