How To Connect Bubble To Google Sheets [API Tutorial]

How to connect the Bubble API to Google Sheets

Bubble is a platform that empowers users to create powerful web apps without writing code. We can use the Bubble API to import data from Bubble into Google Sheets. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to connect the Bubble REST API to Google Sheets in 5 steps:

Install the Apipheny add-on
Create an app and generate an API token
Choose a Bubble API endpoint
Enter your Bubble API request into Apipheny
Run the Bubble API request in your Google Sheet

Step 1.) Install and open the Apipheny add-on for Google Sheets

Apipheny is an API connector for Google Sheets. You can use Apipheny to connect your Google Sheets to unlimited API data sources, make unlimited API requests, and more. There is a 30 day free trial included.

1.) Install Apipheny by opening the following link on desktop and then clicking the Install button in the Google Marketplace: https://apipheny.io/install

2.) After you’ve installed Apipheny, open a Google Sheet and then click on the Extensions dropdown in the menu at the top.

In the dropdown list you should see Apipheny. Click Apipheny then click Import API to open the Apipheny sidebar in your Google Sheet.

Tip: you can open a new Google Sheet by entering this URL in your browser: sheet.new

Step 2.) Create an app and generate an API token

After logging into your Bubble account, if you are not prompted to create a new app by default, you have the option to create an app by clicking the blue New App button on the right:

In the new window, after completing all the required fields, click the Create a new app button to effectively create the app:

Your app is now created. Go to the Settings section and then choose the API tab:

On this tab, check the User checkbox and then copy the Private key value from the API Tokens area and paste it somewhere safe, because you’ll need it later.

Step 3.) Choose a Bubble API endpoint

In this section, we’ll show you how to browse the Bubble API documentation to find the endpoint that retrieves the information you need from Bubble.

If you already know your API URL, or you want to use the same example URL as us, just skip to Step 4.

First, open the Bubble API documentation page: https://manual.bubble.io/core-resources/api/data-api

The menu on the left contains a list of endpoints and information about pagination for the Data API:

An example endpoint is Retrieve a thing by ID, which can get a thing from the server if you know its ID:

https://appname.bubbleapps.io/api/1.1/obj/typename/unique_id

The endpoint’s documentation contains a description of the endpoint’s purpose, its HTTP method (GET) and the URI:

Retrieve a thing by ID endpoint documentation

Once you’ve chosen an endpoint, you can move on to the next step.

All API calls for Bubble should be made to the https://appname.bubbleapps.io/api/1.1/obj/ base domain, where the initial appname part is the name of your app.

Step 4.) Enter your Bubble API request into Apipheny

Now go back to your Google Sheet and make sure that the Apipheny add-on is open on the Import tab. With the Import tab open, enter these details into the add-on:

Method: At the top of the Apipheny sidebar, select the HTTP method (GET or POST) required by your API endpoint. For this example, we are using the POST method.

API URL: In Step 2, we explained how you can find the Bubble REST API endpoint that you need. Now copy and paste your complete Bubble API URL into the Apipheny add-on, where it says API URL Path, followed by any parameters required for your query (if applicable).

For this example, we are using the POST /user endpoint, which creates a new user. This is what the whole URL looks like:

https://apiphenyapp.bubbleapps.io/version-test/api/1.1/obj/user

Headers: In the Headers section of Apipheny, add one row with the following key and value:

Key:
Authorization

Value:
Bearer API_key

API_key is the key you previously obtained in Step 2. In the Header Value, write the word Bearer, followed by a space, then your API key.

POST Body

This is the example POST body we used:

{
"email":"johndoe@yahoo.com",
"password":"johnpassword"
}

Bubble API request entered into Apipheny

Step 5.) Run the Bubble API request in your Google Sheet

Finally, the last step is to click the Run button at the bottom of the Apipheny add-on and then wait for the Bubble API data to be imported into your Google Sheet. Here’s what our request looked like when completed:

That’s it! You’ve successfully connected your Bubble account to Google Sheets using the Bubble API, Google Sheets API, and the Apipheny add-on.

After making a successful request to the Bubble API, try querying a different Bubble API endpoint, or try using one of the more advanced features in the Apipheny add-on.