Tally API

Tally API

Overview

Tally (tally.so) is a form builder. Its REST API (https://api.tally.so) exposes forms, submissions, analytics, workspaces, organization members, and webhooks. This skill provides the endpoint map, exact request/response shapes, a curl CLI wrapper, and webhook signature verification so another Claude instance can read form data, sync submissions, or wire up real-time submission handling without re-discovering the API each time.

When to use

Use for any task touching Tally: pulling submissions/responses, reading a form's structure or analytics, creating forms programmatically, managing workspaces/org users, or setting up and verifying webhooks. For ongoing submission processing, prefer webhooks over polling (the API allows only 100 requests/minute).

Authentication

• Get a key at Tally dashboard → Settings → API keys → Create API key. It is shown once; copy it.
• Key format tly-xxxx; send as Authorization: Bearer tly-xxxx.
• A key inherits the creating user's permissions (no fine-grained scopes). Workspace creation needs Pro.
• Store the key out of the repo. The CLI reads $TALLY_API_KEY, else TALLY_API_KEY= from ~/.claude/auth/tally.env (override path with $TALLY_ENV_FILE). Never print the key in full.

How to use

Start by reading the reference, then act:

• references/api-reference.md — every endpoint (forms, analytics, questions, submissions, webhooks, workspaces, organizations, users/me), pagination, status codes, submission response shape, curl examples.
• references/webhooks.md — webhook payload (FORM_RESPONSE + data.fields[]) and Tally-Signature HMAC-SHA256 verification.
• references/examples/create-form.json — a working POST /forms body with block structure.

Official MCP server: Tally also ships a hosted MCP server (https://developers.tally.so/api-reference/mcp.md). If the user's agent already has the Tally MCP connected, prefer those tools for interactive work; use this skill's REST/CLI path for scripting, batch sync, webhook setup, and signature verification.

CLI wrapper — scripts/tally.sh (curl + jq, key auto-loaded):

scripts/tally.sh me                                  # whoami
scripts/tally.sh forms                               # list forms
scripts/tally.sh questions <formId>                  # form questions
scripts/tally.sh submissions <formId> completed 100  # filter: all|completed|partial
scripts/tally.sh submission <formId> <submissionId>
scripts/tally.sh metrics <formId>                    # analytics
scripts/tally.sh form-create body.json               # create a form (POST /forms)
scripts/tally.sh form-update <formId> body.json      # PATCH /forms/{id}
scripts/tally.sh form-delete <formId>                # trash a form
scripts/tally.sh webhooks
scripts/tally.sh webhook-create <formId> <url> [signingSecret]   # connect a webhook
scripts/tally.sh raw GET /users/me                   # escape hatch for any endpoint

Run scripts/tally.sh --help for the full command list. For anything the wrapper does not cover, use raw <METHOD> <path> [json-body] or hand-write curl from the reference.

Webhook verification — scripts/verify_signature.py:

from verify_signature import verify   # verify(raw_body_bytes, tally_signature_header, signing_secret) -> bool

Always hash the raw request body bytes, never re-serialized JSON, or the signature won't match.

Key gotchas

• Two pagination styles: offset (page/limit, check hasMore) and cursor (afterId). Use afterId for stable large backfills.
• Submission answers are typed by question: join responses[].questionId to questions[] to learn each answer's type/title. Only answered questions appear.
• REST vs webhook shapes differ: REST returns responses[] (answer/formattedAnswer); webhooks send data.fields[] (label/type/value, with options[] for choices). Don't assume they match.
• Rate limit 100/min → 429. Batch with limit up to 500, or switch to webhooks.
• Destructive ops: DELETE /workspaces/{id} removes all its forms; DELETE /forms/{id} trashes a form. Confirm before running.
• Make webhook handlers idempotent (dedupe on eventId/submissionId); deliveries can retry.