LinkedIn API

--- name: LinkedIn API description: Use when integrating with LinkedIn's professional network API for authentication, profile data, company pages, content sharing, and lead generation workflows. category: social metadata: author: skynet version: 1.0.0 --- # LinkedIn API ## Overview LinkedIn API provides access to professional profiles, company data, content sharing, and advertising capabilities. Choose the appropriate API version and scope based on your integration needs. ## Authentication Setup ### Register Application ```bash # Navigate to LinkedIn Developer Portal # https://www.linkedin.com/developers/apps # Note your credentials CLIENT_ID="your_client_id" CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret" REDIRECT_URI="https://yourapp.com/callback" ``` ### OAuth 2.0 Flow ```bash # Step 1: Authorization URL AUTH_URL="https://www.linkedin.com/oauth/v2/authorization" SCOPE="r_liteprofile r_emailaddress w_member_social" curl -G "${AUTH_URL}" \ -d "response_type=code" \ -d "client_id=${CLIENT_ID}" \ -d "redirect_uri=${REDIRECT_URI}" \ -d "scope=${SCOPE}" # Step 2: Exchange code for token curl -X POST "https://www.linkedin.com/oauth/v2/accessToken" \ -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \ -d "grant_type=authorization_code" \ -d "code=${AUTH_CODE}" \ -d "client_id=${CLIENT_ID}" \ -d "client_secret=${CLIENT_SECRET}" \ -d "redirect_uri=${REDIRECT_URI}" ``` ## Profile Operations ### Get Current User Profile ```bash ACCESS_TOKEN="your_access_token" # Basic profile info curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" # Profile with specific fields curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~:(id,firstName,lastName,profilePicture(displayImage~:playableStreams))" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" # Email address (requires r_emailaddress scope) curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/emailAddress?q=members&projection=(elements*(handle~))" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" ``` ### Get Company Profile ```bash COMPANY_ID="12345" # Company basic info curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/companies/${COMPANY_ID}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" # Company with specific fields curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/companies/${COMPANY_ID}:(id,name,description,website,industries,locations)" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" ``` ## Content Sharing ### Share Text Post ```bash # Create a simple text post curl -X POST "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/ugcPosts" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "author": "urn:li:person:PERSON_ID", "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED", "specificContent": { "com.linkedin.ugc.ShareContent": { "shareCommentary": { "text": "Hello LinkedIn! This is my first API post." }, "shareMediaCategory": "NONE" } }, "visibility": { "com.linkedin.ugc.MemberNetworkVisibility": "PUBLIC" } }' ``` ### Share Link with Preview ```bash curl -X POST "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/ugcPosts" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "author": "urn:li:person:PERSON_ID", "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED", "specificContent": { "com.linkedin.ugc.ShareContent": { "shareCommentary": { "text": "Check out this amazing article!" }, "shareMediaCategory": "ARTICLE", "media": [{ "status": "READY", "description": { "text": "Article description" }, "originalUrl": "https://example.com/article", "title": { "text": "Article Title" } }] } }, "visibility": { "com.linkedin.ugc.MemberNetworkVisibility": "PUBLIC" } }' ``` ## Company Page Management ### Post to Company Page ```bash COMPANY_URN="urn:li:organization:COMPANY_ID" curl -X POST "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/ugcPosts" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "author": "'${COMPANY_URN}'", "lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED", "specificContent": { "com.linkedin.ugc.ShareContent": { "shareCommentary": { "text": "Company update from our API!" }, "shareMediaCategory": "NONE" } }, "visibility": { "com.linkedin.ugc.MemberNetworkVisibility": "PUBLIC" } }' ``` ### Get Company Updates ```bash # Fetch company page posts curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/ugcPosts?q=authors&authors=List(${COMPANY_URN})&count=10" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" ``` ## Analytics and Metrics ### Get Post Analytics ```bash POST_ID="ugc_post_id" # Social actions on post curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/socialActions/${POST_ID}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" # Post statistics curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/organizationalEntityShareStatistics?q=organizationalEntity&organizationalEntity=${COMPANY_URN}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" ``` ## Lead Generation ### Get Lead Gen Forms ```bash # List lead gen forms for account ACCOUNT_ID="your_account_id" curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/leadgenForms?q=account&account=${ACCOUNT_ID}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" # Get form responses FORM_ID="form_id" curl -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/leadFormResponses?q=form&form=${FORM_ID}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" ``` ## Decision Trees ### Choose API Version ``` Need to access LinkedIn data? ├─ Personal profile access → Use Profile API v2 ├─ Company page management → Use Organizations API v2 ├─ Content sharing → Use UGC Post API v2 ├─ Advertising data → Use Marketing API v2 └─ Lead generation → Use Lead Gen Forms API v2 ``` ### Authentication Scope Selection ``` What data do you need? ├─ Basic profile → r_liteprofile ├─ Email address → r_emailaddress ├─ Post content → w_member_social ├─ Company pages → w_organization_social └─ Advertising → r_ads, w_ads ``` ## Environment Variables Setup ```bash # Create .env file cat > .env << EOF LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret LINKEDIN_REDIRECT_URI=https://yourapp.com/callback LINKEDIN_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token LINKEDIN_PERSON_ID=your_person_id LINKEDIN_COMPANY_ID=your_company_id EOF # Load variables source .env ``` ## Common Workflows ### Complete Profile Integration ```bash #!/bin/bash # fetch_linkedin_profile.sh ACCESS_TOKEN=$1 OUTPUT_FILE="profile_data.json" echo "Fetching LinkedIn profile data..." # Get basic profile curl -s "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~:(id,firstName,lastName,headline,summary)" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" > ${OUTPUT_FILE} # Get profile picture curl -s "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~:(profilePicture(displayImage~:playableStreams))" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | \ jq '.profilePicture."displayImage~".elements[-1].identifiers[0].identifier' >> profile_pic_url.txt # Get email curl -s "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/emailAddress?q=members&projection=(elements*(handle~))" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | \ jq '.elements[0]."handle~".emailAddress' >> email.txt echo "Profile data saved to ${OUTPUT_FILE}" ``` ## Troubleshooting ### Common Error Messages **403 Forbidden - Insufficient privileges** ```bash # Check your app permissions in LinkedIn Developer Console # Ensure required scopes are approved # For company content: verify admin access to company page ``` **401 Unauthorized - Invalid access token** ```bash # Refresh your access token curl -X POST "https://www.linkedin.com/oauth/v2/accessToken" \ -d "grant_type=refresh_token" \ -d "refresh_token=${REFRESH_TOKEN}" \ -d "client_id=${CLIENT_ID}" \ -d "client_secret=${CLIENT_SECRET}" ``` **429 Too Many Requests - Rate limit exceeded** ```bash # Check rate limit headers curl -I "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" # Look for: X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset # Implement exponential backoff ``` **400 Bad Request - Invalid URN format** ```bash # Ensure URN format is correct # Person URN: urn:li:person:PERSON_ID # Company URN: urn:li:organization:COMPANY_ID # Check ID format matches LinkedIn's requirements ``` ### Debug API Responses ```bash # Verbose curl output curl -v -X GET "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \ 2>&1 | grep -E "(> |< |HTTP/)" # Pretty print JSON response curl -s "https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/~" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | jq '.' ``` ### Webhook Validation ```bash # Validate webhook signatures (if using webhooks) WEBHOOK_SECRET="your_webhook_secret" SIGNATURE_HEADER="x-li-signature" # Verify HMAC signature in your webhook handler echo -n "${REQUEST_BODY}" | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac "${WEBHOOK_SECRET}" -binary | base64 ```