Basecamp

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://gateway.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))
EOF

Base URL

https://gateway.maton.ai/basecamp/{resource}.json

The gateway 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_KEY

Environment Variable: Set your API key as MATON_API_KEY:

export MATON_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

Getting Your API Key

1. Sign in or create an account at maton.ai
2. Go to maton.ai/settings
3. Copy your API key

Connection Management

Manage your Basecamp OAuth connections at https://ctrl.maton.ai.

List Connections

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://ctrl.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))
EOF

Create Connection

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
data = json.dumps({'app': 'basecamp'}).encode()
req = urllib.request.Request('https://ctrl.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))
EOF

Get Connection

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://ctrl.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))
EOF

Response:

{
  "connection": {
    "connection_id": "71e313c8-9100-48c6-8ea1-6323f6fafd04",
    "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://ctrl.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))
EOF

Specifying 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://gateway.maton.ai/basecamp/projects.json')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('Maton-Connection', '71e313c8-9100-48c6-8ea1-6323f6fafd04')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

If omitted, the gateway uses the default (oldest) active connection.

API Reference

User Info

Get Current User

GET /basecamp/my/profile.json

Response:

{
  "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.json

Response:

[
  {
    "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}.json

List Project Members

GET /basecamp/projects/{project_id}/people.json

Project Operations

List Projects

GET /basecamp/projects.json

Response:

[
  {
    "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}.json

The project response includes a dock array with available tools (message_board, todoset, vault, chat, schedule, etc.). Each dock item has:

• id: The tool's ID
• name: Tool type (e.g., "todoset", "message_board")
• enabled: Whether the tool is active
• url: 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}.json

To-Do Operations

Get Todoset

First, get the todoset ID from the project's dock:

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}.json

List Todolists

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todosets/{todoset_id}/todolists.json

Response:

[
  {
    "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}.json

List Todos

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todolists/{todolist_id}/todos.json

Response:

[
  {
    "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.json

Returns 204 on success.

Uncomplete Todo

DELETE /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/todos/{todo_id}/completion.json

Message Board Operations

Get Message Board

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/message_boards/{message_board_id}.json

List Messages

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/message_boards/{message_board_id}/messages.json

Create 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}.json

Update 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}.json

List Schedule Entries

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/schedules/{schedule_id}/entries.json

Create 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}.json

List Documents in Vault

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/vaults/{vault_id}/documents.json

Create 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.json

Campfire (Chat) Operations

List All Campfires

GET /basecamp/chats.json

Get Campfire

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/chats/{chat_id}.json

List Campfire Lines (Messages)

GET /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/chats/{chat_id}/lines.json

Create 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.json

Create 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.json

Archive Recording

PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/status/archived.json

Unarchive Recording

PUT /basecamp/buckets/{project_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/status/active.json

Templates Operations

List Templates

GET /basecamp/templates.json

Create 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: 150

Follow 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}.json

Dock

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://gateway.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://gateway.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
• The gateway 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 jq or other commands, environment variables like $MATON_API_KEY may not expand correctly in some shell environments

Error Handling

Troubleshooting: Invalid API Key

When you receive a "Invalid API key" error, ALWAYS follow these steps before concluding there is an issue:

1. Check that the MATON_API_KEY environment variable is set:

echo $MATON_API_KEY

2. Verify the API key is valid by listing connections:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://ctrl.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))
EOF

Resources

• Basecamp 4 API Documentation
• Authentication Guide
• API Reference