Looker Api

Looker's API-first design makes it uniquely programmable among enterprise BI tools — every data query, dashboard render, and user management action is available via the REST API. For agents: run queries against LookML models (powerful, semantic layer), access pre-built Looks and Dashboard data programmatically, generate embed tokens for embedded analytics, and manage user provisioning. Looker uses a semantic layer (LookML) that abstracts database complexity — the API queries via this semantic layer. Confidence is docs-derived.

REST API at {looker_host}/api/4.0. Auth: POST /login ({client_id, client_secret}) → access_token. Queries: POST /queries creates a query ({model, view, fields: ["users.count"], filters: {"users.state": "California"}, sorts: ["users.count desc"], limit: 100}). POST /queries/{query_id}/run/{result_format} runs (json, csv, txt, html, png). Looks: GET /looks/{look_id}/run/json runs a Look and returns data. Dashboards: GET /dashboards/{dashboard_id} retrieves dashboard. Embed: POST /embed/token_url/me creates embed token for embedded analytics. Users: GET /users lists users. POST /users creates user. POST /users/{id}/credentials_email sets password. PDT: POST /derived_table/{model}/start rebuilds PDT. Folders: GET /folders/{id}/children lists folder content.

OAuth2 client credentials: POST /login ({client_id, client_secret}) → Bearer access_token. API3 credentials from Looker Admin → Users → {user} → Edit API3 Keys. Token expires: 1 hour — implement refresh. HTTPS enforced. No browser OAuth — API3 is client credentials only. Embedded analytics: signed embed URL or embed token for iframe integration. Admin API: admin-level API3 keys for full access; create restricted keys for data-only access.

Standard HTTP status codes with JSON error bodies ({message, documentation_url}). 404 for unknown Look/Dashboard ID. Query timeout: complex queries may timeout (30s default) — increase via API or optimize LookML. look.run: fetches cached or live data depending on caching settings. Dashboard run: renders all tiles synchronously. Looker uptime at status.cloud.google.com. PDT rebuild: can take minutes for large datasets. Query result caching: Looker caches query results — invalidate cache for real-time data.

developers.looker.com/api/explorer covers interactive API explorer + reference for all endpoints. Getting started: Looker free trial, create API3 credentials, first query in under 15 minutes. Looker SDK (Python): pip install looker-sdk. Community via Looker Community forum and Slack. Excellent interactive API explorer — test any API call without code before implementation. Well-documented for an enterprise BI platform.