API data (JSON)
Retrieve data from any API source and write queries on top of it using SQL
Last updated
Retrieve data from any API source and write queries on top of it using SQL
Last updated
LogicLoop lets you query any API that returns data in a JSON format as a data source. That means you can query services like Slack, Mixpanel, Stripe, and Twilio to retrieve data and write rules on top of that data using SQL.
First, create a new API (JSON) based Data Source and enter any Authorization information needed.
For most APIs, you will enter "Authorization" as the Authorization Header Key. However, some APIs give their auth header a different name such as "Authorization-Token" or "X-Token" or "Service-X-Token" etc.
For most APIs, the Authorization Header Value will be your API key or token e.g "XXXXXX". However, some APIs require you to append the word "Bearer XXXXXX" or "Basic XXXXXX" before your token.
Now, all you have to do is create a new rule and express your API call in YAML format. The results of that API call will be parsed as JSON into the results table below.
In this example, we made an API call to retrieve a channel's conversation history on Slack:
This API call is equivalent to running something like this via CURL:
The Slack API will return a result that looks something like this.
We've added the path: messages
setting in order to access the nested messages object. The results populate this table below:
You must format your query in YAML syntax. Parameters that are available include:
url (string)
- the URL endpoint you want to hit
method (string)
- the HTTP method to use (default: get
)
headers (dictionary)
- headers to send with the request
auth (array)
- basic authentication username/password (e.g: [username, password]
)
params (dictionary)
- query string parameters to add to the URL path
data (dictionary)
- values to be sent as the request body
json (dictionary)
- same as data
except that it's converted to JSON
fields (array)
- specific fields you want to pick from the results
Here is an example of a sample POST request:
Now that you've retrieved data from your API source, you can set up an action to trigger directly from the data.
The most common way of interacting with the Slack API is by creating a Slack App Integration. Begin by navigating to the this tutorial on How to quickly get and use a Slack API token. Scroll down to the Create a pre-configured app section and click Create app.
Next, select the workspace that you want to interact with (read from or write to), and click Next. To give the app a recognizable name and description, click Edit Configurations and change the values of name
(you will need this later) and description
. Finally, click Next, then Create.
Under Install your app, click Install to Workspace, and select Allow. At the top of the screen you should see a message telling you to head back to the tutorial. Click the link in the message.
If the Install to Workspace button is disabled, you may need to add permission scopes to your app. On the left menu, under Features, you should see OAuth & Permissions. Click that, scroll down to the Scopes section and add the Bot Scopes that fit your use case.
If you scroll down to the section Using your token, you can find the API token populating a black box (starting with xoxb
). Save that token somewhere safe, you will need it.
Go to Data Sources > New Data Source. and choose API (JSON). Give it a name, add Authorization
as the Authorization Header, and use add the API key (with the Bearer
prefix) as the Authorization Value.
You need the Channel ID to access the messages of a channel. Find it in Slack by clicking on the channel title and scrolling to the bottom of the About tab.
Use the URL https://slack.com/api/conversations.history
with a parameter for the Channel ID. Set the path to messages
.
Alternatively, once you've retrieved the data you want from your API, you can write another rule on top of these results using SQL to combine data or use for further manipulation.