- name
- basecamp
- description
- |
- metadata
- author
- maton
- version
- 1.0
- clawdbot
- emoji
- 🧠
- requires
- env
Basecamp
Access the Basecamp 4 API with managed OAuth authentication. Manage projects, to-dos, messages, schedules, documents, and team collaboration.
Quick Start
# List all projects
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFBase URL
https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/{resource}.jsonMaton proxies requests to 3.basecampapi.com/{account_id}/ and automatically injects your OAuth token and account ID.
Important: All Basecamp API URLs must end with .json.
Authentication
All requests require the Maton API key in the Authorization header:
Authorization: Bearer $MATON_API_KEYEnvironment Variable: Set your API key as MATON_API_KEY:
export MATON_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"Getting Your API Key
- Sign in or create an account at maton.ai
- Go to maton.ai/settings
- Copy your API key
Connection Management
Manage your Basecamp OAuth connections at https://api.maton.ai.
List Connections
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections?app=basecamp&status=ACTIVE')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFCreate Connection
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
data = json.dumps({'app': 'basecamp'}).encode()
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections', data=data, method='POST')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('Content-Type', 'application/json')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFGet Connection
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections/{connection_id}')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFResponse:
{
"connection": {
"connection_id": "{connection_id}",
"status": "ACTIVE",
"creation_time": "2026-02-08T03:12:39.815086Z",
"last_updated_time": "2026-02-08T03:12:59.259878Z",
"url": "https://connect.maton.ai/?session_token=...",
"app": "basecamp",
"metadata": {}
}
}Open the returned url in a browser to complete OAuth authorization.
Delete Connection
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections/{connection_id}', method='DELETE')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFSpecifying Connection
If you have multiple Basecamp connections, specify which one to use with the Maton-Connection header:
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('Maton-Connection', '{connection_id}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFIf you have multiple connections, always include this header to ensure requests go to the intended account.
Security & Permissions
- Access is scoped to projects, to-dos, messages, schedules, documents, and team collaboration within the connected Basecamp account.
- All write operations require explicit user approval. Before executing any create, update, or delete call, confirm the target resource and intended effect with the user.
API Reference
User Info
Get Current User
GET /basecamp/my/profile.jsonResponse:
{
"id": 51197030,
"name": "Chris Kim",
"email_address": "chris@example.com",
"admin": true,
"owner": true,
"time_zone": "America/Los_Angeles",
"avatar_url": "https://..."
}People Operations
List People
GET /basecamp/people.jsonResponse:
[
{
"id": 51197030,
"name": "Chris Kim",
"email_address": "chris@example.com",
"admin": true,
"owner": true,
"employee": true,
"time_zone": "America/Los_Angeles"
}
]Get Person
GET /basecamp/people/{person_id}.jsonList Project Members
GET /basecamp/projects/{project_id}/people.jsonProject Operations
List Projects
GET /basecamp/projects.jsonResponse:
[
{
"id": 46005636,
"status": "active",
"name": "Getting Started",
"description": "Quickly get up to speed with everything Basecamp",
"created_at": "2026-02-05T22:59:26.087Z",
"url": "https://3.basecampapi.com/6153810/projects/46005636.json",
"dock": [...]
}
]Get Project
GET /basecamp/projects/{project_id}.jsonThe project response includes a dock array with available tools (message_board, todoset, vault, chat, schedule, etc.). Each dock item has:
id: The tool's IDname: Tool type (e.g., "todoset", "message_board")enabled: Whether the tool is activeurl: Direct URL to access the tool
Create Project
POST /basecamp/projects.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "New Project",
"description": "Project description"
}Update Project
PUT /basecamp/projects/{project_id}.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "Updated Project Name",
"description": "Updated description"
}Delete (Trash) Project
DELETE /basecamp/projects/{project_id}.jsonTo-Do Operations
Get Todoset
First, get the todoset ID from the project's dock:
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}.jsonList Todolists
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}/todolists.jsonResponse:
[
{
"id": 9550474442,
"title": "Basecamp essentials",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"completed_ratio": "0/5",
"url": "https://..."
}
]Create Todolist
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}/todolists.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "New Todo List",
"description": "List description"
}Get Todolist
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todolists/{todolist_id}.jsonList Todos
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todolists/{todolist_id}/todos.jsonResponse:
[
{
"id": 9550474446,
"content": "Start here",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"due_on": null,
"assignees": []
}
]Create Todo
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todolists/{todolist_id}/todos.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"content": "New todo item",
"description": "Todo description",
"due_on": "2026-02-15",
"assignee_ids": [51197030]
}Response:
{
"id": 9555973289,
"content": "New todo item",
"completed": false
}Update Todo
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todos/{todo_id}.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"content": "Updated todo",
"description": "Updated description"
}Complete Todo
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todos/{todo_id}/completion.jsonReturns 204 on success.
