Quickstart

Get your Stack Overflow integration running in minutes with our JavaScript SDK. This quickstart covers installation, authentication setup, initialization, and making your first API calls.

Installation

npm

npm install @stackoverflow/teams-sdk

yarn

yarn add @stackoverflow/teams-sdk

pnpm

pnpm add @stackoverflow/teams-sdk

Authentication Setup

Before making API calls, you’ll need to set up authentication. The approach varies by your Stack Overflow for Teams tier:

Enterprise - OAuth Available

Enterprise instances can use built-in OAuth clients or manual tokens:

// Option 1: OAuth setup (recommended for Enterprise)
import { StackOverflowSDK } from '@stackoverflow/teams-sdk';

const sdk = StackOverflowSDK.enterpriseOAuth({
  clientId: 'your-client-id',
  redirectUri: 'https://yourapp.com/callback',
  baseUrl: 'https://your-site.stackenterprise.co'
});

// Option 2: Manual token (if you prefer)
const sdk = StackOverflowSDK.fromToken(
  'your-access-token',
  'https://your-site.stackenterprise.co'
);

Basic/Business - Token Required

Basic and Business tiers require Personal Access Tokens (PATs):

import { StackOverflowSDK } from '@stackoverflow/teams-sdk';

const sdk = StackOverflowSDK.fromToken(
  'your-personal-access-token',
  'https://api.stackoverflowteams.com/v3'
);

// Team context required for Basic/Business
const teamContext = sdk.forTeam('your-team-id');

📖 Need authentication help? See our Authentication Guide for detailed OAuth setup and PAT generation.

Make Your First API Call

Start exploring Stack Overflow data with these basic examples:

// For Enterprise (direct SDK usage)
async function getQuestions() {
  try {
    const questions = await sdk.questions.getAll();
    console.log('Recent questions:', questions.items);
    return questions;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to fetch questions:', error);
  }
}

// For Basic/Business (requires team context)
async function getTeamQuestions() {
  try {
    const teamContext = sdk.forTeam('your-team-id');
    const questions = await teamContext.questions.getAll();
    console.log('Team questions:', questions.items);
    return questions;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to fetch questions:', error);
  }
}

Complete Authentication Flow (Enterprise)

If using OAuth on Enterprise, here’s a complete authentication flow:

import { StackOverflowSDK, BackendAuthClient } from '@stackoverflow/teams-sdk';

// 1. Set up authentication client
const authClient = new BackendAuthClient({
  clientId: 'your-client-id',
  redirectUri: 'https://yourapp.com/callback',
  baseUrl: 'https://your-site.stackenterprise.co'
});

// 2. Start OAuth flow
const { url, codeVerifier, state } = await authClient.getAuthUrl();
// Redirect user to `url`

// 3. Handle callback and get tokens
const tokens = await authClient.exchangeCodeForToken(code, codeVerifier);

// 4. Initialize SDK with token
const sdk = StackOverflowSDK.fromToken(
  tokens.access_token,
  'https://your-site.stackenterprise.co'
);

// 5. Make authenticated requests
const questions = await sdk.questions.getAll();

Working with Different Content Types

Questions & Answers

qa-example.ts

// Get questions with their answers
const questions = await sdk.questions.getAll();

// Get specific question details
const questionId = 12345;
const question = await sdk.questions.get(questionId);

// Get answers for a question
const answers = await sdk.answers.getAll(questionId);

// Get specific answer
const answerId = 67890;
const answer = await sdk.answers.getAnswerById(answerId);

Users & Communities

users-example.ts

// Get user information
const users = await sdk.users.getAll();

// Get communities
const communities = await sdk.communities.getAll();

// Get user groups
const userGroups = await sdk.usergroups.getAll();

Content & Tags

content-example.ts

// Browse articles
const articles = await sdk.articles.getAll();

// Get collections
const collections = await sdk.collections.getAll();

// Explore tags
const tags = await sdk.tags.getAll();

// Get comments
const questionComments = await sdk.comments.getQuestionComments();
const answerComments = await sdk.comments.getAnswerComments();
const articleComments = await sdk.comments.getArticleComments();

Team Context

For Stack Overflow for Teams, use the team context:

team-example.ts

// Switch to team context
const teamContext = sdk.forTeam('your-team-id');

// Get team-specific questions
async function getTeamQuestions() {
  try {
    const teamQuestions = await teamContext.questions.getAll();
    console.log('Team questions:', teamQuestions.items);
    return teamQuestions;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to fetch team questions:', error);
  }
}

// Get team-specific answers
async function getTeamAnswers() {
  try {
    const teamAnswers = await teamContext.answers.getAll(question.id);
    console.log('Team answers:', teamAnswers.items);
    return teamAnswers;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to fetch team answers:', error);
  }
}

Error Handling

Always wrap your API calls in try-catch blocks:

error-handling.ts

async function safeApiCall() {
  try {
    const data = await sdk.questions.getAll();
    return data;
  } catch (error) {
    if (error.status === 401) {
      console.error('Authentication failed - check your access token');
    } else if (error.status === 429) {
      console.error('Rate limit exceeded - please retry later');
    } else {
      console.error('API call failed:', error.message);
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

Troubleshooting

“Invalid access token” errors

• Verify your access token is valid and not expired
• Ensure you have the necessary permissions for the API endpoint

API calls return empty results

• Check that you’re using the correct site parameter
• Verify the endpoint supports the parameters you’re sending

Network timeout errors

• Implement retry logic with exponential backoff
• Consider reducing the page size for large data requests