How to Integrate Retool with Kentico

Kentico XbyK's Management API is enabled by default in the application but requires API key authentication to be configured. Log in to your Kentico admin interface and navigate to Settings. For XbyK (Kentico Xperience by Kentico), the Management API key is configured in your application's appsettings.json file or environment variables — look for the 'CMSApiAuthenticationOptions' or 'Kentico.Xperience.AspNet.Mvc6' configuration section. The API key is typically set as an environment variable KENTICO_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY or similar, depending on your hosting setup. Contact your Kentico developer or infrastructure team to retrieve the configured API key if you do not have direct access to the application configuration. For Kentico Xperience 13 (older platform), the REST API is enabled via Settings → Integration → REST Service in the Kentico admin interface. The authentication method differs: Kentico 13 supports Basic Authentication or custom hash authentication, while XbyK uses a Bearer API key in the Authorization header. Note the Kentico version you are running — XbyK uses base URL /api/v1/ while Kentico 13 uses /rest/. In both cases, get the API key or credentials from your development team before proceeding with the Retool configuration.

In Retool, navigate to the Resources tab in the left sidebar and click Add Resource. Select REST API from the resource type list. Name the resource 'Kentico Management API'. In the Base URL field, enter your Kentico Management API base URL. For XbyK, this is typically https://yoursite.com/api/v1 — verify the exact path from your Kentico instance's API documentation, as the prefix can differ based on your application's routing configuration. For Kentico 13, the REST service base URL is usually https://yoursite.com/rest. Scroll to the Headers section. For XbyK, add an Authorization header with the value Bearer YOUR_API_KEY where YOUR_API_KEY is the management API key configured in your application. Add a Content-Type header with value application/json for write operations. For Kentico 13 with Basic Auth, instead of adding an Authorization header manually, use the Basic Auth option in the Authentication section and enter the configured username and password. Click Save Changes. Test the resource by creating a quick GET query to /content-types (XbyK) or /cms.class (Kentico 13) to confirm the connection returns content type data. If you receive a 401 Unauthorized, verify the API key matches exactly what is configured in the application's environment variables.

Create a new query named 'getContentItems' in your Retool app's Code panel. Select your Kentico Management API resource. Set Method to GET and Path to /content-items — this lists all content items across all content types in your Kentico project. To filter by content type, add a URL parameter: 'filter' set to a value like contentTypeCodename[eq]:{{ typeFilter.value || '' }} using Kentico's filter syntax. Kentico XbyK's API also supports pagination via 'skip' and 'limit' parameters — add 'skip' set to {{ (pagination.page - 1) * (pagination.pageSize || 20) }} and 'limit' set to {{ pagination.pageSize || 20 }}. The response includes a 'value' array of content item objects with fields such as id, codename, name, collection, language_agnostic_workflow_step, and last_modified. Add a query named 'getLanguageVariants' to fetch language-specific data: GET /content-items/{{ contentItemsTable.selectedRow.id }}/variants which returns all language variants for the selected item including their workflow step, scheduled_publish_when, and published_at fields. Add a transformer to the main getContentItems query to flatten the 'value' array into table rows.

1// Transformer: flatten Kentico content items API response
2const items = data.value || [];
3return items.map(item => ({
4  id: item.id,
5  name: item.name || item.codename || '',
6  codename: item.codename || '',
7  collection: item.collection?.codename || 'default',
8  content_type: item.type?.codename || '',
9  last_modified: item.last_modified ? new Date(item.last_modified).toLocaleDateString() : '',
10  workflow_step: item.language_agnostic_workflow_step?.codename || 'N/A'
11}));

In the Retool canvas, drag a Table component and set its Data to {{ getContentItems.data }}. Configure columns: name, content_type, collection, workflow_step, last_modified. Add a row of filter controls above the table: a Select for content_type (populated by a GET /content-types query returning all types), a Select for workflow_step (populated by a GET /workflow/steps query), and a Text Input for name search. Below the table, create a Detail panel Container. When a row is selected (using Event Handler → 'On row click'), load the language variants for that content item using the getLanguageVariants query. Display the variants in a nested Table showing language, workflow step, scheduled publish date, and published status. Add two action buttons in the detail panel: 'Advance Workflow' and 'Return to Draft'. Create a query named 'advanceWorkflow' with POST method and path /content-items/{{ contentItemsTable.selectedRow.id }}/variants/{{ variantsTable.selectedRow.language.codename }}/workflow/next-step — this advances the selected language variant to the next workflow step. Create 'returnToDraft' with POST and path /content-items/{{ contentItemsTable.selectedRow.id }}/variants/{{ variantsTable.selectedRow.language.codename }}/workflow/codename/draft. Both queries should have an empty JSON body {} and event handlers to show notifications and refresh the content items list on success. Add Confirm Modals before the Return to Draft action since it resets an item's approval progress.

1{
2  "method": "POST",
3  "path": "/content-items/{{ contentItemsTable.selectedRow.id }}/variants/{{ variantsTable.selectedRow.language.codename }}/workflow/next-step",
4  "body": {}
5}

For organizations using Kentico to manage multiple sites or channels, create a query named 'getChannels' with GET method and path /channels to list all configured channels (websites, email, headless channels). Add a Select component for channel filtering and bind the channel codename to the content items query filter. For language management, create a query named 'getAllLanguages' with GET method and path /languages to retrieve all configured language variants in the project. Use this to build a translation completeness matrix: create a JavaScript transformer that takes the content items list and the languages list, then for each content item queries its variants to determine which languages have translations and which are missing. Display this as a Table with a column per language using conditional formatting — green cells where a translation exists in the required workflow step, red where missing or still in draft. For complex multi-channel content management workflows, automated translation triggers, and editorial notification systems integrating Kentico with Slack or email platforms, RapidDev's team can help architect your Retool content operations solution.

1// Transformer: build language coverage matrix for content items
2const items = getContentItems.data || [];
3const languages = getAllLanguages.data?.value || [];
4const variantsByItem = getVariantsMatrix.data || {}; // assumes a batch variants query
5
6return items.map(item => {
7  const row = { name: item.name, content_type: item.content_type, codename: item.codename };
8  languages.forEach(lang => {
9    const variant = (variantsByItem[item.id] || []).find(v => v.language?.codename === lang.codename);
10    row[lang.codename] = variant ? variant.workflow_step : 'Missing';
11  });
12  return row;
13});