How do I request a LinkedIn API?

LinkedIn’s APIs allow you to retrieve data from LinkedIn profiles and integrate LinkedIn functionality into your own applications. To use LinkedIn’s APIs, you’ll need to register your app, get API keys, and make authenticated requests. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to request access to LinkedIn APIs.

Prerequisites

Before you can start using LinkedIn’s APIs, you’ll need:

• A LinkedIn account
• To register your app in LinkedIn’s developer portal
• Your app’s client ID and client secret (provided during registration)
• An understanding of OAuth 2.0 for authentication

If you don’t already have a LinkedIn account, head over to linkedin.com to sign up for one. It’s free!

Register your app

To register your app:

1. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/developers/ and log in with your LinkedIn account.
2. Click on “Create Application”.
3. Fill out the form with your app’s name, description, logo, use cases, etc.
4. Agree to LinkedIn’s API Terms of Use.
5. Click “Submit”.

Once your app has been created, you’ll be taken to your app’s overview page. Here you can find your API keys, authentication tokens, and more. Take note of your client ID and client secret – you’ll need these to make API calls.

Understand OAuth 2.0

LinkedIn uses the industry standard OAuth 2.0 protocol to authenticate API requests. With OAuth, your users log in to LinkedIn through LinkedIn’s interface (not yours). This allows them to approve what data your app can access without ever giving you their password.

Here’s a simplified explanation of how OAuth works with LinkedIn:

1. Your app requests authorization from LinkedIn’s OAuth servers.
2. LinkedIn prompts the user to log in and approve your app’s permissions.
3. LinkedIn’s servers return an access token to your app.
4. Your app uses the access token to make API requests on behalf of the user.
5. The token expires after some time, and your app has to repeat the authorization process.

This allows your app to access user data without ever handling their login credentials.

Choose your LinkedIn APIs

LinkedIn provides a wide range of APIs for various use cases. You’ll need to decide which API products your app needs access to. Here are some of LinkedIn’s most commonly used APIs:

Profile API

The Profile API lets you retrieve profile data such as name, headline, location, skills, etc. for LinkedIn members.

Share API

The Share API allows your app to share content to LinkedIn, such as posting updates or sharing articles.

Jobs API

The Jobs API provides access to LinkedIn’s job postings, allowing you to search, retrieve, and post jobs.

Interests API

The Interests API gives you access to LinkedIn members’ stated interests and suggestions for other topics they may be interested in.

Connections API

The Connections API lets you retrieve a member’s 1st and 2nd degree connections and manage invite/acceptance status.

Select the APIs you need access to during your app’s registration process. You can always add more later.

Make an authenticated API call

Once your app is registered and you understand the OAuth flow, you’re ready to make your first API call.

Here are the steps to make an authenticated API request:

1. Obtain an OAuth 2.0 access token from LinkedIn’s authentication server using your client ID and secret.
2. Pass the access token in the request header.
3. Make a request to the LinkedIn API endpoint with your app’s client ID.
4. LinkedIn’s servers will validate your access token and client ID.
5. If valid, the API request will return a response with the requested data.
6. Your app can now work with the API response and use the data.

The full OAuth 2.0 authentication flow involves a few more steps, but this is the basic gist. The specifics depend on which programming language and LinkedIn API wrapper you use.

Here’s an example API request to retrieve profile data using curl and the Profile API:

“`
curl -H ‘Authorization: Bearer {access-token}’ \
https://api.linkedin.com/v2/me?projection=(id,firstName,lastName)
“`

This will return the authorized member’s ID, first name, and last name in JSON format.

Use API best practices

When using LinkedIn’s APIs, be sure to follow these best practices:

• Cache access tokens instead of requesting new ones for each API call.
• Limit your API requests instead of making excessive calls.
• Handle errors and edge cases correctly instead of just expecting success.
• Rate limit your requests to avoid throttling.
• Use proper OAuth scope to only request the data you need.
• Retain only necessary user data and discard the rest.

Following API best practices ensures your app is performant, secure, and compliant with LinkedIn’s policies.

Conclusion

Here are the key steps to get up and running with LinkedIn’s APIs:

1. Register your app and get API keys
2. Understand OAuth 2.0 authentication
3. Select the LinkedIn APIs you need
4. Make an authenticated API call
5. Use API best practices

LinkedIn provides powerful APIs to enrich your app with profile data, messaging, job postings, and more. Implementing proper authentication, limiting requests, and following API guidelines will ensure your integration remains stable and secure.

FAQs

What are the main steps for requesting a LinkedIn API?

The main steps are:

1. Register your app in LinkedIn’s developer portal.
2. Get your client ID and client secret.
3. Understand OAuth 2.0 authentication.
4. Choose which LinkedIn APIs you want to use.
5. Make an authenticated API request with access token.

What is the difference between the Profile API and Share API?

The Profile API is used to retrieve member profile data like name, location, skills, etc. The Share API allows you to post content to LinkedIn on behalf of a user, such as sharing articles or status updates.

What permissions do I need for different APIs?

Each LinkedIn API requires certain OAuth 2.0 scopes and permissions to access. For read-only APIs like Profile, you may only need the `r_liteprofile` scope. The Share API requires write scopes like `w_share`. Refer to LinkedIn’s API documentation to choose the right permissions.

How do I handle expired access tokens?

Access tokens eventually expire. Your app needs to catch 401 errors, refresh the access token using the refresh token, and retry the API call. LinkedIn’s API wrappers provide methods to seamlessly refresh expired tokens.

What are some best practices when using LinkedIn APIs?

Some best practices include: rate limiting requests, caching access tokens, leveraging ETags for caching, handling errors gracefully, retaining minimal user data, and validating all input. Refer to LinkedIn’s guidelines for more details.

Related Resources

– LinkedIn API Overview: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/rest-api
– Registering Your App: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/registering-apps
– OAuth 2.0 Guide: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/oauth2
– API Request Best Practices: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/guide/best-practices/making-requests
– Profile API Guide: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/profile-api
– Share API Guide: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/share-on-linkedin

This table provides an overview of some key LinkedIn APIs, their use cases, and top endpoints. The Profile API is used to retrieve member data like skills, education, etc. The Share API helps share content to LinkedIn including articles and status updates. The Jobs API is used to search current job openings as well as post new jobs. Each API has additional endpoints not listed here.