Uncomplete Todo
DELETE /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todos/{todo_id}/completion.jsonMessage Board Operations
Get Message Board
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/message_boards/{message_board_id}.jsonList Messages
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/message_boards/{message_board_id}/messages.jsonCreate Message
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/message_boards/{message_board_id}/messages.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"subject": "Message Subject",
"content": "<p>Message body with HTML</p>",
"category_id": 123
}Get Message
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/messages/{message_id}.jsonUpdate Message
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/messages/{message_id}.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"subject": "Updated Subject",
"content": "<p>Updated content</p>"
}Schedule Operations
Get Schedule
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/schedules/{schedule_id}.jsonList Schedule Entries
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/schedules/{schedule_id}/entries.jsonCreate Schedule Entry
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/schedules/{schedule_id}/entries.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"summary": "Team Meeting",
"description": "Weekly sync",
"starts_at": "2026-02-15T14:00:00Z",
"ends_at": "2026-02-15T15:00:00Z",
"all_day": false,
"participant_ids": [51197030]
}Update Schedule Entry
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/schedule_entries/{entry_id}.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"summary": "Updated Meeting",
"starts_at": "2026-02-15T15:00:00Z",
"ends_at": "2026-02-15T16:00:00Z"
}Vault (Documents & Files) Operations
Get Vault
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/vaults/{vault_id}.jsonList Documents in Vault
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/vaults/{vault_id}/documents.jsonCreate Document
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/vaults/{vault_id}/documents.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"title": "Document Title",
"content": "<p>Document content with HTML</p>"
}List Uploads in Vault
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/vaults/{vault_id}/uploads.jsonCampfire (Chat) Operations
List All Campfires
GET /basecamp/chats.jsonGet Campfire
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/chats/{chat_id}.jsonList Campfire Lines (Messages)
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/chats/{chat_id}/lines.jsonCreate Campfire Line
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/chats/{chat_id}/lines.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"content": "Hello from the API!"
}Comments Operations
List Comments on Recording
GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/comments.jsonCreate Comment
POST /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/comments.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"content": "<p>Comment text</p>"
}Recording Status Operations
All content items (todos, messages, documents, etc.) are "recordings" that can be archived or trashed.
Trash Recording
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/status/trashed.jsonArchive Recording
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/status/archived.jsonUnarchive Recording
PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/status/active.jsonTemplates Operations
List Templates
GET /basecamp/templates.jsonCreate Project from Template
POST /basecamp/templates/{template_id}/project_constructions.json
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "New Project from Template",
"description": "Description"
}Pagination
Basecamp uses Link header pagination with rel="next":
Response Headers:
Link: <https://3.basecampapi.com/.../page=2>; rel="next"
X-Total-Count: 150Follow the Link header URL for the next page. When next is absent, you've reached the last page.
Important: Do not construct pagination URLs manually. Always use the URL provided in the Link header.
Key Concepts
Buckets and Projects
A "bucket" is a project's content container. The bucket ID is the same as the project ID in URLs:
/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}.jsonDock
Each project has a "dock" containing available tools. Always check that a tool is enabled: true before using it:
{
"dock": [
{"name": "todoset", "id": 123, "enabled": true},
{"name": "message_board", "id": 456, "enabled": false}
]
}Recordings
All content items (todos, messages, documents, comments, etc.) are "recordings" with:
status: "active", "archived", or "trashed"parent: navigation to container- Unique IDs that can be used across endpoints
Code Examples
JavaScript
const response = await fetch(
'https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json',
{
headers: {
'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.MATON_API_KEY}`
}
}
);
const projects = await response.json();Python
import os
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}'}
)
projects = response.json()Notes
- All API paths must end with
.json - Maton automatically injects the account ID
- Uses Basecamp 4 API (bc3-api)
- Timestamps are in ISO 8601 format
- HTML content uses
<div>,<p>,<strong>,<em>,<a>,<ul>,<ol>,<li>tags - Rate limit: ~50 requests per 10 seconds per IP
- IMPORTANT: When piping curl output to
jqor other commands, environment variables like$MATON_API_KEYmay not expand correctly in some shell environments
Error Handling
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 400 | Missing Basecamp connection or bad request |
| 401 | Invalid or missing Maton API key |
| 404 | Resource not found, deleted, or no access |
| 429 | Rate limited (check Retry-After header) |
| 507 | Account limit reached (e.g., project limit) |
| 5xx | Server error (retry with exponential backoff) |
Troubleshooting: API Key Issues
- Check that the
MATON_API_KEYenvironment variable is set:
echo $MATON_API_KEY- Verify the API key is valid by listing connections:
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOFTroubleshooting: Invalid App Name
- Ensure your URL path starts with
basecamp. For example:
- Correct:
https://api.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json - Incorrect:
https://api.maton.ai/projects.json