Looker's Action API allows developers to define Actions, or custom destinations to which Looker can send query results, dashboard results, or user interactions.
Once an Action is developed, deployed as a web service, and then added to a Looker instance, Looker users will be able to send data using that Action from within Looker.
Using Actions
The Action API supports a number of variations in use cases:
- Actions support various levels of user interactivity. They may be designed for ad hoc user interactions while a user is viewing a dashboard, or they may be intended to work with recurring or triggered schedules.
- Actions can instruct Looker to collect form data from users, in order to parameterize the handling of the data.
- Actions can even request user authentication to a third party service using OAuth, for example to implicitly deliver data to user-specific destinations.
- Actions can also receive query results in various formats, from data oriented formats like CSV and Excel, to various JSON formats for programmatic use cases, to visualization-oriented formats like PNG or PDF.
While these use cases are diverse, the common thread between them is that Looker users are able to instruct Looker to reach out and send data to an Action.
As a result, implementing an Action involves deploying a web service to listen for these requests.
This can be achieved by adding a few new endpoints to an existing application server, deploying a web server exclusively for this purpose, or even using a serverless environment such as Google Cloud Run functions. The Action API does not require the service to maintain any state between requests, so Action servers can benefit from scalable and flexible stateless deployment configurations.
Finally, since the Action API consists of JSON-formatted HTTP POST requests, any server side language can be readily used to implement an action. Looker provides several examples in TypeScript, including the open-source code for our ActionHub.
List of integrated services
The following list shows the services that are are available in the Looker Action Hub.
Here is how to use the list:
- The URLs that are shown in the Link to README file column provide instructions for enabling and configuring the integrated service to work with Looker.
- The URLs that are shown in the How to use this integration column provide instructions for how to send data from Looker to the integrated service. Some of these articles also contain enablement instructions.
- Required LookML tags lists any required tags that must be used with the
tagsparameter in the content's underlying model. - Action type indicates what level of data the integrated service is sending: field, query, or dashboard. A field-level action sends the value of a single, specified cell in a data table. A query-level action sends the results of an entire query, such as all rows in an Explore or a Look. A dashboard-level action sends an image of a dashboard.
- Content available for scheduled deliveries indicates what type of Looker content this integrated service can send as an ad hoc or scheduled content delivery.
- Uses Google OAuth authentication indicates whether the integrated service uses Google OAuth credentials for authentication. Customer-hosted instances may be unable to enable actions from the Looker Action Hub that use Google OAuth. See the Sharing data through an action hub documentation page for suggested solutions to this potential issue.
- Uses data streaming indicates whether the integrated service supports streamed query results. Customer-hosted instances may be unable to enable actions from the Looker Action Hub that stream results. See the Sharing data through an action hub documentation page for suggested solutions to this potential issue.
- Minimum supported Looker version provides the earliest Looker version that your instance must be using in order to use this integration.
| Integrated service | Description | Link to README file | How to use this integration | Required LookML tags | Action type | Content available for scheduled deliveries | Uses Google OAuth authentication (Yes/No) | Uses data streaming (Yes/No) | Minimum supported Looker version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airtable | Add records to a table in Airtable. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| Amazon SageMaker Infer | Perform an inference using Amazon SageMaker. | No README available | No article available | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Amazon SageMaker Train: Linear Learner | Start a training job on Amazon SageMaker, using the Linear Learner algorithm. | No README available | No article available | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Amazon SageMaker Train: Xgboost | Start a training job on Amazon SageMaker, using the Xgboost algorithm. | No README available | No article available | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Amazon Web Services EC2 Stop Instance | Stop an EC2 Instance using the Amazon EC2 API. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | aws_resource_id | Field, query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| Auger | Use query result to build a predictive model. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.24 |
| Azure Storage | Send and store a data file on Azure Storage. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | Yes (for queries), No (for dashboards) | 5.6 |
| Braze | The Braze action lets you flag users within Braze using the REST API Endpoint from a Look. Ensure there's a braze_id field tagged in the results. MAX EXPORT: 10000. |
