Stack Overflow for Teams API User Report (so4t_api_user_report)

A Python script that uses the Stack Overflow for Teams API creates a CSV report of how well each user performs. You can see an example of what the output looks like in the Examples directory (here).

Table of Contents

• Requirements
• Setup
• Basic Usage
• Advanced Usage
  • --start-date and --end-date
  • --no-api
• Support, security, and legal

Requirements

• A Stack Overflow for Teams instance (Basic, Business, or Enterprise); for Enterprise, version 2023.3 or later
• Python 3.8 or higher (download)
• Operating system: Linux, MacOS, or Windows

If using the --web-client argument, there are additional requirements (details in Advanced Usage section)

Setup

Download and unpack the contents of this repository

Installing Dependencies

• Open a terminal window (or, for Windows, a command prompt)
• Navigate to the directory where you unpacked the files
• Install the dependencies: pip3 install -r requirements.txt

API Authentication

For the Basic and Business tiers, you'll need an API token. For Enterprise, you'll need to obtain both an API key and an API token.

• For Basic or Business, instructions for creating a personal access token (PAT) can be found in this KB article.
• For Enterprise, documentation for creating the key and token can be found within your instance at this url: https://[your_site]/api/docs/authentication

Creating an access token for Enterprise can sometimes be tricky for people who haven't done it before. Here are some (hopefully) straightforward instructions:

• Go to the page where you created your API key. Take note of the "Client ID" associated with your API key.
• Go to the following URL, replacing the base URL, the client_id, and the base URL of the redirect_uri with your own: https://YOUR.SO-ENTERPRISE.URL/oauth/dialog?client_id=111&redirect_uri=https://YOUR.SO-ENTERPRISE.URL/oauth/login_success
• You may be prompted to log in to Stack Overflow Enterprise if you're not already. Either way, you'll be redirected to a page that simply says "Authorizing Application"
• In the URL of that page, you'll find your access token. Example: https://YOUR.SO-ENTERPRISE.URL/oauth/login_success#access_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Basic Usage

In a terminal window, navigate to the directory where you unpacked the script. Run the script using the following format, replacing the URL, token, and/or key with your own:

• For Basic and Business: python3 so4t_user_report.py --url "https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/TEAM-NAME" --token "YOUR_TOKEN"
• For Enterprise: python3 so4t_user_report.py --url "https://SUBDOMAIN.stackenterprise.co" --key "YOUR_KEY" --token "YOUR_TOKEN"

The script can take several minutes to run, particularly as it gathers data via the API. As it runs, it will continue to update the terminal window with the tasks it's performing.

When the script completes, it will indicate that the CSV has been exported, along with the file name. You can see an example of what the output looks like here.

Advanced Usage

As described below, you can add some additional arguments to the command line to customize the script's behavior. All arguments (and instructions) can also be found by running the --help argument: python3 so4t_user_report.py --help

--start-date and --end-date

By default, the CSV report aggregates all historical data for users. If you'd like to filter this based on a certain amount of history, the --start-date and --end-date arguments allow you to take a slice of that history. Using these arguments would look like this: python3 so4t_user_report.py --url "https://SUBDOMAIN.stackenterprise.co" --key "YOUR_KEY" --token "YOUR_TOKEN" --start-date "2022-01-01" --end-date "2022-12-31"

• The date format is YYYY-MM-DD.
• When using a start date without an end date, the script will use the current date as the end date.
• When using an end date without a start date, the script will use the earliest date available in the data as the start date.

--no-api

In conjunction with the --start-date and --end-date arguments, --no-api allows you to leverage preexisting JSON data from previous executions of this script. This is significantly faster than running all the API calls again; in fact, it's nearly instantaneous. If you were looking to generate user metrics based on a variety of time ranges, using the --no-api argument significantly speeds up the process.

Using --no-api would look like this: python3 so4t_user_report.py --no-api --start-date "2022-01-01" --end-date "2022-12-31"

Note: when using --no-api, the --url, --key, and --token arguments are unecessary. When you'd like to update the JSON data via fresh API calls, simply remove the no-api argument and add back the required authentication arguments.

Support, security, and legal

If you encounter problems using the script, please open a support issue with Stack Overflow. You can also clone and change the script to suit your needs. It is provided as-is, with no warranty or guarantee of any kind.

All data is handled locally on the device from which the script is run. The script does not transmit data to other parties like Stack Overflow. All API calls performed are read-only, so there is no risk of editing or adding content to your Stack Overflow for Teams instance.