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Data Sources

A data source is a connection to an external REST API, a published Google Sheet, or a CSV file, that you set up and test here. Use it when you need to pull in your own external data that doesn't fit any of the other feed types.

Adding a data source

  1. Click Add source and choose a type: REST API, Google Sheets, or CSV / URL.
  2. Give it a name and its URL, and set an Authentication method if the source needs one: API Key, Basic Auth, or none. OAuth 2.0 is listed but not yet available.
  3. Click Test connection to fetch a sample record and detect the fields it contains.
  4. Map the fields you want: add a detected field with the button, or add one manually, then give each an output name.
  5. Review your settings on the confirm step, run a final test if you like, then save.

Allowed addresses

Only public web addresses starting http:// or https:// are allowed. Anything that points at a private network, a local machine, or an internal address such as a cloud metadata service is refused, with an error explaining why. This keeps a data source from being used to reach services that should never be exposed to it.

What the columns mean

  • ok: the source was reached successfully.
  • running / syncing: a check is in progress.
  • error: the last check failed.
  • idle: no automatic check has run.

Refresh timing

The Interval column shows how often this source is checked automatically — a source with a "Send to" destination is synced on that schedule without you doing anything. Press Sync now on a row whenever you want it refreshed immediately.

Sending rows to a list

Choose a Send to destination — a Ranked list or a Live figures set from your organisation — and the mapping step offers that document's fields by name instead of a free-text box. Every few minutes, and whenever you press Sync now, the source's rows replace the entries in that document, and every board linked to it updates automatically — no editing the board.

A bad row never blanks the board: a number that can't be read keeps the value it already had, and a row missing its name (or label, for Live figures) is skipped. A failed fetch leaves the document untouched and shows the error on the source's row. If you open a Ranked list or Live figures document that a source feeds, a notice reminds you not to hand-edit it — your edits would be overwritten on the next sync.

Mapping to widgets

Field mapping without a "Send to" destination prepares a data source's fields for use elsewhere, but there's nowhere else to send them to yet.

Plan limits

How many data sources you can add, and the shortest interval you can set, depend on your plan. Once you reach your plan's limit, a banner appears above the list and Add source is disabled until you remove one or upgrade.