View README on GitHub | See README | braze_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| DataRobot | Send data to DataRobot and create a new project. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.24 |
| DigitalOcean — Stop Droplet | Stop DigitalOcean process using the DigitalOcean API. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | digitalocean_droplet_id | Field, query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| DigitalOcean Spaces | Send to and store a data file in DigitalOcean Storage. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | Yes (for Looks and Explores), No (for dashboards) | 5.6 |
| Dropbox | Send and store a data file on Dropbox. | No README available | View documentation | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | Yes | No | 6.8 |
| Facebook Custom Audiences | Upload data to Facebook Ads Custom Audiences from Customer List. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query | Look, Explore | Yes | Yes | 6.10 |
| Firebase | Use Firebase to send push notifications to mobile. | No README available | No article available | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | No | 22.4 |
| Google Ads Customer Match | Upload data to Google Ads Customer Match. | View README on GitHub | View documentation | None | Query | Look, Explore | Yes | Yes | 6.10 |
| Google Analytics Data Import | Upload data to a Google Analytics dataset. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query | Look, Explore | Yes | Yes | 6.10 |
| Google Cloud Storage | Write data files to a Google Cloud Storage bucket. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | Yes (for Looks and Explores), No (for dashboards) | 5.6 |
| Google Drive | Send data to Google Drive. | No README available | View documentation | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | Yes | Yes (for Looks and Explores), No (for dashboards) | 7.4 |
| Google Sheets | Send CSV data to a Google Sheet. | No README available | View documentation | None | Query | Look, Explore | Yes | Yes | 7.4 |
| Hubspot Companies | Add properties to your Companies using the Hubspot V3 API. | View README on GitHub | See README | hubspot_company_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Hubspot Contacts | Add properties to your Contacts using the Hubspot V3 API. | View README on GitHub | See README | hubspot_contact_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Kloudio | Add data to a Google Sheet. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| mParticle | Bulk export your user or event data from Looker to mParticle. | View README on GitHub | See README | See README | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Salesforce Campaigns | Add contacts or leads to Salesforce campaign. | View README on GitHub | See README | sfdc_contact_id or sfdc_lead_id | Query | Look, Explore | Yes | No | 22.6 |
| Segment Group | Add traits and/or users to your Segment groups. | View README on GitHub | View documentation | segment_group_id and user_id, or segment_group_id and segment_anonymous_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 4.20 |
| Segment Identify | Add traits to your Segment users using Identify. | View README on GitHub | View documentation | email or user_id or segment_anonymous_id or segment_group_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 4.20 |
| Segment Track | Connect to a number of integrations provided by Segment to identify and target users for marketing workflows. | View README on GitHub | View documentation | email or user_id or segment_anonymous_id or segment_group_id | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 4.20 |
| SendGrid | Send data and schedule results to send to an email address using SendGrid's API. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | No | 5.6 |
| Slack | Send Looker content in direct messages, public channels, and private channels in Slack using OAuth. It is available for Looker-hosted deployments on Looker 6.24+ with the IP Allowlist feature disabled. | No README available | View documentation | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | Yes | Yes (for Looks and Explores), No (for dashboards) | 6.24 |
| Slack Attachment (API Token) | Send data directly into a Slack channel along with user credentials. You may also want to reference Lookerbot documentation for additional Slack functionality. | View README on GitHub | View documentation | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | No | 5.6 |
| Teams — Incoming Webhook | Send data to Microsoft Teams using an incoming webhook. | View README on GitHub | See README | None | Query, dashboard | Look, Explore, dashboard | No | No | 5.6 |
| Tray | Connect to a number of integrations provided by Tray.io to automate workflows. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
| Twilio — Send Data | Send data from a Look or schedule results to send to a phone number using Twilio's API. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| Twilio — Send Message | Send a message to a series of phone numbers (data columns that are tagged as phone numbers) in a Look. | View README on GitHub | See README | phone | Field, query | Look, Explore | No | No | 5.6 |
| Zapier | Connect to a number of integrations that are provided by Zapier to automate workflows. | View README on GitHub | View Community article | None | Query | Look, Explore | No | Yes | 5.6 |
For more information
For more information, see the Sharing data through an action hub documentation page.